michael-feuer-100.gif

Michael Feuer

City Attorney

Mike Feuer was elected Los Angeles City Attorney this May. He recently served six years in the California State Assembly where he was Chair of the Assembly Judiciary Committee and wrote some of the state's most important public safety, children's health, consumer protection and environmental laws. Mike authored the law requiring convicted drunk drivers in Los Angeles and other counties to install ignition interlocks in their vehicles, preventing cars from starting unless their drivers are sober. He wrote the Crime Gun Identification Act, supported by more than sixty police chiefs, requiring that new semi-automatic hand guns be microstamped so that bullet casings are imprinted with data establishing who purchased the gun that fired them. He authored the law encouraging Good Samaritans to intervene in emergencies by immunizing them from lawsuits when they act responsibly. After the scandal at Penn State, Mike wrote the law protecting children by requiring college employees to report suspected child abuse. Mike wrote legislation requiring California insurance companies to insure children with pre-existing conditions, imposing tough penalties on those who don�t. He also fought to give California officials the authority to reject excessive health insurance rate increases. Mike�s the author of the most comprehensive state law in the nation to get cancer-causing chemicals out of consumer products. A champion for senior citizens, Mike jointly authored the legislation requiring nursing homes to post their quality of care ratings and led the effort to provide emergency funding to the only state program to investigate nursing home abuse and neglect.In the wake of the foreclosure crisis Mike jointly-authored the Homeowners� Bill of Rights, the groundbreaking legislation providing homeowners confronting foreclosure significant rights, including the ability to sue a lender who violates the law. Mike also wrote the law requiring a summary of foreclosure documents to be translated into the borrower�s primary language, enabling more families to take timely steps to save their homes. Protecting homeowners has been one of Mike�s priorities since his days as a public interest lawyer, where he led efforts to combat home equity fraud targeting seniors. Acutely aware of Los Angeles� traffic congestion problems and the need for mass transit infrastructure improvements to help alleviate traffic, Mike introduced and helped pass legislation that placed Measure R, the mass transit measure on the 2008 ballot. The measure won passage, and aims to ease traffic, improve Los Angeles County�s mass transportation system, all while creating thousands of jobs that will help grow the local economy. Mike authored and helped pass an extension of the measure which was approved by voters (Measure J) in November. Mike is also a longstanding advocate of equal rights for all people. He was a co-author of legislation to establish marriage equality in California and wrote the law assuring same-sex couples won�t be impoverished when one spouse enters a nursing home. As a pro bono attorney he drafted briefs in a California Supreme Court case establishing key adoption rights of same-sex couples and as a legislator led efforts in both houses to file a friend-of-the-court brief urging the state Supreme Court to overturn Prop 8. A national leader on providing everyone basic access to justice, Mike wrote the Sargent Shriver Civil Counsel Act, creating a pilot project making counsel more widely available where basic necessities of life are at stake. Mike has also written legislation with international implications. To help deter Iran�s nuclear ambitions, he jointly authored the Iran Contracting Act, precluding California from doing business with companies that have substantial interests in Iran�s energy sector. The Financial Times reported the law is already having an impact on international companies� behavior toward Iran.Mike previously served for six years on the Los Angeles City Council, where he wrote some of the toughest laws in the nation to curb gun violence, fought successfully for anti-gang and after-school programs, and funded jobs for disadvantaged youth. He initiated L.A.�s 3-1-1 non-emergency services system, improving 9-1-1 response times and making L.A. government much more effective. Mike was the Council�s leader on ethics reform and spearheaded business tax reforms. He chaired successful Council efforts to deliver on-time, balanced budgets and championed gender equity, the rights of disabled people, senior citizens and children. Prior to his work on the City Council, Mike directed one of the nation�s leading public interest law firms, Bet Tzedek Legal Services (The House of Justice). Under Mike�s leadership, Bet Tzedek helped more than 50,000 indigent, primarily elderly or disabled clients on crucial cases involving nursing home abuse, consumer fraud, access to health care, housing, Holocaust restitution and more. The Los Angeles Daily Journal wrote that he turned Bet Tzedek into a "national success story," and named him one of "California�s 100 Most Influential Attorneys." Mike has also taught at the UCLA School of Law and the UCLA School of Public Affairs. He practiced law at two of the nation�s leading firms, Hufstedler, Miller, Carlson & Beardsley and Morrison & Foerster. Mike has also been a commentator on NPR member station KPCC. He began his career as a judicial clerk for California Supreme Court Justice Joseph Grodin.He has received numerous awards reflecting the breadth of his achievements as a legislator and lawyer from organizations including the Judicial Council of California, California State Sheriffs� Association, California Judges Association, Women Against Gun Violence, Legal Community Against Violence, Consumer Federation of California, Civil Justice Association of California, Consumer Attorneys of California, Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (California chapter), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, California Senior Legislature, Jewish Family Service, the Congress of California Seniors, American Red Cross (California chapter), Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California, Sierra Club California, Planning and Conservation League, California League of Conservation Voters, Equality California and many others. A Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College and cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, Mike and his wife, Gail Ruderman Feuer, have been married for twenty-nine years. Their children, Aaron and Danielle, attend college.