(Sacramento) -- Speaker Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego) takes the reins of the California State Assembly as the institution's 69th Speaker. Atkins became an activist after to moving to San Diego as a young woman. She was eventually elected to the San Diego City Council. In 2010, Atkins was elected to the California State Assembly. Atkins overcame many hardships on her road to the Speakership, and she continues to break barriers as the third woman to serve, and the first openly-gay female to hold the position of Speaker. It is fitting that Speaker Atkins worked her way up from meager beginnings to lead the Assembly, often called, "the people's house."
"We are all here to do the people's business," Speaker Atkins said. "We must work to ensure stability, and that includes an adequate reserve for those rainy days when the economy again takes a downward dive. And at the same time we must expand opportunity and lift up the most vulnerable who have suffered a great deal and need us not to forget them now."
Watch this Assembly Access Video to hear excerpts from Speaker Atkins's inaugural speech. [ Ссылка ]
