Michael Villines

Mike Villines
California State Assembly District 29
Former member
Term in office began 2004
Term in office ended 2010
Political party	Republican
Profession	Candidate for Insurance Commissioner

Michael ("Mike") Villines was a member of the California State Assembly and represents California's 29th Assembly District. He is the minority leader. Villines was first elected to the state assembly in November 2004 and was then re-elected in November 2006 and November 2008.

Villines has announced that he plans to run for the office of State Insurance Commissioner.

Villines has a BA in Political Science from the California State University-Fresno. His professional career includes a stint as chief of staff to former California assemblyman Chuck Poochigian. He also served on the staff of Gov. Pete Wilson.

Issue positions

Legislative scorecard

Capitol Weekly, California's major weekly periodical covering the state legislature, publishes an annual legislative scorecard to pin down the political or ideological leanings of every member of the legislature based on how they voted on an assortment of bills in the most recent legislative session. The 2009 scores were based on votes on 19 bills, but did not include how legislators voted on the Proposition 1A (2009). On the scorecard, "100" is a perfect liberal score and "0" is a perfect conservative score. ,

On the 2009 Capitol Weekly legislative scorecard, Villines ranked as a 0. He was the only member of the California State Assembly that voted in line with what Capitol Weekly identified as the conservative position on each of the 19 votes they scored.

"Sacramento Six"

Assemblyman Villines, along with five other Republicans in the California State Legislature voted for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's solution to the state's $41 billion dollar funding gap. The six Republicans are known as the Sacramento Six.

2010 campaign for insurance commissioner

Currently, Villines is the only high profile GOP candidate for state insurance commissioner. The only other GOP candidate who has filed is Brian Fitzgerald, an employee at the San Francisco office of the state Department of Insurance, who has no reported campaign donations.

Villines' prominent position for statewide office has surprised some, as he still faced resentment from anti-tax conservatives stemming from his decision in February 2009 to support the state budget deal that included new taxes. The primary is scheduled to take place in June.

Committee assignments

Villines served on the following committees:

• Accountability and Administrative Review Committee, California General Assembly
• Rules Committee, California General Assembly
• Utilities and Commerce Committee, California General Assembly

Sponsored legislation

Villines's sponsored legislation includes:

• AB 607 - Education technology: grants
• AB 809 - Taxation: federal conformity
• AB 844 - State-mandated local programs: school districts

For details and a full listing of sponsored bills, see the House site.

Elections

2014

See also: State executive official elections, 2014

Villines has filed a "Statement of Intention" to run for California Commissioner of Insurance in the 2014 elections.

2010

Villines was ineligible to run for re-election in 2010 due to the term limits of the California State Assembly.

2008

In 2008 Villines was re-elected to the California State Assembly District 29. Villines (R) finished with 110,230 votes while his opponent Humberto Avila (D) finished with 57,100.

California State Assembly District 29
Candidates		Votes
Michael Villines (R)		110,230
Humberto Avila (D)		57,100

Campaign donors

2008

Below are Villines's top 5 campaign contributors in the 2008 election:

Contributor	2008 total
AT&T	$21,250
CA Building Industry Assoc	$14,400
CA Medical Assoc	$14,400
CA Trucking Assoc	$14,400
CA Assoc of Realtors	$14,400

External links

Suggest a link

• Mike Villines' personal website
• Official website of Michael Villines
• Legislative profile of Michael Villines on Project Vote Smart
• Biographical profile of Michael Villines on Project Vote Smart
• Campaign contributions: 2008, 2006
• Mike Villines on Facebook
• Mike Villines on Twitter

References

Political offices
Preceded by -	California State Assembly District 29 2004–2010	Succeeded by Linda Halderman