Meet Senator Anthony Portantino
Principled. Courageous.
Fighting for you.
Anthony Portantino is the proud father of two terrific daughters, Sofia and Isabella. He is an approachable, community focused public official with an impressive record of legislative and budget related accomplishments. He represents California’s great 25th State Senate District, which includes Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Sunland/Tujunga, Griffith Park and its adjacent Los Angeles neighborhoods and many communities along the 210 Freeway. His spouse Ellen is a successful executive at NBC/Universal. Anthony and Ellen have lived in the congressional district since they settled in their first apartment on Los Feliz Boulevard.
Senator Portantino came to California from New Jersey to work in film and TV production. As a Senator, he has been a leading advocate for the Entertainment Tax Credit to keep and expand film and TV production in California. He once told Governor Brown that he would not vote for the state budget unless it included the extension of this successful economic program. In the Senate, he increased the credit’s size by $180 million and created a new $150 million incentive for studio construction that is successfully building new sound stages and keeping critical union jobs in California.
Public education, mental health, and sensible gun control have been priorities for Senator Portantino. He championed increased funding for special education and the K-12 Local Control Funding Formula. He created California’s umbilical cord blood collection program, pushed back school start time for middle and high schools, banned the open carry of handguns on Main Street, raised the purchase age of firearms to 21, and placed the suicide hotline number on student identification cards. In addition, his efforts created a science fellowship in the State Capitol and established a unique partnership between the University of California and Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Foster youth, LGBTQ+ students, dyslexic children and students suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome have benefited from the Senator’s effective leadership. HIV testing became easier and more efficient in California while thousands of deserving college coeds have had their Cal Grants increased because of the Senator’s public service and commitment to our youth.
Anthony is an avid and daily bike rider where he logged almost 6000 miles on the road in 2022. He is a champion for active transportation and personally negotiated the end of the 710-freeway tunnel expansion with the Governor’s office paving the way for Pasadena to develop the long-dormant freeway stub.
From monitoring micro plastics in drinking water, establishing the plan to clean up our oceans and helping to retrofit school kitchens with efficient and environmentally friendly dishwashers, Senator Portantino has worked collaboratively with local environmental activists on strong sustainability projects and delivered results.
He proudly represents the Rose Bowl, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Griffith Observatory, the LA Zoo, Warner Brothers, Disney, Caltech and the Claremont Colleges. Anthony can often be seen attending live performance in many of the 25th Senate District’s numerous nonprofit theaters. He is a staunch supporter of the arts and he worked closely with Actor’s Equity and theatre companies to establish a state program to support live performing arts venues.
Senator Portantino currently serves as the Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a Select Committee to foster trade between California, Armenia and Artsakh. He has been to Armenia four times where he established the California trade desk in the capital city of Yerevan. He is the only US Legislator or Congressmember to have taken an emotionally powerful tour of Artsakh since the 44 Day War.
Senator Portantino is a product of public education, a proud PTA member, Girl Scout dad and 20-year AYSO soccer referee. He graduated from Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania where he met Ellen on the school’s library steps and the rest, as they say, is history.