Introduction
William "Bill" Monning (born April 2, 1951) is an American politician currently serving in the California State Senate. A Democrat, he is the current Senate Majority Leader.
Monning currently represents the 17th Senate District, which encompasses the Central Coast. Before his election to the State Senate in 2012, Monning served in the California State Assembly, representing the 27th Assembly District.
Biography
Prior to his service in the state legislature, Monning was a professor at the Monterey College of Law and a professor of International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. He is the former president and co-founder of Global Majority, Inc., an organization committed to education, training and advocacy in the field of non-violent conflict resolution.
Monning served as a Senior Fulbright Specialist, receiving Fulbright scholarships to teach and research in Peru and Chile. Additionally, he was a member of the Monterey County Court-directed mediation panel and served for four years as Executive Director of the Nobel Peace Prize winning organization, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.
Monning received a B.A. at University of California, Berkeley and a law degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law. He and his wife, Dana T. Kent, a family physician, reside in Carmel, California and have two daughters: Laura and Alexandra.
On February 22, 2013, he introduced SB 622, which would impose a 12 cent tax on each can of soda, as well as create the Children's Health Promotion Fund, which would direct the money the tax raised to childhood obesity-preventing measures such as improving the quality of school lunches. About three months later, the bill died in committee. Monning remains committed to it, however, as it can be reintroduced next year.