Assembly Member Ash Kalra

Member of the California State Assembly, Chair of the Assembly Judiciary Committee

Current term: Began February 2025
Membership: Voting member representing the state Assembly

Assembly Member Ash Kalra represents California’s 25th Assembly District, which includes the majority of San José. He was first elected in 2016, becoming the first Indian American to serve in the California Legislature, and was reelected to his fifth term in 2024.

Assembly Member Kalra has dedicated his tenure in public service to equity and social justice issues. He authored the California Racial Justice Act of 2020 (Assembly Bill 2542) to address racial discrimination in criminal sentencing and convictions and authored a follow-up bill in 2022 (Assembly Bill 256) to apply the act retroactively for persons with past convictions.

Assembly Member Kalra has a law degree from Georgetown University. He served on the San José City Council for eight years and was a deputy public defender for Santa Clara County for 11 years, representing indigent clients in both felony and misdemeanor matters. He has also been an instructor at both San José State University and Lincoln Law School of San Jose.

Assembly Member Kalra chairs the California State Assembly’s Judiciary Committee and serves as a member of the Assembly’s Housing and Community Development Committee, Labor and Employment Committee, Natural Resources Committee, and Utilities and Energy Committee. He is chair emeritus of the California Legislative Progressive Caucus, which works to ensure that key legislative priorities are successfully passed on civil rights, criminal justice, economic and worker justice, environmental justice, and housing justice.