Omer Rains

Omer Leonard Rains (born September 25, 1941) is an American politician, lawyer, author, ecologist, and humanitarian. He served in the California State Senate from 1974 to 1982.

Introduction Elected to the California Senate as a Democrat in 1974, Rains served three terms prior to running for the Office of Attorney General of California. His Senate district included over a million constituents in the Central Coast area of California between Los Angeles and San Francisco, including, but not limited to, the Counties of Ventura, Santa Barbara and Northern Los Angeles. Rains served as Chairman of the Senate Majority Caucus (the youngest in State history), as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Political Reform, and as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Rains also served as Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Committee on Legal Equality, the only Legislative Committee in the United States established to deal solely with promoting the rights of women.

As stated by a former U.S. presidential candidate "Omer Rains ... has left us with a legacy of legislative and humanitarian achievements that few of his generation can match.

Early life and education Although Rains was born in a small town in Missouri, he moved to California with his family at a young age. After graduating from Bakersfield High School in 1959, he entered the University of California, Berkeley. Rains received a B.A. in political science, and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Upon graduation he moved to Ventura, California, where he began his professional life as a prosecutor in the Ventura County District Attorney's Office. This involved coaching the Ventura Youth Basketball League and establishing a youth employment service, a free legal clinic, a community hotline, a drug treatment center, and a medical program for the aged and infirm. He also served as Chairman of the Ventura Planning Commission and as Chairman of the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Commission. He served on the University of California Alumni Council and later as a trustee of the Robert Maynard Hutchins/ Encyclopedia Britannic Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions.

Statue of Rains erected September 25, 2016 by India for humanitarian work in that country.

Nonprofit and humanitarian work During Jimmy Carter's Presidential Campaigns, Rains served as his California State chair and Western States co-chair and thereafter as an international elections monitor/observer.

Rains served on the University of California Alumni Council and later as a Trustee of the Robert Maynard Hutchins/ Encyclopædia Britannica Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions.

Today Rains works with indigenous peoples in lesser developed nations. He served as chairman of the Board of Directors of Rural Education and Development, READ Global until 2012. As of August, 2013, READ had built over 67 community library and resource centers (READ Centers) in rural Nepal, India, and Bhutan. His work in the village of Ullon, West Bengal, India, has personal significance, and in 2016 India erected a 15-foot-high statue of him in a Garden of Inspirational Leaders in recognition of his humanitarian work in that country.

In 2021, in the village of Ullon, India, Rains will be further honored by the establishment of Colleges named the "Omer L. Rains Institute of Paramedical Sciences", as well as a College of Engineering and a Pharmaceutical College. Diplomas from the Paramedical College will be awarded in the disciplines of Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Operational Theatre Technology, Dialysis, Medical Lab Technology, X-Ray Technology, Radiology and Medical Imaging.

Brain aneurysm and stroke Rains suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm and an associated hemorrhagic stroke in 2002 at the age of 61. Afterwards he was in critical condition for over a month. He recovered fully and in 2012 authored a book chronicling his life and his recovery entitled "Back to the Summit: How One Man Defied Death and Paralysis to Again Lead a Full Life of Service to Others".

The University of California has catalogued and archived some of Rains' legislative material and it is now housed in a "Special Collection" for use by academics, historians, students and others. The collection comprises thousands of documents and files covering 35 linear feet of shelf space and is available for review by interested parties. The majority of information that follows can be confirmed by documents in that collection, referenced hereinafter as "Special Collections, University of California, Santa Barbara."

Publications "The Fallacy of Neutral Regulatory Reform," California Law Reporter, University of San Diego School of Law, Fall, 1981. "Government Spending and Regulation," California Finance Report, February/March, 1981. "The Community Force", Magazine of the West, June, 1982. "Legal Services for the Poor," The Center Magazine, January/February, 1986. "Back to the Summit: How One Man Defied Death and Paralysis to Again Lead a Full Life of Service to Others," Morgan James Publishing Co., New York, New York, 2012. A second edition of this international best-selling book was published in 2016.