California State Assembly, District 51
Where is our leader?
California is in crisis and Rick doesn't have what it takes. He's funded by special interests, he's anti-housing, anti-clean energy, and anti-self defense.
Rick Zbur is focused on none of this.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur is not the leader for California's 51st Assembly District (AD-51).
His record proves it.
Rick Chavez Zbur has lined his pockets with millions of dollars from special interests that distort our democratic process and buy his allegiance. He happily accepts money from unions, utility companies, AT&T, Fox Corporation, Sony, NBC, GM, Hawaiian Gardens Casino, Spectrum, Walmart, and countless others. The list is staggering.
When politicians are funded by the machine, they serve the machine — not you.
Rick Chavez Zbur introduced AB 1333, a bill that would have required Californians to retreat before defending themselves — even in dangerous situations outside their homes.
After massive public backlash, he withdrew the bill. But it revealed his priorities: restricting your right to protect yourself and your family.
Source: Santa Monica Daily Press | Contra Costa News | ABC10
Proposition 36 — which restored felony penalties for theft and drug crimes gutted by Prop 47 — passed with 68% of the vote. It was one of the most popular ballot measures in California history. Rick Chavez Zbur refused to support it.
Instead, he authored AB 2943, a watered-down alternative designed to kill momentum for Prop 36. His bill let repeat thieves off easy, prioritized rehabilitation over consequences, and did nothing to restore the deterrence that had collapsed under Prop 47. It was a pro-crime, anti-victim joke dressed up as reform.
Source: CalMatters | AB 2943 — California Legislature
Before entering the Assembly, Rick Chavez Zbur was Executive Director of Equality California, which co-sponsored SB 357 — a bill that repealed California's loitering-for-prostitution laws. The result: law enforcement reported an explosion of open-air sex trafficking, including of minors as young as 11, on streets like LA's Figueroa corridor.
Police chiefs and district attorneys across California called for repeal, saying traffickers were openly bragging that the law allowed them to sell human beings for sex with impunity. Rick Chavez Zbur helped make that happen.
Source: ACLU CalAction — Equality California listed as co-sponsor | ABC7 News
SB 14 would have designated child sex trafficking as a serious felony under California's Three Strikes law. It passed the State Senate 40–0. Then it landed in the Assembly Public Safety Committee — where Rick Chavez Zbur sat as a member. Every Democrat on the panel abstained, letting a unanimous, bipartisan bill die without a single no vote on record.
The public backlash was immediate and furious. Within two days, Democrats called an emergency hearing and reversed course, passing it 6–0 without debate. They only did the right thing because they got caught doing the wrong thing.
Source: Newsweek | California Senate Republican Caucus
SB 585 would have given small businesses — those with 50 or fewer employees — 120 days to fix disability access violations before being hit with lawsuits and attorney's fees. It passed the State Senate and went to the Assembly, where it was quietly buried in the Judiciary Committee — where Rick Chavez Zbur sat as a member — and died without a vote.
Rick Chavez Zbur is a lawyer himself, a Harvard-trained attorney who spent decades at a major law firm. And he's funded by the Consumer Attorneys of California — the special interest lobby representing trial lawyers in this state. He's not working for small business owners. He's working for the lawyers who sue them.
California already has the highest gas taxes, highest gas prices, and highest car registration fees in the country — costs that fall hardest on working people and the poor who can't afford to live near their jobs. Rick Chavez Zbur supports AB 1421, which would extend California's study of adding a per-mile driving tax on top of all of that.
When you're already drowning, Rick's solution is to add more water.
AB 942 would slash the solar incentives that nearly 2 million California households were promised when they invested in rooftop solar panels. Rick Chavez Zbur strongly backed the bill. Who wrote it? A former Southern California Edison executive who spent 25 years at the utility company before getting elected to the Assembly.
Rick Chavez Zbur sided with a utility insider against the residents of his own district — dismissing the testimony of over 50 Californians who showed up to oppose it, and parroting utility talking points about "affordability" while supporting a bill that makes energy less affordable for everyone who went solar.
Source: CityWatch LA | KTLA
Rick Chavez Zbur claims to support housing, but when it mattered, he voted NO on SB 79 — bipartisan legislation to increase housing supply near transit stations during California's housing crisis. California has the highest housing costs in the country and the only proven way to lower that cost is by adding supply. Rick doesn't care about the affordability crisis.
"A misguided solution to a real problem is not a real solution," Zbur said on the Assembly floor. Translation: I'm Rick and I'm a NIMBY.
Source: Larchmont Buzz | Beverly Press
The Palisades fire burned an entire community to the ground, killing 12 people and causing $50 billion in damage. Rick Chavez Zbur's legislative response? A bill to help people get their pets back.
While the FOUND Act (AB 478) is well-intentioned, Zbur has been silent on what the government could have done to prevent the fires or how to stop future disasters. No accountability. No reform. Just feel-good legislation while families lost everything.
In 2023, Rick Chavez Zbur voted against legislation to allow small modular nuclear reactors in California. His reason?
"I don't think that the California public supports this. I don't think that we need this to get to a carbon-free future."
Zbur confirmed to CalMatters that his anti-nuclear stance hasn't changed. Nuclear power is the largest source of clean energy in America. It is also the safest and cleanest form of energy. Someone this illiterate on basic facts should not be trusted to lead us. If Rick Chavez Zbur truly cared about climate change, he'd support all zero-carbon energy sources — not just the politically convenient ones.
Source: CalMatters
Representing the 51st Assembly District is a stepping stone. Rick Chavez Zbur has already formed a committee for Attorney General 2030 — where he can really deliver for his lawyer buddies, drowning our state in even more frivolous lawsuits and shackling every business and individual in red tape. He's not here to serve the 51st. He's here to climb.
Source: Transparency USA — Rick Chavez Zbur for Attorney General 2030
Democrats have had total control of California for decades. The results: the highest homeless population in the country, the highest housing costs, the highest unemployment rate, and the highest poverty rate. If Rick Chavez Zbur were a reform Democrat fighting the status quo, that would be something. But he's not. He's the head of the Assembly Democratic Caucus — the machine's machine. He doesn't represent change. He represents absolute stasis.
The one thing Rick Chavez Zbur wants you to know is that he doesn't have time.
Rick Chavez Zbur's favorite city is 6,000 miles away.
California Assembly District 51 deserves leadership that addresses real issues — homelessness, housing, and the economy. Call or write Rick Zbur's office and demand he focus on what matters to you.
Independent Dick Lucas is running for office to bring real leadership to California.
He is not beholden to special interests because he is not accepting money from anyone.
He's not beholden to any political party because he isn't part of one.
He is only focused on common sense solutions to the biggest issues facing California.