WHEREAS, In 1975, Governor Jerry Brown appointed Dr. Mario Guerra Obledo as Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency. At the time, this appointment made him the highest-ranking Mexican American official in the country; and

WHEREAS, Secretary Obledo and Cesar Chavez were instrumental in the appointment of Cruz Reynoso, the first Latino on the California Supreme Court; and

WHEREAS, Secretary Obledo appointed Julian Camacho as the first Latino Director of the Department of General Services which led to a dramatic increase in minority contracting with the state and a great increase in farmworker housing; and

WHEREAS, Secretary Obledo appointed Doug Patino as the first Latino Director of the Employment Development Department and brought in innumerable Latino appointees as directors and deputy directors of departments, changing the face of state government in California; and

WHEREAS, Among his most consequential achievements, Secretary Obledo established the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) in the State Department of Health Care Services, directed by Carlos Alcala, at a time when state government employment was only 4 percent Latino, and affirmative action efforts of that period have led to a state government employment that is now 25 percent Latino. The California Civil Rights Act, the Indian Child Welfare Act, and the states bilingual pay provisions were championed by the OCR; and

WHEREAS, Secretary Obledo forever changed the appointment process for hundreds of state boards and commission membership appointments to include Latinos and other minorities; and

WHEREAS, Secretary Obledo cofounded the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) and served as its first General Counsel. MALDEF was a pioneer of single member districts that greatly increased Latino representation in school districts and cities across California and the Southwest; and

WHEREAS, Secretary Obledo also served as President of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the nation’s largest and oldest Latino civil rights organization; and

WHEREAS, Secretary Obledo served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the National Rainbow Coalition and President of the National Coalition of Latino Organizations, and cofounded the Hispanic National Bar Association and the Southwest Voter Registration Project; and

WHEREAS, Few state buildings are named after Latino contributors to California’s state government; and

WHEREAS, It is the intent of the Legislature to commemorate Secretary Mario Obledo’s many accomplishments in state government and civil rights; now, therefore, be it