A social justice advocate, clean energy and climate change trailblazer and accomplished legislator, Nancy Skinner was first elected to the state Senate in 2016 after completing three terms in the state Assembly. Senator Skinner currently serves as chair of the Senate Housing Committee and of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus, and is chair emeritus of the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee.

During her 14 years in the California Legislature, including eight years in the Senate and six years in the Assembly, Skinner has authored numerous groundbreaking laws, including SB 206, the Fair Pay to Play Act, making California the first state to give college athletes the right to earn money from their name, image, and likeness; SB 1421, opening up police misconduct records for the first time in 40 years; SB 1437, overhauling California’s unjust felony murder rule; and SB 330, accelerating the production of housing in the state. She also led the 2021 successful campaign making California the first state to provide two free meals a day to all public school children.

Her accomplishments in the Assembly included AB 155, requiring Amazon and other internet retailers to collect sales tax; AB 2514, launching California's world-leading effort to build large-scale battery storage for renewable energy; AB 1014, the first in the nation gun violence restraining order otherwise known as ‘red flag’ law; and AB 1930, giving college students access to federal food assistance, which has now been copied by most every state in the country. 

Skinner began her public service in 1984 as the first student elected to the Berkeley City Council. On the council, Skinner introduced the nation’s first Styrofoam ban and co-founded an international association, ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, which now includes 2,500 local and regional governments in over 125 countries. Skinner’s work at ICLEI led to the initiation of the Cities for Climate Protection program, which engaged hundreds of cities worldwide to take action to stop climate change.

Skinner is a past member of the East Bay Regional Park District board, a former small business owner, and an active advocate to increase the number of women in elected office. She served on the Board of the East Bay Women’s Political Caucus and launched the Women in Power PAC to support Democratic women running for state office.

Skinner’s Senate District includes the cities of Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Emeryville, El Sobrante, Hercules, Kensington, Oakland, Piedmont, Pinole, Richmond, Rodeo, San Leandro, and San Pablo. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley, earning both a BS and an MA.