Candidate for
Member of the State Assembly; District 65; Democratic Party

Carl Wood + Biography

As a worker, union leader and public official, Carl Wood has spent a lifetime working for economic and social justice.

Carl was born in 1947 in Baltimore, Maryland and moved with his family to Riverside, California in 1962. He graduated from Riverside Polytechnic High School in 1964, and attended University of California, Riverside where he was elected student body president in 1967-68. The same year, he served as Western Regional Chairman of the National Student Association. He was also active in the civil rights and anti-Vietnam war movements.

After college, Carl completed an apprenticeship as an industrial electrician and worked nearly 20 years in the steel, chemical and utility industries. In 1986, he was elected Business Agent (chief officer) of Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) Local 246, representing 2000 power plant employees of Southern California Edison Co. In 1987, Carl was elected to the National Executive Board of the UWUA. In 1997, he was appointed Senior National Representative, servicing UWUA locals in California and the other Western states and acting as the union's National Deregulation Coordinator.

Active in his local community, Carl was elected in 1992 to the San Diego North County Fire Protection District Board of Directors, serving several years as President. During a period of severe economic downturn, Carl produced balanced budgets with no service cutbacks and no layoffs.

In May 1999, Carl was appointed by Governor Gray Davis to a six-year term on the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). As Commissioner, he is best known for his efforts to stabilize and re-regulate California's electrical utility industry during and after the 2000-2001 Energy Crisis, and for his authorship of the Telecommunications Consumer Bill of Rights.

From 2002 to 2004, Carl chaired the California Electricity Generation Facilities Standards Committee, which established enforceable maintenance and operations standards for utility and non-utility generating plants in California.

In 2003, Carl became Chairman of the Consumer Affairs Committee of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), in which capacity he acted as a national spokesperson for consumer rights.

A nationally recognized expert on utilities and consumer protection, Carl Wood has testified before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Federal Communications Commission, and committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and state legislatures of California, New Mexico, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Connecticut,. He has been an invited speaker before government, academic and labor bodies in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Romania and South Korea. In the United States, Carl has addressed numerous consumer, industry and labor groups as a keynote speaker or panelist. He has published numerous newspaper op-eds and wrote the Foreword to the book Democracy and Regulation (2003).

Commissioner Wood left the CPUC at the expiration of his term in December 2004. After working as a consultant on regulatory, consumer and labor matters, he now serves as Director of Regulatory Affairs for the national UWUA. His volunteer activities include service on the AARP National Policy Council, and as President of the Board of Directors of The Utility Reform Network (TURN).

Carl Wood has been married for 35 years to Anne Patrice Wood. They have two adult children and four grandchildren. The Woods reside in Cherry Valley in Riverside County, California.

Contact Carl Wood at carl@wood4assembly.org