Betty Yee, California State Controller
TWO SPEAKERS
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23
Betty Yee, CA State Controller, and Ali Saidi, Deputy Public Defender Attorney of Contra Costa County & Director of STAND Together Contra Costa
7:00 PM on ZOOM
RSVP president@srvdems.org
We are honored to have as our first speaker, Betty T. Yee who was was elected as the California State Controller in November 2014, and then again in 2018, making her only the tenth woman in California history to be elected to statewide office. Previously, she served two terms on the State Board of Equalization. Ms. Yee serves on the Franchise Tax Board and serves as a member of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) Boards. These two boards have a combined portfolio of more than $620 billion. Ms. Yee also serves on the Ceres Board of Directors, a nonprofit organization working to mobilize many of the world’s largest investors to advance global sustainability and take stronger action on climate change.
As a member of the State Lands Commission (and chairperson in even-numbered years), she helps provide stewardship of public-trust lands, waterways, industrial wharves, marine terminals, pipelines, and resources through economic development, protection, preservation, and restoration consistent with the state’s environmental needs. Through other financing authorities, Ms. Yee is dedicated to creating incentives to increase the number of affordable housing units, spur economic development, support pollution-control innovations, and strengthen health and educational facilities.
Betty T. Yee is one of our club’s favorite speakers, because of her deep understanding of the issues and her ability to speak clearly and powerfully. We are looking forward to having her speak.
Ali Saidi, Deputy Public Defender Immigration Attorney
Ali Saidi is an attorney with the Contra Costa County Public Defender’s Office where he serves as the county’s first Deputy Public Defender Immigration Attorney and as the Director of Stand Together Contra Costa, the county’s new rapid response and immigration due process program. Mr. Saidi specializes in the intersection between immigration law and criminal law. He provides continuing legal education trainings as well as expert technical assistance for public defender offices, clinics and bar associations throughout the Bay Area regarding representation of immigrants in criminal proceedings.
Mr. Saidi received his B.A. from the University of California, at Berkeley and his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. He began his legal career at the Contra Costa County Public Defender’s office as a criminal defense attorney for several years and then went into private practice for over a decade, practicing both criminal defense and deportation defense. Mr. Saidi has represented hundreds of individuals charged with serious crimes in California state courts and has represented immigrants in deportation and removal proceedings in immigration court, before the Board of Immigration Appeals, and before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Saidi formerly taught Criminal Pretrial Advocacy at UC Berkeley School of Law. Mr. Saidi returned to the public sector in 2015 to establish the immigration unit at the Office of the Public Defender for Contra Costa County.
Betty Yee, California State Controller
Ali Saidi, Deputy Public Defender Immigration Attorney