Early in his political career, the native San Diegan signaled both his independence and his willingness to take on tough fights when, in 1988, then-Assemblyman Peace joined four Democratic colleagues in an effort to reform the California Legislature itself. Taking on powerful leaders from both parties, the "Gang of Five" and their year-long battle for reform led to many significant changes, including subjecting legislative committees to the provisions of the Open Meetings Act.

Senator Peace has earned a reputation as the person the Legislature turns to on particularly difficult and complex issues. He is credited with presiding over forums that were "bipartisan, exhaustive and open to a full airing of views."

Senator Peace currently Chairs the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee after having served as a member during the past two legislative sessions.  The Committee is responsible for crafting the Senate version of the State Budget. Senator Peace also serves as Chair of the Joint Budget Conference Committee, the committee which negotiates the final budget version submitted to the Governor. Senator Peace was the first Budget Conference Committee Chair in 11 years to successfully lead the Senate to meet the June 15 constitutional deadline for submitting a budget to the Governor.

This year, Senator Peace introduced legislation to consolidate regional planning in San Diego County into one regional authority, the San Diego Regional Infrastructure and Transportation Authority, or "RITA". Senate Bill 329 (Peace) will create a new local authority to design and execute regional planning, including port, airport, highway, rail, and light rail planning, in hopes of solving San Diego’s fast-growing traffic congestion and transportation problems. Regional planning is currently controlled by various entities, including the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), the San Diego Unified Port District, the Metropolitan Transit Development Board (MTDB), North San Diego County Transit Development Board, and the San Diego Air Quality Management District. Once again, Senator Peace is working to solve complex problems by bringing all parties to the table to reach real consensus in the interest of better government.

In 1996, as the Chair of the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities, and Communications, Senator Peace guided the Legislature through negotiations on Assembly Bill 1890 (Brulte) to restructure the electric industry and reform the Public Utilities Commission which the San Jose Mercury News described as "...legislative work at its best."

In 1994, Senator Peace authored a series of criminal justice reform measures signed by then-Governor Wilson which significantly increased penalties for violent criminals, including the so-called "one strike and you’re out" bill aimed at violent sex offenders.

In 1993, as the Chair of the Assembly Finance, Insurance, and Public Investment Committee, Steve Peace successfully designed a bipartisan workers' compensation reform package which exceeded all expectations by slashing employer costs by almost $4 billion per year while simultaneously increasing benefits to genuinely injured workers.

Senator Peace’s track-record of effective legislation has earned him recognition from a broad-base group of organizations. This year, Senator Peace received three of the highest "Minnie" awards presented by the California Journal. The Minnies are awarded based on nominations from the individuals who know the Legislators best: Capitol staff, journalists, lobbyists, and administration officials. Senator Peace received the following three of seven awards:

• Legislator of the Year Award– Senator Peace, along with President Pro Tempore of the Senate John Burton, and Senate Minority Leader Jim Brulte, received the highest marks among all 120 legislators.

• Intelligence Award – Senator Peace and Assemblymember Sheila James Kuehl shared the distinction of ranking as the brightest minds in the Legislature.

• Hardworking Award – Senator Peace, Senator Jim Brulte, and Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg were honored as the hardest working members of the California Legislature.

EDUCATION

• Won the support of the Legislature and the Governor for the Peace-Brulte amendment which delivered the first cut in University of California, California State University and Community College fees in history.
• Led the 10-year fight to lower class sizes which finally resulted in the passage of Senate Bill 1777 (O’Connell and Peace) in 1996.
• Authored legislation to move Staff Development Days out of the instructional period to increase instructional time, improve upon continuity, and make schools more "family friendly."
• Authored Senate Bill 978, that would establish the High School Quality Achievement Act. Requires restoration of services to pupils in grades 9-12 that were reduced or eliminated in past years.
• Senate Bill 1486 -- gives high schools the opportunity to offer students a career-based curriculum option in concert with local employers (Chapter 1180, Statutes of 1994).

• Won the California Correctional Peace Officers’ prestigious "StreetSweeper" award for his efforts to strengthen criminal penalties, attacking waste and inefficiency in our prison system and in winning the fight to remove weights from prison exercise yards.
• Authored a series of laws that in effect mandate centralized registration of handguns with the California Department of Justice for persons who move to California with the handgun, or disposes of or acquires a handgun.
• Authored a series of laws that result in very severe penalties for those who traffic in firearms.
• Authored a series of laws that strictly circumscribe the circumstances when a minor may possess a firearm.
• Senate Bill 32 -- provided for death penalty or life without parole for a murder committed during a carjacking; a murder committed during a kidnap-carjacking; or a murder where the defendant intentionally killed the victim in connection with his or her service as a juror (Prop 195 on the March 1996 ballot).
• Senate Bill 295 -- requires registered sex offenders to inform community care facility operators of their status before becoming a client to such a facility. Also allows parents who live near such facilities to find out if any resident in the facility is a registered sex offender (Chapter 840, Statutes of 1995).
• Assembly Bill 17 -- prohibits selling pornographic literature in newspaper vending machines without adult supervision (Chapter 38, Statutes of 1994).
• Assembly Bill 560 -- lowered from 16 to 14 the age at which minors engaged in violent crimes can be tried and sentenced as adults (Chapter 453, Statutes of 1994).

