Hilda Solis
Supervisor Hilda L. Solis was sworn in for her third term as Los Angeles County supervisor for the First District of Los Angeles County on December 5, 2022, having first taken office on December 1, 2014.
As supervisor for the First District, equity has guided her, and she has enacted significant changes to assist and uplift the most vulnerable residents. This includes accelerating the County’s efforts to combat homelessness, authoring the groundbreaking Measure A to invest in communities without open green space, reimaging public safety by investing in ‘Care First, Jails Last,’ expanding healthcare access in areas of need and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prior to becoming Supervisor, she served as Secretary of Labor. Supervisor Solis was confirmed on February 24, 2009, becoming the first Latina to serve in the United States cabinet. Before that, Solis represented the 32nd Congressional District in California, a position she held from 2001 to 2009.
In Congress, Solis’ priorities included expanding access to affordable health care, protecting the environment and improving the lives of working families. A recognized leader on clean energy jobs, she authored the Green Jobs Act, which provided funding for “green” collar job training for veterans, displaced workers, at-risk youth and individuals in families under 200 percent of the federal poverty line.
In 2007, Solis was appointed to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the Helsinki Commission), as well as the Mexico-United States Interparliamentary Group. In June 2007, she was elected vice chair of the Helsinki Commission’s General Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions. She was the only U.S. elected official to serve on this committee.
Additionally, Solis’ public service spanned across the Rio Hondo Board of Trustees, both chambers of the California State Legislature, and the House of Representatives. She broke the glass ceiling repeatedly by becoming the first Latina ever elected to the State Senate.
A nationally recognized leader on the environment, Solis became the first woman to receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 2000 for her pioneering work on environmental justice issues. Her California environmental justice legislation, enacted in 1999, was the first of its kind in the nation to become law.
Solis graduated from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and earned a Master of Public Administration from the University of Southern California. A former federal employee, she worked in the Carter White House Office of Hispanic Affairs and was later appointed as a management analyst with the Office of Management and Budget in the Civil Rights Division.
