Politics
Coto was elected to the California State Assembly to represent California's 23rd Assembly district in 2004.
New laws sponsored by Coto cover a variety of fields including educational bills providing support to underachieving schools,standards for math instruction for blind students,and over $30 million to support English learners and flexibility in spending to support the educational program. He authored a bill to protect students from vendors trying to entice them with gifts to get them to apply for credit cards. Coto was also responsible for establishing an eminence credential for Native American languages to be taught in California's schools (cosponsored by Assembly member Tom Ammiano).
In the area of health,one of his bills provides cultural and linguistic training for physicians so that they can serve their patients more effectively and another extends the Healthy Families' program so that children throughout the state can be eligible for health insurance. Working in collaboration with the California Chamber of Commerce,as well as other employer groups,such as the California Federation of Labor,he authored legislation to fix part of the workers compensation system in a way that benefits both business and labor.
Coto recently completed a two-year term serving as Chair of the 26 member Latino Legislative Caucus. Prior to becoming Chair,he served for two years as the Vice Chair.
Due to term limits,Coto retired from the Assembly in 2010.
Campaign for California State Senate
In December 2011,Coto announced that he would run for California State Senate to represent District 15,which includes the cities of Campbell,Cupertino,Los Gatos,Monte Sereno,Saratoga,and San Jose. Coto's campaign focused on improving education to create a competitive workforce,balancing the budget,and solving the issue of income inequality. He was defeated by Jim Beall by a 13% margin in the November 2012 election. The California Fair Political Practices Commission issued a $6,000 fine for exceeding contribution limits and failing to disclose more than $117,000 in expenditures during his State Senate run. [2]
