California Public Policy Consultant

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 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 that a decade. Despite more than $250 million in political spending against policies Tim has worked on, the public health community has prevailed.

The most impactful legislation Tim has worked to pass so far was a package of tobacco bills in a 2016 special session.

 AB 7 X2 (Stone) - Close loopholes in smoke-free workplace laws, including hotel lobbies, small businesses, and break rooms.

AB 9 X2 (Thurmond) - Require all schools to be tobacco-free.

AB 11 X2 (Nazarian) - Establish an annual Board of Equalization tobacco licensing fee program.

SB 5 X2 (Leno) - Add e-cigarettes to existing tobacco products definition.

SB 7 X2 (Hernandez) - Increase age of sale for tobacco products to 21.

Tim has overseen passage of more than 100 local ordinances in the last five years. 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.

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 rolls 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 C in San Francisco in 2017 (68.4% Yes/31.6% No) with $11 million spent to defeat it 

• No on Proposition E 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. In fact, Tim has appeared more in more than 300 media clips over since 2014.  Whether TV, radio, print, online or podcast, Tim is a powerful advocate for the causes he represents. Not only can he be a persuasive spokesperson for a cause, he also can lead a strategic communications effort. He has experience recruiting reputable 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:

Innovative Campaigns

Tim has the creativity and strategic expertise to come up with campaign strategies to 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, 44 current and former legislators including Speaker Rendon have signed the pledge. Six current constitutional officers including Governor Newsom have also signed the pledge. Media stories shining light on legislators who accept tobacco money have bolstered numerous legislative efforts in the capitol.  

 Tim conceived of and led the Medi-Cal Promise Campaign to urge California candidates for the US House of Representatives in the 2018 general election to make a promise to oppose any legislation that would result in a reduction of services for Medi-Cal enrollees.  There were 23 candidates who accepted the “Medi-Cal Promise”. We focused our efforts on the districts where all seven new Members of Congress from California in 2018 accepted the promise.