Kristin Olsen

Kristin Olsen (born January 19, 1974)[1] is an American business owner and politician who serves on the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors, having been elected unopposed to the county's First District in June 2016 and taking her seat in January 2017. From 2010 to 2016 she served in the California State Assembly representing the 12th district and serving as the Assembly Minority Leader. Prior to being elected to the State Assembly, she was a member of the Modesto City Council. Olsen is a Republican and lives in Riverbank.

This article is about the politician. For the skater and actress, see Kirsten Olson. For the statistician, see Kristen Olson.

Kristin Olsen
Member of the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors
Assumed office
January 10, 2017
Preceded byBill O’Brien
Minority Leader of the California State Assembly
In office
November 6, 2014 – January 4, 2016
Preceded byConnie Conway
Succeeded byChad Mayes
Member of the California State Assembly
from the 12th district
25th district
In office
December 6, 2010 – November 30, 2016
Preceded byTom Berryhill
Succeeded byHeath Flora
Member of the Modesto City Council
from the 5th district
In office
December 21, 2005 – December 6, 2010
Preceded byDenny Jackman
Succeeded byStephanie Burnside
Personal details
Born (1974-01-19) January 19, 1974
Modesto, California, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Political partyRepublican
ResidenceModesto, California
Alma materWestmont College
OccupationBusiness Owner
politician

Background

Olsen was elected to the Modesto City Council in 2005, and re-elected in 2009. While on the City Council, Olsen served as a member of the Safety & Communities Committee and as Vice Chair of the Finance Committee. Prior to this Olsen served as Vice Chair of the Finance Committee and was a member of the Safety & Communities Committee.

In addition to serving on the City Council, Olsen directed marketing and communications programs as Assistant Vice President for Communications & Public Affairs at California State University, Stanislaus. Furthermore, Olsen has served on the Modesto Citizens Housing and Community Development Committee, as well as on the Modesto City Planning Commission.[2]

Olsen served as the Vice-Chair of the California Republican Party for a brief time in 2017. Olsen resigned from the position citing "personal and professional obligations" that would not allow her to effectively help lead the party.[3]

Olsen showed questionable judgment in September 2018, when she was detained for a DUI infraction. She apologized on Twitter,[4] calling it an 'inadvertent, careless mistake," she served half-night of jail sentence and was allowed to complete community service hours. [5] She did not make any public contributions to MADD to indicate atonement in her apology or subsequent statements.

Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors

As a member of the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors, Kristin Olsen has worked on a variety of issues including developing more reliable water infrastructure, improving county health services and alleviating homelessness.[6] As a Supervisor, Olsen was appointed to represent the County on the Commission of the California County Tobacco Securitization Agency, North County Corridor Transportation Express Authority, San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District Board of Directors, and the Stanislaus County Remote Access Network (RAN) Board.[6]

After leaving the State Assembly and joining the Board of Supervisors, Olsen became a board member for California Women Lead, which is a nonpartisan organization that recruits and trains women to run for elected office. She also serves on the supervisory (audit) committee of the Valley First Credit Union and the board of New Way California.[6]

California State Assembly

Olsen was elected to the California State Assembly in 2010. She received the plurality of votes in the June Republican primary contested by six candidates.[7] In the November 2010 General Election, Olsen received 100% of the vote for the 25th district and easily won reelection for her seat in 2012.[8]

Olsen was praised for being one of eight Republican Assembly Members to release her office operating budget during a controversy between the Speaker of the Assembly John A. Perez and Assemblyman Anthony Portantino. Portantino had alleged that Speaker Perez reduced the operating budget for Portantino's office in retaliation for his "no" vote on the 2011-12 State budget. Portantino went on to release his office spending to the public while Perez and the Assembly Rules committee refused to release the budgets for all of the Assembly despite Public Record requests from newspapers.

Olsen was one of the first Republican members that responded by releasing their office spending in defense of the principle of government transparency. The Sacramento Bee and Modesto Bee, among other newspapers, praised Olsen for being willing to open her budget to public scrutiny claiming that citizens deserve the right to know how their money is being spent.[9][10]

Olsen was named a 2014 Aspen Institute Rodel Fellow.[11]

Legislation

During 2012, Olsen introduced a controversial bill that would ban teachers from having romantic relationships with a student regardless of whether the student was over 18, the age of consent in California. Teachers who violated the ban could face prosecution for a felony and lose their state funded retirement pension. The bill was in response to a Modesto high school teacher who left his wife and children for one of his students following her 18th birthday.[12] While the proposed bill received a substantial amount of media coverage, the bill ultimately failed to get any votes in the Assembly Public Safety committee and was defeated.[13]

Olsen introduced the Legislative Transparency Act during the 2012 Legislative Session which would have required potential legislation to be reviewable online for public viewing at least 72 hours prior to being voted on. Olsen's bill would have stopped the popular practice utilized by Assembly and Senate Democrats where legislation is introduced and passed simultaneously thus nullifying the normal vetting and public review process.[14] This process has been utilized to pass bills with wide ranging and substantial policy effects in recent years. Assembly Democrats defeated the bill in the Elections Committee hearing on a 2-2 vote with 2 committee members abstaining.[15]

Olsen visiting a school classroom

Olsen was the Vice Chair of both the Education and Agriculture Committees. She was also a member of the Insurance, Higher Education and Accountability and Administrative Review Committees.[16]

Elections
See also: California State Assembly elections, 2014
California's 12th State Assembly district election, 2014
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Kristin Olsen (incumbent) 38,892 67.5
Democratic Harinder Grewal 18,742 32.5
Total votes 57,634 100.0
General election
Republican Kristin Olsen (incumbent) 63,003 67.2
Democratic Harinder Grewal 30,752 32.8
Total votes 93,755 100.0
Republican hold


References
  1. Assembly Member Kristin Olsen of California
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved August 10, 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. Mehta, Seema (October 1, 2017). "California GOP vice chair steps down, setting off search for state party's next leader". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  4. https://twitter.com/KristinOlsenCA/status/1040380696366403587
  5. https://www.modbee.com/news/local/crime/article222720970.html
  6. "District 1 Supervisor - Kristin Olsen".
  7. United States of America. California Secretary of State. California Secretary of State. By Debra Bowen. California Secretary of State, June 8, 2010. Web. August 10, 2011 <"Archived copy". Archived from the original on August 11, 2011. Retrieved August 10, 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)>
  8. United States of America. California Secretary of State. California Secretary of State. By Debra Bowen. California Secretary of State, November 2, 2010. Web. August 10, 2011. <"Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 18, 2012. Retrieved November 19, 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)>.
  9. Archived March 20, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  10. "Editorial: At least a few at Capitol embrace some sunshine - Editoria…". archive.is. September 10, 2012. Archived from the original on September 10, 2012.
  11. "About the Rodel Fellowship Program".
  12. "Mom of California Teen Living With Teacher Pushes for Bill Banning Student-Teacher Dating - ABC News". Abcnews.go.com. March 28, 2012. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  13. Archived April 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  14. "California Legislature's gut-and-amend bills avoid scrutiny". Presstelegram.com. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  15. Sanders, Jim. "Capitol Alert: Bill to require more legislative transparency dies in Assembly". Blogs.sacbee.com. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  16. "Kristin Olsen | Committee Membership". Arc.asm.ca.gov. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
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