Biography

Jackie Speier (pronounced SPEAR) represents California's beautiful, diverse and economically vibrant 12th Congressional District, where she has lived her entire life. The district encompasses the southwest quarter of San Francisco and most of adjoining San Mateo County. Jackie is married to Barry Dennis and has two children, Jackson, a student at Stanford University and Stephanie, a high school freshman.

Congresswoman Speier serves on three influential committees in the House of Representatives - the Committee on Financial Services, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

Sworn into Congress on April 10, 2008, Jackie Speier continues the work she did for eighteen years in the California State Assembly and Senate, where she authored more than 300 bills that were signed into law by both Democratic and Republican Governors. Her four-year crusade to protect consumers' financial privacy from the invasive practices of banking and insurance companies led to passage of the landmark California Financial Privacy Act, which was hailed by Consumers Union as "The strongest financial privacy legislation in the nation."

For the 111th Congress, Representative Speier has introduced her F.A.I.R. Plan, (Fighting for Accountability, Innovation and Reform) a package of legislative proposals encompassing issues as diverse as regulating the Credit Rating Agencies, prevention and better treatment of MRSA (staph) infections in hospitals, and changing the way Congress allocates money to eliminate politically-connected earmarks.

Born in San Francisco's Sunset District, Jackie attended public schools in South San Francisco before entering Burlingame's Mercy High School. While at the University of California Davis, she interned for State Assemblyman Leo J. Ryan and upon graduating, joined Ryan's Washington, DC staff when he was elected to Congress. She returned to San Francisco for her JD degree from UC's Hastings College of the Law then rejoined Congressman Ryan as his Legislative Counsel.

In 1978, Jackie Speier accompanied the congressman to Jonestown, Guyana to investigate claims that constituents were being held against their will by Reverend Jim Jones. While escorting defectors out, their group was ambushed by gunmen who killed Congressman Ryan and four others. Jackie, then 28, was shot five times and left for dead.  Later, Jones forced his followers to drink poison-laced punch, resulting in the deaths of more than 900 people.

In 2008, Jackie Speier told the Washington Post: "I think the experience in Guyana just made me more fearless… Once you have looked death in the eye, you're just not nearly that afraid."