Karen Bass
Mayor of Los Angeles since 2022
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| February 21 2025 | Bass fired Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, claiming the department was unprepared for the Palisades Fire, a decision that was widely criticized. |
| January 9 2025 | Bass defended her budget cuts to the fire department, stating that no reductions impacted the fire situation. |
| January 2025 | During the Southern California wildfires, Bass was in Ghana attending John Mahama's presidential inauguration, drawing criticism for being abroad during a local emergency. |
| July 2024 | Housing advocates sued the city of Los Angeles for blocking the construction of 140 units of affordable housing in Venice. |
| April 21 2024 | A person breaks into the Getty House where Bass is living as Mayor of Los Angeles, but Bass and her family are unharmed and the suspect is quickly apprehended. |
| 2023 | Bass voiced support for Israel during the Gaza war. |
| October 2023 | Bass reversed her previous support and expressed opposition to tearing down the Marina Freeway. |
| September 2023 | Bass initially expressed support for tearing down the Marina Freeway to replace it with housing. |
| June 2023 | Bass signed an order to expedite processing for affordable housing developments in Los Angeles. |
| 2022 | Bass condemned the military offensive in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War and expressed support for providing humanitarian assistance to Artsakh, facilitating negotiations, and replacing Russian troops with international peacekeepers. |
| December 12 2022 | Bass officially assumed office as Mayor of Los Angeles. |
| December 11 2022 | Bass was ceremonially sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris at a public inauguration event. |
| December 10 2022 | Karen Bass was officially sworn in as Mayor of Los Angeles by the Los Angeles City Clerk, becoming the first woman and second Black person to serve in this role. |
| November 16 2022 | The Associated Press declared Karen Bass the mayor-elect of Los Angeles after defeating Rick Caruso in the November runoff election. |
| September 14 2022 | Two suspects are detained at the LAPD Valley Jail in connection with the burglary of Bass's home. |
| September 9 2022 | Bass's Los Angeles home is burglarized, with two firearms stolen from a secure location. |
| June 7 2022 | Bass was the top vote earner in the Los Angeles mayoral primary election. |
| 2021 | Bass voted for the second impeachment of President Donald Trump. |
| 2021 | Completed her term as Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus after two years of leadership. |
| September 2021 | Negotiations between Republican and Democratic senators on police reform legislation collapsed, effectively halting progress on the police reform bill. |
| September 27 2021 | Karen Bass announced her candidacy for mayor of Los Angeles, focusing her campaign on addressing homelessness and preventing homeless encampments near schools and public spaces. |
| 2020 | Co-authored the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act with Representative Jerry Nadler in response to George Floyd's murder and nationwide protests. The bill aimed to reform police practices by restricting chokeholds, carotid holds, and no-knock warrants, and establishing easier prosecution of law enforcement for legal violations. |
| 2020 | Bass signed a letter with over 115 House Democrats criticizing Israel's plan to annex parts of Palestinian territory in the occupied West Bank. |
| 2020 | Bass publicly defended her 2010 speech at a Scientology establishment, explaining her remarks and acknowledging subsequent criticisms of the organization. |
| November 2020 | Biden considered Bass for Cabinet positions in Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and Secretary of Health and Human Services, though she was ultimately not selected for these roles. |
| July 2020 | Karen Bass was discussed as a potential running mate for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, gaining significant traction in the vice presidential selection process. |
| 2019 | Introduced the Student Loan Fairness Act of 2019, proposing three major reforms to address student loan debt: creating a new '10-10' standard, capping interest rates, and accounting for the cost of living. |
| 2019 | Collaborated with Danny Davis to introduce the Financial Aid Fairness for Students (FAFSA) Act, aimed at repealing restrictions on federal financial aid for individuals with drug convictions. |
| 2019 | Bass voted for the first impeachment of President Donald Trump. |
| 2019 | Bass voted in favor of the Equality Act, a legislative effort to comprehensively ban discrimination against LGBTQ people across multiple areas of public life including housing, employment, education, and financial services. |
| 2019 | Bass began her term as Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, serving until 2021. |
| 2018 | Bass voted in favor of the First Step Act, a criminal justice reform bill that aimed to rehabilitate prisoners and included her specific provision prohibiting the shackling of pregnant women during pregnancy, labor, and delivery. |
| 2018 | The Los Angeles Stonewall Democratic Club named Karen Bass as its Public Official of the Year, recognizing her contributions and support. |
| 2018 | Bass created the Sea Change Leadership PAC to activate, educate, and mobilize voters in response to Trump's election, channeling political frustrations of Angelenos. |
| 2018 | Bass won her primary election with 89.18% of the vote and was subsequently reelected to a fifth term with 88.2% of the vote. |
| November 28 2018 | Karen Bass was elected chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, marking a significant leadership role in the congressional representative body focused on African American legislators. |
| November 28 2018 | Bass supported Nancy Pelosi for speaker after being approached as a potential alternative leader. Pelosi ultimately won the speakership with a 203-to-32 vote. |
| February 9 2018 | Family First Prevention Services Act signed into law as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act, aimed at reforming child welfare systems and addressing reasons children are removed from their homes. |
| 2012 | Redistricting moved Bass to representing California's 37th congressional district. |
| May 2012 | Bass initiated the annual Foster Youth Shadow Day, a program where foster youth come to Washington, DC to learn about child welfare system advocacy and spend a day following members of Congress. |
| 2010 | First elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing California's 33rd congressional district. |
This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia article Karen Bass, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.