The daughter of hardworking immigrant parents, Melissa grew up in the Valley. She learned firsthand from her parents that hard work, a good education and perseverance is fundamental to success. Melissa is the first from her family to graduate from college. After graduating from Sacramento State University, Melissa returned home to the Valley to serve her community and build a better life for Valley families. She advocated for teachers, patients and working families — helping lead the fight for good wages, access to quality health care and retirement security.
Senator Hurtado understands that a clean and reliable water supply is essential for Valley families and our agricultural economy. She has led the fight to secure funding and policies to improve Valley water supplies:
Won $200 million to repair California’s water conveyance canals that deliver drinking water to communities throughout California and sustain the state’s leading agricultural economy.
Co-authored and helped shape the Safe and Affordable Clean Drinking Water Act.
Secured $15 million to address failing water systems and deliver safe and clean drinking water to communities in the southern Central Valley.
Worked to obtain $130 million in state funding to secure safe drinking water in our most vulnerable communities.
For Melissa Hurtado, a good education opened the door for opportunity and a college degree. That’s why she will never stop fighting for more funding for our schools, career technical education programs that provide job training and curriculums that prepare our students for college. In the State Senate, Melissa Hurtado has worked tirelessly to promote educational opportunity:
Secured $9.9 million to establish regional pipelines for students to enter medical school.
Won $2 million for Career Technical Education Funding for Kern and Fresno Counties Community Colleges.
Donated $80,000 to establish the Central Valley Dream Scholarship which provided $1,000 to nearly 80 students in the southern Central Valley for educational expenses in the 2020-21 school year.
Senator Hurtado has worked to expand access to affordable, quality healthcare in the Valley. Her priorities include bringing more healthcare professionals to rural communities, improving emergency care and protecting women’s reproductive healthcare. In the Senate, Melissa Hurtado has secured essential funding and passed important policies to help improve healthcare in the Valley:
Required insurance providers to cover reimbursement for adverse childhood experiences, an extremely important issue given COVID’s impacts on everyone, but especially young people.
Won a $2 million investment for the Valley Fever Institute at Kern Medical to support Valley Fever research.
Won $15 million to help ensure vulnerable communities have access to asthma prevention services, education and support.
Senator Hurtado had advocated for more resources to keep our communities safe. In the wake of California’s continuing wildfire season, Senator Hurtado won important funding for fire training and is fighting to provide support for law enforcement:
Won $25 million for a regional Fire Training Center in the Valley.
Advocating for safer neighborhoods, schools and communities, Senator Hurtado is seeking funding to fight gangs and drugs in the Valley and to put more officers on the streets.
With the opioid crisis taking too many lives here in the Valley, Senator Melissa Hurtado is doing something about it.
Senator Hurtado wrote a new law to protect college students from accidental overdoses by requiring college campuses to distribute the overdose reversal drug Narcan and provide training for how to use it.
She’s not stopping there. Senator Hurtado has announced that she’s introducing a similar law to provide protection from overdoses at high school and junior high school campuses.
Senator Hurtado also is working to toughen penalties for those who manufacture and sell opioids like fentanyl in our communities.
Senator Melissa Hurtado, representing the 14th Senate District in California, launched the inaugural 2019 Hurtado Holiday Baby Formula and Infant Nutrition Drive, in partnership with Central California Food Bank and the California Association of Food Banks. The drive addresses the need to tackle the southern Central Valley’s child food insecurity rate, which currently sits at almost 25 percent in Fresno, Tulare and Kern counties.
Senator Hurtado has won more than $67 million for fire protection and public safety:
A Regional Fire Training Center for the Valley.
An Emergency Operations Center in Porterville.
Facility and equipment updates for the Volunteer Fire Department in Lemoore.
Facility and equipment updates for Kings County Fire Dept.
Construction of a Fire Station in Farmersville.
New equipment for Dinuba Fire Department.
New equipment for Lindsay Fire Department.
New Fire Station for Fresno County Fire Protection District.
Construction of a new fire substation in Shafter.
New Police Department and City Hall in Woodlake.
In addition, Senator Hurtado:
Took on her own party to fight against the early release of violent criminals.
Worked across party lines to toughen penalties for human traffickers.
Passed a law to help prevent fentanyl overdoses and save lives.
Called on the Attorney General to provide resources to combat violent crime.
Won $67 million for Valley firefighters and law enforcement.