BIOGRAPHY

Jim Patterson represents the 8th District in the California Legislature including portions of Fresno and Tulare counties. He was elected in 2012 and is currently serving his fifth term in the State Assembly.

With a focus on shining the light of accountability on the many failed bureaucracies in Sacramento, Jim has accomplished a great deal, including successfully auditing the California High Speed Rail Authority, the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Employment Development Department.

In 2022, Jim introduced legislation to make it faster and easier to build new escape routes in high fire danger areas. He is also fighting for a bill that exempts wildfire victims from a law requiring all newly built homes to have solar panels.

With an obvious rise in crime in California, Jim is working to repeal Proposition 47 with AB 1599, a bill he introduced with colleagues James Gallagher and Kevin Kiley.

Jim has introduced legislation to increase penalties for fatal hit and run accidents. He has also worked with human trafficking survivors to pass a law that makes clearing their non-violent arrest records faster so they can live their new lives free from the shackles of their old.

With support from family members who lost loved ones on Highway 41, Jim worked with local and state transportation agencies to fully fund the completion of a dangerous six-mile stretch of roadway. 

Jim and his family are passionate advocates for adoption. Having adopted all three of their children, he introduces legislation every year to streamline the adoption process and strengthen family formation.

He served as the Mayor of Fresno from 1993-2001. After eight years of focused leadership, Jim left the City of Fresno with a $20 million general fund surplus, a AAA credit rating, over a billion dollars of new business approvals that created thousands of new jobs, and a reborn reputation for achievement that the National Civic League recognized when it designated Fresno an All-America City in 2000.

Jim spent most of his professional career as a businessman and broadcast executive owning and operating radio stations in California and Idaho. Jim and his wife Sharon have lived in Fresno for most of their lives, raising three children, and now four grandchildren in the Central Valley.