It is with mixed emotions we are announcing the retirement of Trudy Schafer later this year.  Trudy has served as our LWVC Senior Director for Program and lobbyist for 25 transformative years. She is our voice in the Capitol and our most passionate advocate for the power of our grassroots membership to shape California’s future.   

Please help us thank and celebrate Trudy for her amazing contributions to California and wish her well as she trades in the daily grind for more time with family, friends, and fun.

Trudy’s work has spanned the full spectrum of League positions, including such diverse victories as defending the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), championing good education and budget policies, and leading the successful fight for redistricting reform in California. In 2001, she represented the League as a member of the Speaker’s Commission on the California Initiative Process. Since the passage of Prop 11—redistricting reform—Trudy has worked to ensure the successful implementation of the measure. More recently, she has represented the League in our fights for voting rights, including DMV compliance with the Motor Voter Act and rights for incarcerated people.

Trudy has been the longtime face of the League. She is a one-person institutional memory, our historian, our touchstone, and a mentor for many League leaders.

Prior to joining the state League staff in 1992, Trudy had already been an active League member for nearly 15 years, serving as president of the Sacramento League and LWVC legislation director.

While Trudy will be missed at the League office and at the Capitol, we are grateful for this opportunity to celebrate her remarkable contributions to public policy in California. We hope you will join us in thanking Trudy for her work by signing her online guestbook and sharing photos at https://congratstrudy.wordpress.com.