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Title: Robert J. Campbell Papers
Dates: 1975-1996
Collection number: LP400
Creator:
Robert J. Campbell, California Legislator
Collection Size:
15 cubic feet
Repository:
California State Archives
Sacramento, California
Abstract: Robert J. Campbell, a Democrat, was elected to the California State Assembly in 1980 to represent the Eleventh Assembly District.
The Robert J. Campbell Papers consist of 15 cubic feet of records reflecting the interests and political activities of Assembly
Member Campbell during his 16 years in the California State Legislature.
Physical location: California State Archives
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Collection is open for research.
For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the California State Archives. Permission for reproduction or publication
is given on behalf of the California State Archives as the owner of the physical items. The researcher assumes all responsibility
for possible infringement which may arise from reproduction or publication of materials from the California State Archives
collections.
[Identification of item], Robert J. Campbell Papers, LP400:[folder number], California State Archives, Office of the Secretary
of State, Sacramento, California.
Acquisition and Custodial History
The California State Archives acquired the Robert J. Campbell Papers following his final term in the State Legislature.
California legislator Robert J. Campbell was born December 20, 1937 in Los Angeles. His family moved to Richmond, in the San
Francisco Bay Area, when Campbell was a child, and he attended high school there. His undergraduate work was done at Contra
Costa College and San Francisco State University, where he played on the football team and received his Bachelor of Arts degree
in 1961. Three years later, he received his Master of Arts in History from the University of California, Berkeley and taught
history courses there for two years. Campbell served in the U.S. Army and California National Guard from 1961 to 1972. After
teaching, he worked in the insurance industry in Richmond, becoming president and chief stockholder of a prominent company
in 1980.
His interest in politics began in college; in 1959 and 1960, he volunteered for John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign. Subsequently
he worked on the election campaigns of Richmond Councilmember Ned Bates, State Assembly Member John Knox, U.S. Representative
George Miller and U.S. Senator Alan Cranston. In 1975, Campbell was elected to the Richmond City Council, his first experience
in elective office. During his tenure on the City Council, he served as Richmond's representative on the Association of Bay
Area Governments (ABAG) Legislative and Government Committee.
In 1980, he won election to the California State Assembly, representing the Eleventh Assembly District. It was a heavily Democratic
district, meaning that the only real contest was in the June primary, which Campbell won by a vote of 58 to 42 percent. He
defeated his Republican challenger in the November general election by 68 to 23 percent; he was reelected with little or no
opposition consistently for the remainder of his Assembly career. When term limits forced Campbell to retire from the Assembly
in 1996, he ran for the State Senate from the Ninth Senatorial District, but lost the Democratic primary to fellow Assembly
Member Barbara Lee, by 60 to 40 percent.
Assembly Member Campbell's legislative priorities were education and environmental protection. He chaired the Ways and Means
Subcommittee on Education, the main subcommittee dealing with education funding, for six years (1985-1991) and served on the
Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee for fifteen years (1981-1995).
The Eleventh Assembly District during Campbell's tenure was located entirely in Contra Costa County, and contained the cities
of Hercules, Martinez, Pinole, Pittsburg, Richmond, and San Pablo. It was an overwhelmingly Democratic district, with voter
registration ranging from 54 to 66 percent Democratic during Campbell's service in the Assembly.
During his legislative career, Campbell served on the following committees:
Standing Committees
Agriculture, 1981-1982
Consumer Protection and Toxic Materials, 1983-1984
*Vice Chair, 1983-1984
Education, 1981-1988
Elections and Reapportionment, 1981-1982
Health, 1996
Higher Education, 1991-1994
Housing and Community Development, 1995-1996
*Vice Chair, 1996
Policy Research Management, 1989-1990
*Chair, 1989-1990
Public Safety, 1985-1988
Revenue and Taxation, 1991-1992
Transportation, 1995-1996
Water, Parks and Wildlife, 1981-1995
Ways and Means, 1983-1991, 1993-1996
Subcommittees
Ways and Means Subcommittee on Education, 1985-1990
*Chair, 1985-1990
Joint Committees
Joint Legislative Audit Committee, 1996
*Chair, 1996
Joint Legislative Budget Committee, 1991-1994
Select Committees
Select Committee on California-Mexico Affairs, 1991-1996
The Robert J. Campbell Papers consist of 15 cubic feet of records reflecting the interests and political activities of Assembly
Member Campbell during his 16 years in the California State Legislature. The records are divided into six series: bill files,
subject files, correspondence, press releases, and proposed legislation files.
