Ellen Corbett

The Democrat from San Leandro who heads the state Senate's judiciary committee took stands this year against toxic food packaging and for Californians with disabilities. Her bill, SB1313, would ban packaging coated with hazardous chemicals that, when heated, could leach into food causing cancer, developmental, neural or reproductive problems. Other groundbreaking legislation that she wrote, SB 1608, aims to improve compliance with the American Disabilities Act. Both bills were passed by the Legislature late last month and are sitting on the governor's desk. A former member of the state Assembly, Corbett was a civil attorney before getting into politics.