Al Muratsuchi

Muratsuchi was born on September 4, 1964, and grew up on U.S. military bases in Okinawa, Japan. His father, a 2nd-generation Japanese American, was a civilian employee of the United States Army. His mother was born in Gifu Prefecture in Honshu, Japan.

Due to his father's job, he was largely raised on various military bases overseas. He attended the University of California, Berkeley and UCLA School of Law.

Muratsuchi was a prosecutor in the California Department of Justice and served as a Deputy Attorney General. He also served as the regional director of the Japanese American Citizens League Pacific Southwest District.

Legislative committee assignments

Chairman of the Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies, Chairman of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance, and Chairman of the Assembly Select Committee on Aerospace. Member of: Assembly Committee on Natural Resources, Assembly Judiciary Committee, Assembly Budget Committee, and Veterans Affairs.

Appointments to Board and Commission: California Coastal Conservancy, Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission, Governor Brown's Military Council, Inter-agency Veterans Council.

Environment

In 2020, Muratsuchi introduced AB-345, which would have required a minimum setback distance of 2,500 feet between oil wells and public areas where children are present and public notices of potential consequences to local communities.

He has said that there was strong opposition from oil and gas industry trade unions, whom the Los Angeles Times has noted are major supporters of Democratic candidates. The bill failed in the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee in a 5-4 decision. State Senator Robert Hertzberg, who made the pivotal vote, said that he opposed the bill because Governor Gavin Newsom has already signed a bill in 2019 with similar intentions of setting up buffer zones. However, Muratsuchi has noted that Newsom has not made a definite commitment to do so.

Elections

First elected to the Assembly in 2012 to represent the 66th Assembly District, Muratsuchi was narrowly defeated by Republican David Hadley during the 2014 Republican wave in an upset. In a 2016 rematch with Hadley, he reclaimed his old Assembly seat. Since then, Muratsuchi has retained the seat with comfortable electoral margins.

He was easily reelected over former Torrance Mayor Frank A. Scotto in 2018. In 2020, he was reelected by a wide margin over Arthur C. Schaper, whom the Southern Poverty Law Center called a "longtime anti-immigrant and nativist activist."

In 2022, he was reelected over former Hermosa Beach Mayor George Barks winning 59.9% to 40.1%.

Term limits prevented Muratsuchi from running for reelection to the legislature in 2026. He unsuccessfully ran for Superintendent of Public Instruction, receiving 8% of the vote and failing to advance to the top-two runoff.