The bill files are the most comprehensive series in this collection; most of them contain bill analyses from multiple committees
and state agencies, proposed and enacted amendments, transcripts of committee testimony on their behalf, press releases, newspaper
clippings, and correspondence.
Prominent environmental legislation authored by Campbell included Assembly Bill 384 of the 1983-1984 session, which created
a check-off field on California state income tax forms for taxpayers to contribute to the Endangered and Rare Fish, Wildlife,
and Plant Species Conservation and Enhancement Account; and Assembly Bill 3270 of the 1985-1986 session, which made it easier
for citizens and interest groups to petition the Fish and Game Commission to designate new plant and animal species as endangered
or threatened. Feeling that environmentalists were underrepresented on the state Fish and Game Commission, Campbell authored
two failed Assembly Constitutional Amendments which would have changed the structure of the Commission: ACA 44 of the 1987-1988
session, and ACA 51 of the 1989-1990 session.
In the field of education, Campbell was particularly interested in California's higher education systems. He coauthored, with
State Senator John Seymour, the Seymour-Campbell Matriculation Act of 1986, which was encompassed by Campbell's Assembly Bill
3 of 1985-1986 (available in the Campbell papers) and Seymour's Senate Bill 1171 of the same session (not available in the
Campbell papers, but extensive information is contained in the AB 3 file). This legislation provided statutory authorization
for community college matriculation programs, defined such programs, and set minimum standards of services for colleges choosing
to provide them. In an attempt to offset budget cuts to the community college system, he authored Assembly Bill 2782 of the
1991-1992 session, which required community college students with a bachelor's degree to pay an additional $50 fee; according
to Who's Who in the California Legislature, 1995-96, this legislation may have caused 60,000 students to drop out.
Public concern over salaries and bonuses paid to University of California (UC) chancellors and administrators caused Campbell
to propose Assembly Constitutional Amendment 11 in the 1993-1994 session, which would have increased legislative oversight
of the UC Board of Regents, while also modifying the Board's composition and the Regents' terms of office.
His interest in increased K-12 education funding led him to author Assembly Bill 1168 of the 1995-1996 session, a school facilities
bond measure which was placed before the voters as Proposition 203 in the March 1996 statewide primary election, and passed
by a margin of 62 to 38 percent. A more controversial bill regarding K-12 education was Assembly Bill 3037 of the 1981-1982
legislative session, which required those applying for teaching credentials to disclose any prior criminal history.
Some of the most controversial issues Campbell dealt with were local concerns. His Assembly Bill 2226 of the 1981-1982 session
authorized the development of a senior housing complex in El Cerrito, using private funds but on property paid for by the
state; it was very controversial, and Campbell received a high volume of correspondence both in favor of and opposed to it.
Also controversial was his proposal to have the state bail out the Richmond Unified School District, which was on the verge
of bankruptcy, with an emergency loan; this passed and was signed into law as Assembly Bill 128 of the 1991-1992 session.
Another area of interest for Campbell was Native American issues. In the 1981-1982 legislative session, he authored a failed
proposal (Assembly Bill 3312) to classify the disturbance of Native American burial sites as a felony. More successful was
his Assembly Bill 2477 of the 1989-1990 session, which reauthorized the statewide American Indian Early Childhood program,
to help Native American children succeed in public schools.
Researchers studying animal rights legislation in California may be interested in Campbell's Assembly Bill 1058 of the 1993-1994
session, which proposed banning the force-feeding of ducks to produce pate foie gras for human consumption. Although it failed
to pass during Campbell's tenure, this remained a contentious issue in California for many years, and a similar bill passed
in the 2003-2004 session: Senate Bill 1520 (Burton).
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Campbell, Robert J.
Education
Environmental protection