CLA Recognizes Legislative Contributions of Mark Stone

At its annual Legislative Day last month, CLA presented the Legislator of the Year Award to Assemblymember Mark Stone. CLA President Emilio Varanini presented the award and expressed CLA’s deep gratitude to Assemblymember Stone for his tremendous work relating to the creation of CLA and to our mission. 

Following the award presentation, we heard from speakers from all three branches of government, providing an excellent opportunity to interact directly with key decision-makers about potential changes on the horizon that will have an impact on all attorneys and their clients. We deeply appreciate the insight provided by all of our speakers and their contributions to the success of Legislative Day: Jessica Devencenzi, Deputy Legislative Secretary, Office of Governor Gavin Newsom; Senator Tom Umberg, Chair, Senate Judiciary Committee; Cory Jasperson, Judicial Council of California, Director of Governmental Affairs; Assemblymember Ash Kalra; and Assemblymember Laurie Davies.

The CLA-wide Legislative Day session was followed by two breakout sessions. The first was for the Business Law Section and featured Kevin Gould, California Bankers Association Senior Vice President, Director of State Government Relations. The group had an in-depth discussion about pending legislation of interest. The second session was hosted by the Privacy Law Section and had three speakers who provided their unique perspectives on this rapidly developing area of the law: Nichole Rocha, Chief Consultant for the Assembly Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection; Melissa Immel, Deputy Legislative Secretary and Chief of Legislative Operations, Office of Governor Gavin Newsom; and Ariel Fox Johnson, Senior Counsel, Global Policy at Common Sense Media.

This year’s Legislative Day was virtual – and was a huge success. We plan to return to an in-person Legislative Day in 2022.