What You Need to Know About Kamala Harris’s Record as California Attorney General

President Biden announced on Sunday that he withdrew from the 2024 presidential race and would support Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic Party nomination.

Before becoming vice president, Harris began her career in the Bay Area, where she served as a district attorney in Alameda County. In 2004, she was elected San Francisco District Attorney.

She served two terms in that role From 2004 to 2010, she became the first woman elected San Francisco District Attorney and the first Black and South Asian woman to hold the position.

In 2010, she succeeded Jerry Brown as attorney general of California, becoming the first female, Black and South Asian attorney general in the state’s history.

She was sworn in the role in January 2011 and served in that capacity until 2017, when she joined the U.S. Senate following her election in 2016.

Here are some things you should know about Harris’ record as California’s top prosecutor.

Protection for homeowners

One of Harris’ most significant accomplishments as attorney general came in 2012 when she, along with 40 other attorneys general, reached a multi-billion dollar deal with five U.S. banks that settled over flawed mortgage foreclosure practices. The deal provided relief to those affected by those practices, with the average qualifying homeowner receiving $20,000 in mortgage relief.

As attorney general of the nation’s most populous state, Harris played a key role in the deal, calling the initial settlement amount “crumbs on the table.”

In 2013, Harris announced more protections for homeowners facing foreclosure when the California Homeowner Bill of Rights was signed into law by then-Governor Brown.

Opposition to the death penalty

Harris has previously said she personally opposes the death penalty and declined to pursue it earlier in her career. However, she announced in 2014 that She would appeal a federal court ruling which declared the death penalty unconstitutional, arguing that delays in the state’s executions made it cruel and unusual.

“I am appealing the district court’s decision because it is unsupported by law and because it undermines important protections our courts provide to defendants,” Harris said in a statement at the time. “This flawed ruling requires appellate review.”

Years later, as a senator and during her 2020 presidential campaign, has pushed for a federal moratorium on the death penalty after California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order to stop executions in the state.

Criminal law reforms

Building on her Back on Track initiative as San Francisco District Attorney, Harris launched an initiative designed to reduce recidivism. The initiative consisted of three subdivisions focused on program development, evaluation, and grantmaking.

In 2015, the California Department of Justice became the first statewide agency to implement a body camera program, requiring all special agents to wear the devices. Later that year, Harris launched a first-of-its-kind law enforcement training program on implicit bias and procedural justice in an effort to facilitate more neutral policing.

Harris also launched an Open Data in Criminal Justice initiative, aimed at increasing transparency to “strengthen trust, improve government accountability, and inform public policy.”

The initiative included a dashboard that made criminal justice data public, such as arrests, deaths in custody, and officers killed or attacked in the line of duty.

Efforts against truancy

Harris has long taken a strong stance against truancy, dating back to her early days as a Bay Area district attorney. As attorney general, Harris published the annual In School and On Track report from 2013 through 2016, which detailed truancy and absenteeism rates across the state.

Harris called on parents of truant children to face tougher punishments during her first year as attorney general, something she did when she was a district attorney. In 2010, legislation sponsored by then-District Attorney Harris was signed into law allowing prosecutors to bring criminal charges against parents of students who missed excessive amounts of school.

Critics argued that the law unfairly targeted low-income families and people of color. The criticism Harris received for her anti-truancy efforts followed her throughout her careerfrom her time as San Francisco District Attorney to her 2020 presidential campaign.

Environmental initiatives

In 2016, Harris was one of 17 attorneys general who backed efforts to combat climate change by addressing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. She joined a coalition led by then-New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to investigate whether fossil fuel companies were misleading the public about the impact of climate change.

The year before, she defended President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which required power plants to reduce their emissions by 2022 and 2030.

She also supported Environmental Protection Agency standards to limit gas emissions from oil and natural gas operations.

During her tenure as attorney general, she reached several settlements with oil companies over alleged violations of state laws. In 2011, she announced a $24.5 million settlement with Chevron over allegations that it violated state laws on hazardous materials and waste. Harris later reached a settlement in 2016 with BP West Coast over alleged violations of state laws governing the operation and maintenance of underground gasoline tanks.

Harris also defended California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard and the state’s emissions trading program, which charges companies for carbon emissions, in court.

Student Loans and Commercial Colleges

In 2013, Harris launched an investigation into Corinthian Colleges in California and its subsidiaries, alleging that the for-profit college engaged in false and misleading advertising, securities fraud, and misrepresented its programs and graduation rates to potential students.

Harris announced in 2016 that her office had obtained a $1.1 billion judgment against Corinthian Colleges. In 2022, the U.S. Department of Education debt forgiven for 560,000 borrowers who took out loans to attend Corinthian Colleges, totaling $5.8 billion in student debt forgiven.