Areas of Expertise
Legislative and Administrative Advocacy
Tim has been a registered lobbyist in the California Legislature since 2007. In that time, Tim has gotten countless tough legislation signed into law. Tim relishes consequential legislation that will have a meaningful impact on the lives and finances of Californians. The most impactful legislation is often the hardest to pass. For instance, Tim has worked on defeating tobacco companies for more than a decade. Despite more than $250 million in political spending against policies Tim has worked on, the public health community has prevailed.
Through Tim’s leadership at the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, tobacco legislation that had stalled for over a decade finally passed during a 2016 special session.
AB 7 X2 (Stone) - Closed loopholes in smoke-free workplace laws, including hotel lobbies, small businesses, and break rooms.
AB 9 X2 (Thurmond) - Required all schools to be tobacco-free.
AB 11 X2 (Nazarian) - Established an annual Board of Equalization tobacco licensing fee program.
SB 5 X2 (Leno) - Added e-cigarettes to existing tobacco products definition.
SB 7 X2 (Hernandez) - Increased age of sale for tobacco products to 21.
In 2020, Tim helped pass SB 793 (Hill) which prohibits the sale of flavored tobacco products.
Local Advocacy
Tim has overseen passage of more than 100 local ordinances. He is a believer in starting at the local level in the toughest fights. Building a groundswell of support across the state by passing local ordinances is a recipe for success in passing impactful state legislation. A sampling of recent successes include ordinances to prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco products in urban centers like Sacramento, Los Angeles County, Oakland and San Francisco, as well as rural locations like Oroville, Santa Maria and Adelanto.
Most recently Tim led the effort to pass ordinances with funded opposition in Santa Ana, San Jose and Sacramento County.
Ballot Initiatives
Tim started his political career with a political direct mail firm in Washington DC during the 2000 election cycle and has never looked back. He has served in leadership roles in three statewide ballot initiatives as well as many other local initiatives. Tim managed the field campaign for Proposition 29 in 2012 which was narrowly defeated (Yes 49.8%/No 50.2%) in one of the closest initiatives in California history despite being outspent four to one by the tobacco companies.
Recent successes include:
Yes on Proposition 56 in 2016 (64.4% Yes/35.6% No) with $71 million spent to defeat it
Yes on Proposition E in San Francisco in 2017 (68.4% Yes/31.6% No) with $11 million spent to defeat it
No on Proposition C in San Francisco in 2018 (18.2% Yes/81.8% No) with $16 million spent to pass it
Strategic Communications
Tim has substantial experience advocating through earned media, and has appeared in more than 300 media clips since 2014. Whether the communications channel is TV, radio, print, online or podcast, he is a powerful advocate for the causes he represents. Tim can act directly as a persuasive spokesperson, and also lead an overall strategic communications effort. He has experience recruiting knowledgeable spokespeople and deploying them appropriately. He has written countless op-eds and has a keen sense of media strategy.
Below is a sampling of media clips:
San Francisco Chronicle Article “ A fine on kids who vape? Some California cities want it”
Center for Public Integrity Article "How Big Tobacco lobbies to safeguard e-cigarettes"
Innovative Campaigns
Tim has the creativity and strategic expertise to develop effective campaign strategies that influence legislators and candidates to support legislative positions. These are two of the most successful examples.
Tim led the Snuff Tobacco Money out of California Politics Campaign for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. Since the program launched in 2014, Speaker Rendon and 43 other current and former legislators have signed the pledge. Governor Newsom and five other current constitutional officers have also signed. There was tremendous media response to the campaign, with Tim serving as the chief spokesperson and conducting a high volume of interviews. The substantial print, TV and radio coverage was the springboard for getting a historic package of tobacco-control bills signed into law in 2016, which today are driving down both tobacco use and the health costs associated with tobacco-related diseases.
Tim conceived of and led the Medi-Cal Promise Campaign for the 2018 general election, soliciting promises from California's US House candidates to oppose any legislation reducing Medi-Cal services. There were 23 candidates who accepted the “Medi-Cal Promise”. The campaign focused on the districts where all seven new Members of Congress in 2018 were elected.
Regulatory Advocacy
Although they're not always high profile, significant public policy victories can also be achieved through regulatory advocacy. Tim has experience successfully navigating Sacramento regulatory institutions such as the California Department of Public Health, CalPERS, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, and the California Department of Education.