Meet Kate Harrison

MEET KATE

Kate Harrison is a Berkeley City Councilperson, a longtime Berkeley resident, city commissioner and board member, activist, homeowner, small business owner and community volunteer. For more than three decades, Kate has also been a Justice System and International Rule of Law Consultant. Every day, she uses these varied life experiences to work for us at City Hall. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, yoga, gardening, theater, reading and socializing with friends.

A LIFE DEVOTED TO PUBLIC SERVICE

Kate comes from three generations of women activists, fighting for justice and equity. In 2017, after years as an involved community member, Kate ran for the City Council, where she now works every day to improve District 4 and the city.

Using her extensive experience and her ability to build coalitions, Kate knows how to get things done. She rapidly responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by providing free and accessible testing and vaccination to all Berkeley residents. She also made sure that tenants and small businesses were supported through financial aid and commercial eviction protections. She organized mask distribution to homeless service providers from her home. Kate encouraged the earliest possible safe reopening of our schools, understanding the importance of in-person education while also prioritizing the safety and wellbeing of our community.

In recognition of her climate activism, the Sierra Club honored Kate with the 2021 Trailblazer Award. She wrote and passed the nation’s first ban on natural gas in new buildings; created the Climate Action Fund to help lower-income residents make climate-protecting and health-promoting changes to their homes and transportation; and she is bringing public electric charging stations to people living in multi-unit buildings.

On the City Council, Kate has developed an action plan to increase funding for street paving now. She works with neighborhood associations and the Downtown Business Association to protect and promote local small businesses. She works with community groups to protect tenants and bring forward modern policing policies. She is not afraid of special interests, requiring lobbyists in Berkeley to register and downtown developers to pay their fair share of community benefits.

If a concerned constituent calls, Kate makes sure they are heard and appropriate action is taken. She brought additional trash bins to North Shattuck. She pressed PG&E to improve the safety of gas pipelines near Berkeley High School. She demanded and made sure safe bicycle and pedestrian crossings were implemented at Dwight and California. Her office stays connected to the day-to-day issues that affect our neighbors.

Kate promises to keep answering every single phone call and email. A vote for Kate will ensure your local representative always has your back.

A CAREER DEVOTED TO IMPROVING GOVERNMENT

As a public sector executive and consultant, Kate has solved problems for agencies in 31 California counties, eight states and fourteen nations. Kate specializes in balancing budgets and improving government efficiency while ensuring services for the most vulnerable are maintained and employees treated fairly. People who have benefited from Kate’s work include Native American foster youth in North Dakota, defendants without lawyers in Serbia and people returning to their communities from prison.

Kate also held policy and executive positions in the San Francisco Mayor’s Office under Art Agnos, and at the California Administrative Office of the Courts, where she helped develop the one billion dollar budget and policies to enhance access to California’s court system.

Kate attended UC Berkeley, earning both her BA and her Masters from the Goldman School of Public Policy. As a student activist, she worked on Berkeley’s rent control and tenant protection campaign t; formed a statewide coalition to pass California’s first just cause eviction protection; served in the ASUC Senate; and helped the ACLU expose abuses committed by the FBI.