Sam Farr (D-CA-17)

Sam Farr California District 17

Sam Farr, Biography from House.gov

Biography of Congressman Sam Farr

Sam Farr, a fifth-generation Californian, represents the state’s beautiful Central Coast. His district encompasses the length of the Big Sur coastline in Monterey County, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the Salinas Valley “salad bowl,” the redwoods, mountains and beaches of Santa Cruz County, and the majestic rural landscape of San Benito County.

Once beset by a lackluster economy and the biggest military base closing in the history of the United States, the Central Coast has become a national model for sustainable development, base conversion, marine science research and post-secondary foreign language education. The robust economic vitality on the Central Coast is buttressed by revenues of over $4 billion from agriculture and $2 billion from tourism.

In Congress since 1993, Farr serves on the powerful House Appropriations Committee which oversees the distribution of the federal budget. Farr sits on three subcommittees: Agriculture and FDA; Military Construction and Veterans Affairs; and Homeland Security.

Through his work on the committee, Farr has been able to advocate for the interests of the Central Coast: promoting key agriculture research, lobbying for strict federal organic standards, facilitating the final agreement that conveyed the former Fort Ord to civilian hands, working to establish a veterans’ cemetery at Fort Ord, and helping maintain the Naval Postgraduate School and Defense Language Institute as premier educational institutions.

Farr represents the largest National Marine Sanctuary along the continental United States and has long been an advocate for our oceans. Farr is an original co-chair of the bipartisan House Oceans Caucus. In the late 1990s, Farr authored legislation to establish an oceans commission, patterned off the law that created the Stratton Commission in the 1960s. This Oceans Act was signed into law on Aug. 8, 2000, and in 2004 the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy released a comprehensive inventory of our nation’s coastal and marine resources, ocean programs and policies, federal funding priorities, infrastructure requirements and technological opportunities.

In response to this report, Farr and his fellow House Ocean Caucus co-chairs introduced legislation to broadly overhaul our ocean management system, the Ocean Conservation, Education, and National Strategy for the 21st Century Act. This bill has been re-introduced in the 111th Congress as H.R. 21, known as Oceans-21.

Farr has worked throughout his tenure in Congress to help the Central Coast manage and benefit from the closure of Fort Ord in Monterey County. Fort Ord was slated for closure in 1991, two years before Farr came to Congress. Farr facilitated the final agreement that conveyed the base’s land to civilian hands at no cost and has continued to secure funds for clean-up and economic development on the former base, including more than $65 million in defense conversion funds to start a new California State University at the closed base.

Farr has been instrumental in securing a Defense Department finance center that employs more than a hundred federal workers; a new University of California science research center; a new housing project for the homeless; a veterans’ clinic; a business-industrial airport; two new public golf courses; 8,000 acres of new federal parkland; and a one-stop job training and employment center.

Farr strongly believes that the tens of thousands of veterans who served at Fort Ord during it’s more than fifty years as an active Army training base deserve a final resting place on the grounds of the former Fort. Farr continues to work with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the California Department of Veterans Affairs to establish a veteran’s cemetery at Fort Ord.

Before coming to the House of Representatives in 1993, Farr served for 12 and a half years in the California State Assembly and was named California Legislator of the Year nine times. Prior to serving in the California Assembly, Rep. Farr was a Monterey County Supervisor. He began his career in public service in 1964 with a two-year commitment in the Peace Corps in Colombia.

Farr was born on July 4, 1941. He is a long-time resident of Carmel, Calif., and is married to Shary Baldwin Farr. The Farrs have one grown daughter, Jessica, and two grandchildren. Farr graduated from Willamette University in Salem, Ore., and attended the Monterey Institute of International Studies and the University of Santa Clara.

Biography from Friends of Farr Committee

Sam Farr, a Democrat and fifth-generation Californian, represents the state’s beautiful 17th Congressional District, which includes all of Monterey and San Benito Counties and the southern part of Santa Cruz County, including the city of Santa Cruz. He grew up in this area, where his father, Fred Farr, was a State Senator for many years.

After college, Sam attended the Monterey Institute of International Studies where he learned Spanish, and signed up for the Peace Corps, serving two years in Colombia, South America. He was a California Assembly staffer for a decade, and then held elective office himself when he became a Monterey County Supervisor in 1975. In 1980, he was elected to the California State Assembly, where he was known for writing one of the nation’s strictest oil spill liability laws and being a champion for the organics industry. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1993 by special election when the former Congressman Leon Panetta resigned to assume a position with the Clinton Administration. Sam was elected to a full term in Congress in 1994, and has continued to serve this district ever since. He is recognized as a leader in legislative efforts for educational excellence, environmental protection, and economic development.

Sam serves on the powerful House Appropriations Committee which oversees the distribution of the federal budget. As of the 110th Congress, Sam sits on three subcommittees: Agriculture and FDA, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security.

Through his work on the committee, Sam has been able to promote and protect the interests of the Central Coast: promoting key agriculture research, lobbying for strict federal organic standards, facilitating the final agreement that conveyed the former Fort Ord to civilian hands, working to establish a veterans’ cemetery at Fort Ord, and helping maintain the Naval Postgraduate School and Defense Language Institute as premier educational institutions.

Sam represents the largest National Marine Sanctuary along the continental United States and has long been an advocate for our oceans. He is an original co-chair of the bipartisan House Oceans Caucus. In the late 1990s, Sam authored legislation to establish an oceans commission, patterned off the law that created the Stratton Commission in the 1960s. This Oceans Act was signed into law on Aug. 8, 2000 and in 2004 the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy released a comprehensive inventory of our nation’s coastal and marine resources, ocean programs and policies, federal funding priorities, infrastructure requirements and technological opportunities.

In response to this report, Sam and his fellow House Ocean Caucus co-chairs introduced legislation to broadly overhaul our ocean management system, the Ocean Conservation, Education, and National Strategy for the 21st Century Act. This bill has been re-introduced in the 110th Congress as H.R. 21, OCEANS-21.

Sam has worked throughout his tenure in Congress to help the Central Coast to manage and benefit from the closure of Fort Ord in Monterey County. Fort Ord was slated for closure two years before he came to Congress, in 1991. Sam facilitated the final agreement that conveyed the fort’s land to civilian hands at no cost and has continued to secure funds for clean-up and economic development on the former base, including more than $65 million in defense conversion funds to start a new California State University at the closed base.

Sam has been instrumental in securing a Defense Department finance center that employs more than a hundred federal workers; a new University of California science research center; a new housing project for the homeless; a veterans’ clinic; a business-industrial airport; two new public golf courses; 8,000 acres of new federal parkland, and a one-stop job training and employment center.

Sam strongly believes that the tens of thousands of veterans who served at Fort Ord during its more than fifty years as an active Army training base deserve a final resting place on the grounds of the former Fort. He continues to work with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the California Department of Veterans Affairs to establish a veteran’s cemetery at Fort Ord.

In addition to the House Oceans Caucus, Sam is co-chair of the Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus and served as the chairman of California’s Democratic Congressional Delegation in the early 2000s.

Sam was born on the 4th of July, 1941. He graduated from Carmel High School and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. He and his wife Shary are longtime residents of Carmel, and have one grown daughter, Jessica. They are also the proud grandparents of two seventh generation Californians, Ella and Zachary Fisher.

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