Bill Bagley

Courtesy Bill Bagley

Date	Party	Office	Votes	Result
11-08-1960	Republican	AD-07	75447	Win
11-06-1962	Republican	AD-07	70843	Win
11-03-1964	Republican	AD-07	91379	Win
11-08-1966	Republican	AD-07	65766	Win
11-05-1968	Republican	AD-07	78156	Win
11-03-1970	Republican	AD-07	61556	Win
11-07-1972	Republican	AD-07	84141	Win
11-05-1974	Republican	Controller	2624085	Loss

Candidate Biography:

William Thompson Bagley
Born: June 29, 1928 in Woodacre, CA
Married: Doris L. Law, Diane Oldham (m. 1965)
Children: Lynn, Bill Jr., Walter, Shana and Tracy
Died: June 9, 2025 in San Rafael, CA

1957: General Counsel, Young Republicans
1958: Vice President, California Republican Assembly
1967-1969: Member, California Judicial Council
1975-1978: Chairman, Commodity Futures Trading Commission
1981-1986: Member, California Public Utilities Commission
1983-1989: Member, California Transportation Commission
1989-2002: Member, University of California Board of Regents
2018: Governor Jerry Brown declared June 29th as “William T. Bagley Day” [Honorary Day]

• LEGISLATION: Author of Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (1967), which required official meetings of state boards and commissions to follow rules similar to those of the Brown Act. 
• LEGISLATION: Author of the California Public Records Act (1968) with Assemblymen Harvey Johnson, Bob Beverly, James A. Hayes, Patrick D. McGee, David Negri (and Senator Milton Marks). The PRA establishes that "public records are open to inspection at all times during the office hours of the state or local agency and every person has a right to inspect any public record."
• PLACENAME: Highway 101 from the Waldo Tunnel in Sausalito to I-580 in San Rafael is named the "William T. Bagley" Freeway . Named in 1987. - Source: cahighways.org 
• PUBLISHED: Bagley is the author of California's Golden Years: When Government Worked and Why, an autobiographical analysis of the Legislature during his 14 years of service.
• SPEAKING ON CONDITION OF THE FILE: Bagley was the last surviving member of the legislative Freshman Class of 1961, the last living legislator who had served before the Unruh Speakership, and was in his 51st year as a former legislator when he died. He was a good friend and an amazing storyteller. My favorite thing he did was send me huge envelopes of pictures, documents, etc. with notes jotted in the edges. Then there would be note on his letterhead saying something like: "Alex - Call me. I'll explain what this all means. - Bill" I always called, and he always explained. He will be missed.

Source: California Blue Book (1961)
Source: A Disorderly House: The Brown-Unruh Years in Sacramento by James R. Mills (Heyday Books; 1987)
Source: "The Judicial Council of California: Membership" by the Judicial Council of California (accessed 5/30/2012)