Ferrera for Supervisor

John D. Ferrera is the Chief of Staff, State Senate Budget Chair Denise Moreno Ducheny, where he manages one of the most diligent and active offices in California’s Legislature. As a member of the Senate’s Democratic Leadership, the Senator’s office focuses primarily on jobs, education, investment in people and infrastructure and fiscal responsibility.

Prior to his work in the Legislature, Mr. Ferrera was appointed to the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency (BTH) in the position of Assistant Secretary for Transportation. His primary assignment during his five-plus years at the Agency was oversight of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), where he worked on transportation and infrastructure policy and budget, and legislative issues.

John was the BT&H Agency’s liaison to the California Transportation Commission (CTC) and the Agency’s Federal Liaison, coordinating California’s activities on the 2004 federal transportation reauthorization. He served as co-chair of the Tri-Agency Partnership on Environmental Permitting where he helped to develop and implement strategies for protecting and enhancing California’s environment while facilitating California’s environmental permitting process for State infrastructure projects.

John continued his career-long interest in transportation and environmental issues representing the BT&H Agency in the State’s continuing dialogue with local, regional, private and public partners to promote better environmental performance through planning and responsible development in California. In addition, he was one of the key policy advisors for the development of Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposal to create a bond program to reverse decades of underinvestment in the State’s aging infrastructure, a plan which contributed to the Legislature and voters’ approval of the historic $43 billion infrastructure and environmental bond package in 2006. John left the Agency in 2005 as Deputy Secretary for Transportation and Infrastructure.

John earned his Bachelor’s Degree in History at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. After a year in China teaching American Studies and English language at the Beijing Architecture and Engineering Institute and studying Chinese language, John earned his Master’s Degree in East Asian Studies from George Washington University. He worked for 4 years at the non-profit U.S.-ASEAN Business Council, assisting small and medium sized American businesses to develop trade relationships in the developing countries of Southeast Asia.

John next served as a staff member in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1989-1999, working on Transportation and Infrastructure Committee legislation for Representatives Robert Roe and James Barcia. His Capitol Hill career included work on the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), National Highway System Designation Act and Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA- 21), historic legislation that put in place the federal road and transit construction, environmental quality and mitigation and funding distribution structures that exist today.