This week Sen. Anthony J. Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge) joined other newly elected senators in the 40-member upper house of the state legislature. With his daughter Sofia by his side, Portantino was sworn in as the state senator for the 25th District.

“I’m honored to join the California State Senate and appreciate the many friends who helped me get here. I’m excited to be in a position to work on issues that are important to my district,” said Portantino, who previously represented the area as assembly member for the 44th District.

Portantino used the first day of the legislative session to promote three key legislative priorities. He introduced SB 25, which seeks to create a plan to fully integrate a guaranteed K–14 education, re-introduced SB 24, which updates the Political Reform Act to create better and more accurate financial disclosure requirements for elected representatives and introduced SB 23 to extend necessary funding for California’s Umbilical Cord Blood Collection Program.

Portantino created the Cord Blood program while in the Assembly but its funding is set to sunset next year. SB 23 extends the funding to continue the important public health program for another decade. Because of Portantino’s earlier efforts, the University of California Davis Hospital has been storing cord blood stem cells and using them to cure leukemia and other blood-related diseases.

Sen. Portantino represents about 930,000 people in the 25th Senate District, which includes Burbank, Sunland-Tujunga, Shadow Hills, Atwater Village, Glendale, La Cañada Flintridge, La Crescenta, Montrose, Pasadena, Altadena, South Pasadena, San Marino, Sierra Madre, Monrovia, Bradbury, Duarte, San Dimas, Glendora, La Verne, Claremont and Upland.