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Floor Speech
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Mr. SWALWELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize former California State Assemblymember Bill Quirk, who retired Wednesday, November 30, 2022, after 10 years serving our community in the California State Assembly.
Bill was born in Summit, New Jersey, and moved to the Bay Area when he was 15 years old. He received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering and Applied Physics in 1967 and a Ph.D. in Astrophysics in 1970 from Columbia University. He then moved back to California to work as a postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology.
Bill continued his work as a research scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. In 1973, he supervised the first global three-dimensional model of the earth's climate. Bill then moved to Hayward in 1978 and began his work at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where he contributed his talents for 26 years. He specialized in foreign nuclear programs until his retirement in 2005. His expertise was vital in negotiating the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1996.
In 2004, Bill began his political career when he was elected to the Hayward City Council. During that time, he also served on the board of the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency and the Hayward Area Shoreline Planning Agency.
In 2012, Bill ran and was elected to represent California's 20th Assembly District and was re-elected 4 times before announcing his retirement. During his tenure, he served on the Assembly Rules Committee, Appropriations Committee, Public Utilities and Commerce Committee, Agriculture Committee, Public Safety Committee, and chaired the Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee. Bill and his team prioritized legislation that addressed issues related to energy, climate change, transportation, and public safety. He helped pass numerous critical bills, including one that made it easier to request restraining orders to prevent repeated episodes of domestic violence, and another that increased resources for testing lead levels in drinking water.
For 10 years, Bill Quirk has diligently served our mutual constituents. His work has left a lasting impact on the community in Alameda County and California more broadly. I wish him well-deserved rest and relaxation with his wife, Laurel, children, Ian and Zephyr, and grandchildren, Rory and Emily, as he enters this new chapter.
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