Wave Staff and Wire Reports
LOS ANGELES — Assemblywoman Autumn R. Burke has resigned her post, effective Feb. 1.
She announced her resignation Jan. 31, saying “I feel it is of the utmost importance that I have the flexibility and ability to spend more time with my family.”
In a letter to her 62nd Assembly District constituents announcing her resignation, Burke wrote that the COVID-19 pandemic “has affected the lives and consciousness of everyone and I am no exception.”
“Serving as your representative has been a true privilege — one that I have taken seriously,” Burke wrote. “This has been one of the she had hoped to finish out this, her fourth term, which expires in December, “but circumstances have recently changed.”
The 48-year-old Burke is the mother of a daughter, Isabella, whose signature was next to her mother’s on the letter announcing her resignation.
Burke was elected in 2014, and reelected three times. She chaired the Committee on Revenue and Taxation and the Select Committee on Career Technical Education and Building a 21st Century Workforce.
She is the daughter of former Los Angeles County Supervisor, Assemblywoman and U.S. Rep. Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and William Burke, a former chairman of the South Coast Air Quality Management District Governing Board.
Her election in 2014 marked the first time a mother and daughter had both served in the Assembly. Her mother was the first member of Congress to give birth while in office.
In her resignation letter, Burke cited the following accomplishments:
- The 2016 passage of the Lifting Children and Families Out of Poverty Act, which commits the Legislature to a goal of reducing child poverty by 50% over 20 years, and provides a framework of research-backed solutions to achieve it.
- The expansion of California’s Earned Income Tax Credit.
- Passing one of the state’s largest tax credits to help small businesses.
- Passage of the Transformative Climate Communities legislation which she wrote “demonstrated that environmental policies can, in many ways, create opportunities for our urban communities.
- And passage of the Reproductive Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care and Transparency Act, which requires licensed facilities that provide family planning and pregnancy-related services to inform patients about available assistance for affordable contraception, abortion and prenatal care, including how to obtain that assistance.
Burke wrote that after leaving the Assembly, she would continue “to work passionately for the issues most pressing for the state of California.”
“At the forefront of my work, I will continue to focus on lifting African Americans by helping grow the Black voice throughout the entire political process and at all levels of government,” Burke wrote.
State Sen. Steven Bradford, who represents much of the area that Burke does and heads the California Legislative Black Caucus, thanked Burke for her years of service in the Legislature.
“It was an honor to watch her evolve as a legislator and fight beside her to improve the lives of Black Californians,” Bradford said in a statement. “On behalf of our caucus, I want to wish Assemblywoman Burke and her daughter, Isabella, all the best.
“We look forward to continuing our partnership fighting for justice and increasing Black representation in all levels of government.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom could schedule a special election to fill the remaining 10 months of Burke’s term. The Assembly seat, which serves Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo and Gardena, the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Westchester, Playa del Rey, Playa Vista, Venice, and Del Rey, and the unincorporated communities of Del Aire, West Athens, Lennox, Westmont and Marina del Rey will be up for grabs in the June primary election.
