November 26, 2012
    • 11/26/2012--Speaker John A. Pérez Appoints San Mateo County 
    Supervisor Carole Groom to the California Coastal Commission 

     

    SACRAMENTO - Today Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) announced the appointment of San Mateo 

    County Supervisor Carole Groom to the 12-member California Coastal Commission, after a deliberative 

    and comprehensive process of screening nominees for the post. 

     

    “I am pleased to have found such an outstanding candidate to serve on the California Coastal 

    Commission in Carole Groom,” said Speaker Pérez. “She has earned a reputation for being an effective 

    leader who makes thoughtful decisions, and I trust that she will work to protect California’s pristine 

    coastline as well as the people who live and work in coastal communities.” 

     

    Groom was elected to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors in June 2010 and served one year as 

    President of the Board in 2011. Prior to Supervisor Groom’s appointment in 2009, she served nine years 

    on the San Mateo City Council, including two terms as Mayor, and on the San Mateo Planning and Public 

    Works Commissions. 

     

    Supervisor Groom currently serves on the boards of various regional planning organizations, including 

    the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the San Mateo County Transportation Authority and 

    SamTrans. 

     

    “I want to thank Speaker Pérez for this tremendous honor,” said Groom. “I look forward to serving on 

    the California Coastal Commission and ensuring that all sides are brought to the table as we chart a 

    course to protect our shared precious resources.” 

     

    “I've worked on a number of issues with Carole. Sometimes we have agreed, and sometimes not, but 

    she has always been accessible and thoughtful,” said Lennie Roberts, a Sierra Club member and activist 

    in the San Mateo coastal region that works on coastal issues with the Committee for Green Foothills. “I 

    am confident that in this new role, she will thoughtfully weigh the issues, do her homework, and be 

    sensitive to environmental protection needs along the coast.” 

     

    “Supervisor Groom is a consensus builder. As a Supervisor and City Council Member she's displayed that 

    she knows how to cut through the tape, bring people together and find consensus based solutions,” said 

    Shelley Kessler, Executive Secretary Treasurer of San Mateo Central Labor Council. “I applaud Speaker 

    Pérez's appointment of Supervisor Groom to the Coastal Commission.” 

     

    “I have worked with Supervisor Groom for many years on a variety of complex land-use issues” said 

    Linda Asbury, President and CEO of the San Mateo Area Chamber of Commerce, “She is a consensus 

    builder who invites participation from all stakeholders and is inclusive in her approach to policymaking. 

    While on the Board of Supervisors she has proven to be a stalwart environmentalist who is thorough, 

    open-minded and well-versed in the technical details before her. I am so happy that all of California will 

    now get to benefit from one of San Mateo’s finest.” 

     

    “As a Supervisor from San Mateo County, which has one of the first and one of the most resource 

    protective Local Coastal Plans in the state, Supervisor Carole Groom has a track record of working with 

    members of the community to protect natural resources and public access. She is committed to 

    applying the policies of the Coastal Act for the benefit of all Californians, the millions of people who are 

    drawn to the beauty of our unparalleled coastline every year and the wildlife that call the coast home,” 

    said Ann Notthoff, California Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council. 

     

    “Today, California's central coast won a big victory with the appointment of Supervisor Groom,” said Bill 

    Nack, Business Manager of the San Mateo County Building and Construction Trades Council. “She is a 

    straight shooter who has the experience to bring people together to sort through difficult problems." 

     

    The mission of the Coastal Commission is to protect, conserve, restore, and enhance environmental and 

    human-based resources of the California coast and ocean for environmentally sustainable and prudent 

    use by current and future generations. 

     

    The California Coastal Commission was established by voter initiative in 1972 (Proposition 20) and later 

    made permanent by the Legislature through adoption of the California Coastal Act of 1976. 

     

    The Commission is an independent, quasi-judicial state agency. The Commission is composed of twelve 

    voting members, appointed equally (four each) by the Governor, the Senate Rules Committee, and the 

    Speaker of the Assembly. Six of the voting commissioners are locally elected officials and six are appointed

    from the public at large. Three ex officio (non-voting) members represent the Resources 

    Agency, the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, and the State Lands Commission. 

     

    Groom will assume her position on the Coastal Commission on December 3, 2012.