James R. Mills

CA Blue Book

Date	Party	Office	Votes	Result
11-08-1960	Democratic	AD-79	45495	Win
11-06-1962	Democratic	AD-79	35745	Win
11-03-1964	Democratic	AD-79	49942	Win
11-08-1966	Democratic	SD-40	63713	Win
11-03-1970	Democratic	SD-40	68810	Win
11-05-1974	Democratic	SD-40	76255	Win
11-07-1978	Democratic	SD-40	93702	Win

Candidate Biography:

Born: June 6, 1927 in San Diego, CA
Married: Joanna Rohrbough (m. 1959, div. 1980s)
Children: Beatrice, William, and Eleanor Ann
Military Service: ARMY (Korea)

1955-1960: Curator, San Diego Historical Society's Junipero Serra Museum
1971-1980: President pro Tempore, California State Senate
1980-1982: Chairman, Amtrak Board of Directors
1985-1994: Chair, Metropolitan Transit Development Board (MTDB)

• LEGISLATION: In 1966, Mills introduced the bill that became the Proposition 1A, which amended the Constitution to create a full-time Legislature (with a pay increase from $6000 per year to $16000) and mandate annual general sessions. The bill also eliminated the pocket veto and significantly restructured the state Constitution. In A Disorderly House, Mills comments "I hope God will forgive me..."
• LEGISLATION: In 1971, Mills led the effort to amend the Senate Rules to abolish the Senate's "Fact-Finding Subcommittee on Un-American Activities".
• PLACENAME: The headquarters of the Metropolitan Transit Development Board (MTDB) is named for Senator Mills, who authored the legislation creating the district.
• LEGISLATIVE HISTORIAN: In addition to his other books (listed below), Senator Mills was the author of A Disorderly House: The Brown-Unruh Years in Sacramento which is easily of the best books about the California legislature of the 1960s. 
• PUBLISHED: His other four books are; Gospel According to Pontius Pilate, San Diego: Where California Began, "Historical Landmarks of San Diego County, and Poems of Inspiration from the Masters .

Source: California Blue Book (1961), (1971)