Chris Walker has nearly two decades of experience advocating on legislative and regulatory issues before the California State Legislature as well as executive branch departments and agencies. His clients include trade associations in the construction, education, food and beverage, and transportation industries.
Mr. Walker also has significant professional association management experience, serving as assistant executive director to two national organizations.
Mr. Walker has successfully advanced clients' complex and urgent policy interests requiring creative solutions and state finance priority. His work benefits from the strong network of bipartisan relationships with legislators and staff he has developed over two decades in Sacramento.
Mr. Walker has 12 years of experience working with regulators at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the California Environmental Protection Agency, the California Air Resources Board, the Department of Consumer Affairs, and the Bureau of Automotive Repair regulatory staff as well as local air districts on air quality and State Implementation Plan (SIP) issues.
Representative Work
Lubrizol Corporation. Helped the corporation successfully navigate California's regulatory and tax issues with the Cal/EPA, State Water Board, California Air Resources Board, the Department of Food and Agriculture and the State Board of Equalization in the development, approval and marketing of a revolutionary low emissions fuel technology in the state.
AB 127 (Nunez), Chapter 35, Statutes of 2006 – K-12 Education Finance, Proposition 1D. Successfully advocated for a first-time inclusion of $500 million for career and technical education (CTE) within the $10.7 billion education facilities bond. Proposition 1D was passed by voters' due to the popularity of the CTE provisions. With local match funds Prop. 1D provided a $1 billion investment into CTE facilities statewide.
Sacramento Emergency Clean Air/Transportation (SECAT) Program. Policy/operations consultant to the Sacramento Emergency Clean Air/Transportation (SECAT) program, which has become a national model for the voluntary reduction of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) from heavy-duty mobile sources. Substantially reduced NOx emissions from private and public fleets are achieved through engine re-powers, lower emission fuels technology, and exhaust aftertreatment devices.
AB 2511 (Steinberg), Chapter 532, Statutes of 2000. Lobbyist for the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG). Successfully advocated before the Davis Administration and the California Legislature for the state funding of a $70 million air quality program to assist the Sacramento region with achieving federal Clean Air Act compliance. Without the emissions reductions associated with this program in 2002 and 2005, the region's 2020 $15 billion metropolitan transportation plan would have failed to receive federal approval or funding. The program, the Sacramento Emergency Clean Air / Transportation (SECAT) program, now serves as a national model for the voluntary reduction of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) from heavy-duty mobile sources.
SB 1146 (Burton), Chapter 1077, Statutes 2000. Successfully lobbied on behalf of the Automotive Repair Coalition to secure the necessary service, parts, and tool information from vehicle manufacturers for use by the independent automotive aftermarket businesses. By providing a means for independent service providers to acquire the same service information, parts, and tools which car dealers receive from vehicle manufacturers, this measure sustains consumer access to a competitive marketplace of close to 33,000 automotive service providers throughout the state and allows non-dealership automotive businesses to continue to compete in a $14 billion/year industry in California.