federal No Child Left Behind Act. In 2007, Governor Schwarzenegger signed legislation authored by Assemblywoman Hancock to greatly expand career technical education programs for high school students. While in the Assembly, Hancock sat on the Assembly Committee on Rules and chaired the Subcommittee on Sexual Harassment and Violence Prevention, and was a member of the Committee on Education, the Committee on Housing and Community Development, the Budget Committee, and the Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services. She worked in her committee positions to help expand health care programs for children, increase funding for foster youth programs, and prevent cuts in Medi-Cal stipends and proposed cuts to programs for seniors and people with disabilities. In 2005, Hancock authored AB 144, which provided financing for the construction of the new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. While the western span had undergone extensive repair and retrofitting, the eastern span retained substantial damage from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and its continued use posed a serious safety hazard. After more than a decade of planning and construction, the Bridge's new eastern span opened for public use in 2013. A strong advocate of campaign finance reform, Hancock authored AB 583, the California Clean Money and Fair Elections Act, to provide full public financing for all statewide races in California. In June 2007, the bill passed the Assembly with 45 votes. Hancock was the first Assemblymember in California to launch and maintain a blog. California State Senate In the 2008 Democratic primary for the 9th Senate District, Hancock defeated former Assemblywoman Wilma Chan for the party nomination by a percentage of 56.5% to Chan's 43.5%. She was overwhelmingly elected to the State Senate with 77.3% of the vote in November. Hancock was sworn in as a State Senator on December 1, 2008. Hancock is the former Chair of the Senate Public Safety Committee, as well as Senate Budget Subcommittee #5 on Public Safety & Corrections. She previously served as Chair of the Senate Committee on Elections and Constitutional Amendments. She also served as a member of the Senate committees on Education, Governance and Finance, Environmental Quality, Human Services, and Agriculture. In 2008, Hancock introduced SCA 5, which proposed to change the existing 2/3 supermajority requirement to pass a state budget with a simple majority vote rule. That constitutional amendment eventually became Proposition 25, which was approved by the people of California in