Lucille Roybal-Allard

She was born in Boyle Heights, California, the daughter of Representative Edward R. Roybal and Lucille Beserra Roybal. She was educated at Ramona Convent Secondary School in Alhambra, California, and California State University, Los Angeles.

She was a public relations officer and fund raising executive. She was also a member of the California State Assemblyfrom 1986 to 1992.

Committee assignments

• Committee on Appropriations
  • Subcommittee on Homeland Security
  • Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies

Caucuses

• Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (Associate Member)

She currently sits on the House Appropriations and Standards of Official Conduct committees. She has also served as the chair of the California Democratic congressional delegation (1998–1999) and of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. She has also been active in the Congressional Children's Caucus and on the Democratic Homeland Security and the Livable Communities task forces.

She is the first Mexican-American woman to serve in Congress. Along with Nydia Velazquez of New York City, she was the second Latina after Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Miami, and with Velazquez, the first Democrat and the first elected to a full term.

Legislation

Roybal-Allard introduced the Newborn Screening Saves Lives Reauthorization Act of 2013 (H.R. 1281; 113th Congress) into the House on March 20, 2013. The bill would amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize grant programs and other initiatives to promote expanded screening of newborns and children for heritable disorders. Roybal-Allard argued that "newborn screening not only transforms and save lives - it saves money." According to Roybal-Allard, in California "newborns are screened for more than 40 preventable and treatable conditions – and for every one dollar California spends on screening, it yields a benefit of over $9 as we prevent disease in children who are diagnosed with these treatable conditions."

In 1992, she won the Democratic nomination for the newly created 33rd District. She won handily in November, and has been reelected ten times as of 2012. Her district was renumbered as the 34th after the 2000 Census and the 40th after the 2010 Census.

Roybal-Allard is married to Edward T. Allard III. She has two children, Ricardo Olivarez and Lisa Marie Roybal Elliott (born Olivarez), two stepchildren, Angela Allard and Guy Mark Allard, and four grandchildren. Her husband is a management consultant and a retired Marine Corps captain. She lives in Downey, California.