James R. Mills

James R. Mills (June 6, 1927 – March 27, 2021) was an American Democratic politician from California, who held elected office from 1960 to 1982, first in the California State Assembly from 1961 to 1965, then in the California State Senate from 1967 to 1982 where he also served as the 44th president pro tempore from November 1970 to November 1980.

Career

Mills was first elected to the California State Assembly in 1960 to replace George G. Crawford, who had resigned the 79th District seat on February 15, 1960, to become a San Diego Municipal Court judge and George J. Lapthorne, who won the special election for the seat, but did not seek re-election later that year. Mills was inspired to write the law when a developer proposed demolishing the historic Hotel del Coronado in his district. The Mills Act, named after James Mills, has been credited with saving thousands of historic buildings from destruction in California. He, along with city council member Leon Williams, helped formulate what would become the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) in the 1970s. In 1975, he authored a bill that would lead to the creation of the San Diego Trolley. At the time, the project faced opposition from some local government officials, but it later would become the model for other light rail systems California Governor George Deukmejian appointed Mills to San Diego's Metropolitan Transit Development Board (now known as the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System) in 1984, where he served as chairman from 1985 to 1994, when he stepped down from the board. The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System headquarters building is named after him. His other two books were about Pontius Pilate: Poems of Inspiration from the Masters and The Gospel According to Pontius Pilate, which was a historical novel, about the compromises the Roman governor of Judea faced in condemning Jesus to death.