Brian Dahle

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Brian Dahle
Member of the California Senate from the 1st district
Incumbent
Assumed office June 12, 2019[1]
Preceded by	Ted Gaines
Minority Leader of the California Assembly
In office September 16, 2017 – November 8, 2018
Preceded by	Chad Mayes
Succeeded by	Marie Waldron
Member of the California State Assembly from the 1st district
In office December 3, 2012 – June 12, 2019
Preceded by	Jim Nielsen (redistricted)
Succeeded by	Megan Dahle
Member of the Lassen County Board of Supervisors
In office 1996–2012
Personal details
Born	(1965-09-20) September 20, 1965 (age 55) Redding, California, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Megan Dahle (m. 1999)
Children	3
Residence	Bieber, California, U.S.[2]
Website	State Senate website

Brian Dahle (born September 20, 1965) is an American politician serving in the California State Senate. He is a Republican representing the 1st district,^[3] encompassing the Shasta Cascade region and the northern Sierra Nevada. Prior to being elected to the state Legislature, he was a Lassen County Supervisor for 16 years. He was first elected to the Assembly in 2012,^[4] and re-elected in 2014,^[5] 2016,^[6] and 2018. On June 4, 2019, Dahle won a special election to fill the State Senate seat vacated by Ted Gaines, who resigned after his election to the California Board of Equalization.^[7]

Background[]

Dahle is a third-generation farmer, business owner, and father. Before running for the State Legislature, Dahle was a Lassen County Supervisor and a full-time farmer in rural Northern California who raises cereal crops for seed.^[8]

Supervisor[]

Elected to the Lassen County Board of Supervisors in 1996, Brian helped ensure that the Lassen County budget was balanced. While he served as a supervisor, he helped them become completely debt free.

State Legislature[]

Dahle was first elected to the State Assembly in November 2012 with 65.6% of the vote. He was reelected in 2014 with 70.2% of the vote, and again in 2016 with 73.76%.

He was appointed Vice Chair of the Assembly Environmental and Toxic Materials Committee, the Revenue and Taxation Committee, and the Natural Resources Committee. He has also served as a member of the following Committees: Agriculture, Water, Parks and Wildlife, Privacy and Consumer Protection, Utilities and Commerce, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Insurance, and Business and Professions. `

Dahle was appointed in 2018 by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon to serve on the Subcommittee on Sexual Harassment Prevention and Response, which is working to improve services for staff in the Capitol.

Dahle was elected by his Assembly Republican colleagues to serve as their Leader on August 24, 2017. He served in this leadership role from September 15, 2017 to November 8, 2018.

Dahle took office as a State Senator on June 12, 2019.^[9]

Legislative Accomplishments[]

Dahle has introduced several bills while he was in the State Assembly, which have been signed into law.

• Assembly Bill 354 (2013), required local initiatives to disclose how the measure qualified for the ballot -- whether that was by voter petitions or by being placed by the local government.
• Assembly Bill 744 (2013) addressed the need for forest fuel reduction in response to catastrophic fires in California by establishing a fuel reduction pilot program, establishing a three-year pilot project to increase the diameter of tree, increasing the size of trees that can be removed, and directing state agencies to work together to develop regionally appropriate forest restoration processes.
• Assembly Bill 2363 (2014) directed the California Public Utilities Commission to calculate the integration cost of different sources of “green” power to ensure ratepayers get the best deal for their renewable electricity dollar.
• Assembly Bill 2082 (2014) authorized the Board of Forestry to set stocking standards based on the specific landscape and species needs, and to take into account the vastly improved survival rates of today's seedlings.
• Assembly Bill 2112 (2014). The law fixes the Public Resources Code to allow landowners more time to extend Timber Harvest Plans. The law previously allowed no more than a 30-day window for filing notice to extend Timber Harvest Plans, leaving landowners at great risk of having their plans – which can easily cost $30,000 to $40,000 to complete – expire and need to be rewritten simply because of trivial paperwork oversights. The law now allows a 140-day window to ask for an extension.
• Assembly Bill 2029 (2016) reduces some of the regulation and red tape on landowners working to thin the timber on their property to reduce fire danger.
• Assembly Bill 1665 (2017) sets a goal of providing broadband access to 98 percent of California households. Assembly Bill 1665 will strengthen the California Advanced Services Fund, which supports modern communications infrastructure in underserved areas.

