Lois Capps (D-CA-23)

Lois Capps California District 23

Lois Capps, Biography from House.gov

Biography of Congressman Lois Capps

Congresswoman Lois Capps was sworn in as a Freshman Member of the 105th Congress on March 17, 1998, succeeding her late husband, Congressman Walter Capps. She was the Representative of California’s 22nd District from 1998 to 2002.

Since January, 2003, Capps has served as the Representative of the 23rd District. Her district includes portions of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties.

Lois Capps is committed to helping people improve their daily lives through better schools, quality health care, and a cleaner environment. Capps is a respected leader in Congress on issues of public health, passing legislation to address the national nursing shortage, detect and prevent domestic violence against women, curb underage drinking, improve mental health services, provide emergency defibrillators to local communities, bring CPR instruction to schools, and provide immediate Medicare coverage to patients suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Capps has also been at the forefront of efforts to protect the environment. She has led efforts to stop new oil and gas drilling off our coasts, reduce the amount of new oil drilling in Los Padres National Park, and protect consumers from shouldering the financial burden of cleaning up MTBE contamination in their water supplies.

Capps serves on the powerful Committee on Energy and Commerce. She sits on the Health, Energy and Power and Environment and the Economy subcommittees. From these posts, Capps continues to focus on Medicare reform, the nursing shortage, cancer, mental health, energy policy, and the environment.

During her 20-year tenure as a nurse and health advocate for the Santa Barbara School District, thousands of Santa Barbara’s children and families benefited from Capps’ personal care and leadership. As director of Santa Barbara County’s Teenage Pregnancy and Parenting Project and the Parent and Child Enrichment Center, Capps gave countless young parents the support and encouragement to stay in school while providing them with critical child development skills to ensure their children grow up in healthy, loving environments. Capps also taught for 10 years as a part-time instructor of Early Childhood Education at Santa Barbara City College.

Capps now draws on this extensive healthcare background as founder and co-chair of the House Nursing Caucus. She also serves as co-chair of the Congressional Heart and Stroke Coalition, the House Cancer Caucus, the Congressional School Health and Safety Caucus, National Marine Sanctuary Caucus, as well as the House Democratic Task Force on Health and Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition.

Capps was born in Ladysmith, Wisconsin. After graduating with honors from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing, she worked as a nursing instructor in Portland, Oregon. Capps earned a Master of Arts degree in Religion from Yale University while working as Head Nurse at Yale New Haven Hospital. In addition, she earned a Master of Arts degree in Education from the University of California, Santa Barbara and received honorary doctorates from Pacific Lutheran University and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. The daughter of a Lutheran minister, Capps has been an active member of Grace Lutheran Church since 1964.

Capps was married to Walter Capps for 37 years. Their immediate family includes: daughter Laura, her husband Bill; son Todd, and his son Aden; daughter Lisa, who passed away February of 2000; Lisa’s husband, Nathan, their sons David and Walter, and Nathan’s wife Caitlin.

Biography from Friends of Lois Capps

Lois Capps has spent her entire life helping people.  Before coming to Congress Lois had long, successful careers in both nursing and education, and her experience in these two areas has deeply informed her work in Congress. As one of only three nurses in Congress, Lois’ background has helped her become a leader on issues related to health care. Lois is also a recognized leader in efforts to protect our environment, her interest stemming from being a longtime resident of Santa Barbara and seeing the aftermath of the infamous 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill.

She describes serving in Congress as, “the honor of a lifetime” and feels incredibly fortunate to work on behalf of Central Coast residents.

In Congress

Rep. Capps serves on the Committee on Energy & Commerce where she sits on the Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment and serves as the Vice Chair of the Subcommittee on Health. The powerful Energy & Commerce Committee has the widest range of responsibility in the House, overseeing health care, energy, environmental protection, telecommunications, trade, consumer protection and other important issues.

On the Health Subcommittee, Lois’ background as a registered nurse has helped her play a key role in many of the major health policy debates in Congress, including enactment of historic health insurance reform earlier this year.  She authored the Nurse Reinvestment Act, which addresses our country’s chronic nursing shortage.  She has also passed legislation to help persons suffering from Lou Gehrig’s Disease, improve CPR training in schools, and reduce domestic violence.  She has helped to lead the fight to expand children’s health care, mental health parity and stem cell research.  As the Vice Chair of the Health Subcommittee, Lois Capps plays a pivotal role in reforming Medicare, expanding the use of health information technology, and improving cancer care.

Congresswoman Capps is one of the leaders of the pro-choice community in Congress and she has also been a leading voice for improving access to emergency contraception.  Capps has helped bring national attention to maternal mortality both here and abroad by authoring much needed legislation on the issue.  She also has authored legislation to improve the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of heart disease and stroke in women, the HEART for Women Act.

Representing a district with over 200 miles of this country’s most beautiful coastline has made environmental protection a top priority for Lois Capps.  She is also a member of the Natural Resources Committee, where she continues to lead the fight against new offshore oil drilling. Capps has been a leader in the fights to enhance the Los Padres National Forest, and to protect consumers by holding oil companies financially responsible for cleaning up MTBE contaminated water supplies.  She played a key role in the preservation of the Piedras Blancas Light Station, ensuring public access to the Channel Islands National Park, and securing federal funds to protect sensitive coastal areas from harmful development.

Global warming has also long been a major concern for Capps. She has been a strong advocate for efforts to reduce the use of fossil fuels, which is key to reversing climate change. As a member of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment, Capps helped raise automobile fuel efficiency standards for the first time in 32 years and was a key supporter of House passage of the first ever comprehensive bill to address global warming. For years, she has also been a staunch supporter of increased funding for solar, wind and other clean energy technologies, and to require power companies to produce an increasing share of electricity from these renewable sources.  And she is the author of legislation to help coastal communities cope with environmental changes due to global warming.

Capps serves as Co-Chair of the Congressional Heart and Stroke Coalition, the House Cancer Caucus, the Congressional Nursing Caucus, the Congressional School Health and Safety Caucus, and the  Congressional Caucus on Infant Health and Safety. She also Co-Chairs the National Marine Sanctuary Caucus and Coastal Caucus. Lois Capps is also Vice Chair of the LGBT Equality Caucus.

Before Coming to Congress

Lois was a school nurse and health advocate in Santa Barbara County for 20 years. Over the course of her career thousands of children and families benefited from her personal care and leadership. For 10 years she was also a part-time instructor of Early Childhood Education at Santa Barbara City College. Lois founded the Santa Barbara County Teenage Pregnancy & Parenting Project and directed the Parent and Child Enrichment Center. These programs gave thousands of pregnant and parenting teens the support and encouragement they needed to stay in school, and provided them with critical child development resources to ensure their infants would grow up in healthy, loving environments.

Education

Lois Capps graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing with honors from Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington, and later worked as a nursing instructor in Portland, Oregon. Capps then went on to work as the Head Nurse at Yale New Haven Hospital while she earned a Master of Arts degree in Religion from Yale University. Later, she earned a Master of Arts degree in Education from University of California, at Santa Barbara. She has also received honorary doctorates from Pacific Lutheran University and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary.

Personal Life

Lois and her husband of 37 years, the late Walter Capps, have three children and seven grandchildren. Their immediate family includes: daughter Laura, her husband Bill; son Todd and his wife Julie and their son Aden; daughter Lisa, who passed away in February of 2000; Lisa’s husband, Nathan and his wife Caitlin and their children David, Walter, Mary, Ellen, Sarah and Anna. Lois Capps is the daughter of a Lutheran minister, and has been an active member of Grace Lutheran Church since 1964.

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