ITS Berkeley is excited to announce new ITS Senior Fellow Bill Quirk.
Quirk served in the California Legislature from 2013-2022 as a California State Assembly Member representing Southern Alameda County. His most important legislative achievements included:
- Shortening the permit time for improvements in the cell phone infrastructure. This approach was adapted by the Federal Government for the entire country.
- Making it illegal to hold a cell phone in your hand while driving. This gave officers a red line they could easily enforce.
- Aligning California’s regulation of toxic materials cosmetics with the European Union. The US EPA has not been allowed to regulate these materials. The European Union had done all the necessary research and the suppliers had already agreed to these regulations in Europe.
- Having the legislature declare that August would be Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month. This was greatly appreciated by the California Muslim Community and has been recognized by many local jurisdictions.
Bill served on the following committees:
- Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials 2017-22, all as chair,
- Revenue and Tax 2015-2022,
- Appropriations 2013-2022,
- Agriculture 2013-2015,
- Utilities and Energy 2013-2022,
- Public Safety 2013-2022, chair 2015-16.
The ITS Senior Fellow program recognizes individuals who have made extraordinary contributions, have excelled in the transportation field, and have a desire to improve transportation education, research, and practice through collaboration with ITS faculty, staff, and students.
Quirk joins Mark Dowd, Executive Director of the Smart Cities Lab; Randy Iwasaki, Leader of State and Local Transportation for Amazon Web Services (AWS); Jeff Morales, Managing Principal at InfraStrategies; Dr. Banavar Sridhar, Principal Engineer at Universities Space Research Association (USRA), Moffett Field, CA; ; Taj Tashombe, Vice President of Government and External Affairs for the Oakland A's; Shari Tavaf, PE, President / CEO of STRADA EC, LLC (alumna); Egon Terplan, Robert S. Cornish Endowed Chair of Regional Planning and Lecturer in City & Regional Planning at UC Berkeley, and Johanna Zmud, a Principal at RSG.