All of these bills received bi-partisan support and were signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown.

Criticism[]

In June 2019, after winning his seat in the California State Senate, Dahle held "Faith and Values Town Hall" at Bethel Church in Redding. While elected officials are expected to reach out to their constituents, Dahle's former opponent, Silke Pflueger, criticised him, saying it was inappropriate for an elected official to invite a selected group to a town hall meeting and to then hold that meeting on that group's site. While Dahle's office pushed back that the invitation was open to the public, it included the text, "Christians from local churches are invited." Redding's demographic is 73% non-religious, where two-thirds of the religious population are adherents to Protestantism.^[10] In response to a request for comment, a co-speaker at the event, Redding Mayor Winter responded, "I want to say, for the record, that I wholeheartedly agree with the principle of the separation of church and state." Adding, "That does not mean that people of faith should not be involved in government."^[11]

Personal life[]

The son and grandson of a farmer, Dahle grew up in rural Northern California, in Lassen County. His family history dates back to their original homestead farm in the 1930s in the Tulelake area of Siskiyou County.

Their present Lassen County farm, in Bieber, California, was purchased in the 1940s by Brian's grandparents and has remained as the family farm since that time.

He married his wife Megan in 1999. When his parents retired, Dahle and his wife purchased the farm. He and his wife have three children.^{[citation needed]}

Caucus membership[]

• California Senate Republican Caucus
• Legislative Outdoor Sporting Caucus
• Legislative Rural Caucus

2012 California State Assembly[]

California State Assembly election, 2012

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Brian Dahle	41,384	34.2
	Republican	Rick Bosetti	34,457	28.5
	Democratic	Robert Meacher	31,120	25.8
	Green	David Edwards	7,381	6.1
	Libertarian	Charley Hooper	6,503	5.4
Total votes			120,845	100.0
General election
	Republican	Brian Dahle	116,098	65.6
	Republican	Rick Bosetti	60,920	34.4
Total votes			177,018	100.0
	Republican hold

2014 California State Assembly[]

California's 1st State Assembly district election, 2014

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Brian Dahle (incumbent)	65,466	69.5
	Democratic	Brigham Sawyer Smith	28,688	30.5
Total votes			94,154	100.0
General election
	Republican	Brian Dahle (incumbent)	104,103	70.2
	Democratic	Brigham Sawyer Smith	44,119	29.8
Total votes			148,222	100.0
	Republican hold

2016 California State Assembly[]

California's 1st State Assembly district election, 2016

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Brian Dahle (incumbent)	103,500	99.6
	Libertarian	Donn Coenen (write-in)	446	0.4
Total votes			103,946	100.0
General election
	Republican	Brian Dahle (incumbent)	148,657	73.8
	Libertarian	Donn Coenen	52,871	26.2
Total votes			201,528	100.0
	Republican hold

2018 California State Assembly[]

California's 1st State Assembly district election, 2018

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Brian Dahle (incumbent)	82,916	64.1
	Democratic	Caleen Sisk	30,902	23.9
	Democratic	Peter Van Peborgh	11,446	8.9
	No party preference	Jenny O'Connell-Nowain	3,987	3.1
	No party preference	Jerome B.C. Venus (write-in)	9	0.0
Total votes			129,260	100.0
General election
	Republican	Brian Dahle (incumbent)	125,227	63.0
	Democratic	Caleen Sisk	73,449	37.0
Total votes			198,676	100.0
	Republican hold

2019 California State Senate special election[]

2019 California's 1st State Senate district special election
Vacancy resulting from the resignation of Ted Gaines^[12]

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Brian Dahle	57,725	29.6
	Republican	Kevin Kiley	54,290	27.9
	Democratic	Silke Pflueger	49,164	25.2
	Republican	Rex Hime	18,050	9.3
	Democratic	Steve Baird	10,855	5.6
	Republican	Theodore Dziuba	4,672	2.4
Total votes			194,756	100.0
General election
	Republican	Brian Dahle	70,556	53.1
	Republican	Kevin Kiley	62,259	46.9
Total votes			132,815	100.0
	Republican hold

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Join California Brian Dahle

California Assembly
Preceded by Chad Mayes	Minority Leader of the California Assembly 2017–2018	Succeeded by Marie Waldron