A native of San Francisco and a proud product of its public schools, Betty was born to immigrant parents who built a laundry and dry-cleaning business from scratch in the Parkside District of the city. With the help of her family, community, public schools, and teachers who went the extra mile, Betty rose from minding the books of the family business to minding the books of the 5th largest economy in the world.
She was elected to the California State Board of Equalization in 2006 and re-elected in 2010, representing close to 9 million Californians. Prior to this, Betty served as the State’s budget director.
Currently serving as our controller, Betty has been on our side — holding government accountable, working to ensure income and retirement security, protecting our environment, and taking on big companies more interested in lining their pockets — to make sure the doors of opportunity continue to stay open — so every Californian can fulfill their dreams, raise their families, and thrive.
Since she was elected Controller in 2014, she led audits of state and local government that uncovered over $4 billion in misused public funds.
Betty has protected California’s environment and safeguarded our pristine coastline. As chair of the State Lands Commission, she worked to decommission the last nuclear power plant in California and the last state oil platform in the Santa Barbara Channel. She has defended California’s waters against federal oil drilling plans and protected public access to public trust lands and beaches.