• Recognized as Legislator of the Decade - California Small Business Association, 1999; Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce Leadership Award.
• Assembly Bill 1890 -- guided landmark legislation restructuring the electric industry and reforming the Public Utilities Commission. Large businesses can negotiate directly with electric providers; small businesses and residential customers are guaranteed a minimum 10% rate reduction starting in January 1998 (Chapter 854, Statutes of 1996).
• Assembly Bill 1495 -- established the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank. (Chapter 446, Statutes of 1994). Recognized by the County of San Diego for efforts to assist local government with infrastructure improvements.
• Assembly Bill 1496 -- created an innovative public-private partnership known as the "Capital Access Program" (Calcap) to help small California businesses obtain loans when conventional credit is tight. (Chapter 1164, Statutes of 1993).
• Senate Bill 1382 -- Chula Vista Veterans Home -- authorized State Public Works Board to issue revenue bonds to finance construction of three additional sites for veterans’ homes in Southern California (Chapter 335, Statutes of 1996).
• Senate Bill 1765 – Colorado River Management Program – Appropriated $235,000,000 to line the remaining portions of the Coachella Branch of the All American Canal and to finance and arrange for the installation of recharge, extraction and distribution facilities for groundwater conjunctive use programs necessary to facilitate the San Diego Water Authority / Imperial Irrigation District water transfer agreement and implement the California 4.4 Plan.

• Authored legislation signed into law, Senate Bill 458, to stop the Franchise Tax Board’s practice of putting Social Security numbers on mailing labels used on the outside of tax form envelopes, and Senate Bill 185 prohibiting any business from listing a customer’s marital status – "single or married woman" – as a part of a customer’s mailing address on a billing statement, correspondence or enclosing envelope.
• Authored legislation signed into law, Senate Bill 1780, which prohibits sweepstakes solicitation materials to reflect an individual is a winner, unless that person has in fact won a prize; required a prominent statement indicating that no purchase was necessary to enter the sweepstake; prohibited entries not accompanied by an order for a magazine or product are at any disadvantage compared to entries submitted with a purchase.
• Authored legislation, Senate Bill 270, to require Mexican trucks permitted to operate on California’s highways under the provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to conform to California’s pollution and safety standards.
• In 1997, authored Electric Consumer Protection legislation, Senate Bill 477, which provided a comprehensive set of electric consumer protections, including registration requirements for sellers of electricity, prohibitions against deceptive marketing, an ongoing consumer education program, and creation of a "don’t call me" list to allow customers to stop telemarketing by sellers of electricity, as well as providing limiting exemptions to these rules for electricity sold by municipalities within their jurisdictional boundaries.
• Senate Bill 1035 -- prohibits telephone companies from charging for unlisted telephone numbers; prohibits telemarketers from concealing their telephone number from Caller ID devices (Chapter 675, Statutes of 1996).
• Senate Bill 1659 -- creates a task force to study privacy issues and to recommend changes to state law to ensure that every Californian’s constitutional right to privacy is observed (Chapter 1025, Statutes 1996).
• Senate Bill 1140 -- will help stop "slamming" -- the arbitrary switching of your long-distance service without your consent -- by requiring long-distance phone companies to confirm with you that you intend to switch long-distance carriers (Chapter 358, Statutes of 1996).
• Assembly Bill 1629 -- The Peace Credit Reporting Reform Act forced greater accuracy in credit reports and greater efficiency in consumer relations and dispute resolution (Chapter 1194, Statutes of 1992).
• Led a successful petition drive to fight the telephone company’s plan to split the East County into two different area codes.

• Authored legislation signed into law which put an end to conflict of interest abuse in the sale of non-profit hospitals to for-profit HMO’s, Senate Bill 413.
• Authored legislation, Senate Bill 977, that would hold health care service plans (HMO’s) legally responsible for restricting appropriate care to patients by defining them as health care providers. This definition more accurately reflects the active role HMO’s have in influencing physician treatment protocols, and exposes HMO’s to an appropriate level of liability in medical malpractice suits.
• Carried legislation in 1997 and 1998 to ensure patient mental health records and information shall be kept confidential and would prohibit a plan from acquiring or disclosing any communication by an enrolled without the express and informed consent of the enrollee.
• Sponsored public forum to inform working families about the availability of

low-cost health care for children through Healthy Families legislation; acknowledged for successfully obtaining funding assistance for the Spring Valley Family Health Center to ensure health care for children in the community; recognized by the United Way of San Diego for efforts to ensure a healthy and safe community.

Mr. Peace is the Chief Financial Officer of Four Square Productions,
a multimedia production company he co-founded in 1972, and is now San Diego's largest producer of commercial and corporate films, videotapes, and multi-media presentations. The company, though, is best known for its original feature film, "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" and its three sequels, as well as a Killer Tomatoes Saturday morning animated series on the Fox Children’s Network.