LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The resignation of Assemblywoman Autumn R. Burke becomes effective today.
Burke announced her resignation Monday because, ``I feel it is of the utmost importance that I have the flexibility and ability to spend more time with my family.''
In the letter to her 62nd Assembly District constituents announcing her resignation, Burke wrote that the COVID-19 pandemic ``has affected the lives and consciousness of everyone and I am no exception.''
``Serving as your representative has been a true privilege -- one that I have taken seriously,'' Burke, D-Marina del Rey, wrote. ``This has been one of the hardest decisions of my life.''
Burke wrote that her hope was to finish out her term, which expires in December, ``but circumstances have recently changed.''
The 48-year-old Burke is the mother of a daughter, Isabella, whose signature was next to her mother's on the letter announcing her resignation.
Burke was elected in 2014, and reelected three times. She chaired the Committee on Revenue and Taxation and the Select Committee on Career Technical Education and Building a 21st Century Workforce.
Burke is the daughter of former Los Angeles County Supervisor, Assemblywoman and Rep. Yvonne Braithwaite Burke and William Burke, a former chairman of the South Coast Air Quality Management District Governing Board.
Autumn Burke's election marked the first time a mother and daughter have both served in the Assembly. Her mother was the first member of Congress to give birth while in office.
In her resignation letter, Burke cited the following accomplishments:
-- the 2016 passage of the Lifting Children and Families Out of Poverty Act, which commits the Legislature to a goal of reducing child poverty by 50% over 20 years, and provides a framework of research-backed solutions to achieve it;
-- the expansion of California's Earned Income Tax Credit;
-- passing one of the state's largest tax credits to help small businesses;
-- passage of the Transformative Climate Communities legislation which she wrote ``demonstrated that environmental policies can, in many ways, create opportunities for our urban communities; and
-- passage of the Reproductive Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care and Transparency (FACT) Act, which requires licensed facilities that provide family planning and pregnancy-related services to inform patients about available assistance for affordable contraception, abortion, and prenatal care, including how to obtain that assistance.
Burke wrote that after leaving the Assembly, she would continue ``to work passionately for the issues most pressing for the state of California.''
``At the forefront of my work, I will continue to focus on lifting African Americans by helping grow the Black voice throughout the entire political process and at all levels of government,'' Burke wrote.
Burke's district consists of Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, and Gardena, the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Westchester, Playa del Rey, Playa Vista, Venice, and Del Rey, and the unincorporated communities of Del Aire, West Athens, Lennox, Westmont and Marina del Rey.