Hard Work, Passion, Results
May 7, 2009
From working as a community organizer to becoming the third highest ranking member of the New York City Council to now serving as State Senator, Bill Perkins has built a record of hard work, passion and getting results. That's why in 2005, The Nation magazine named him as one of eight most effective progressive city leaders in the country.
Elected in 2006, Bill Perkins now serves as State Senator representing the 30th District, Chairs the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions and was one of the first NYS elected officials to support Barack Obama for President. The District includes Harlem, the Upper West Side and Washington Heights and was previously represented by former NYS Secretary of State Basil Paterson, former State Comptroller Carl McCall and Governor David Paterson.
Starting his political career as a community activist and tenant leader, he was elected three times to the City Council and was chosen by his colleagues to serve as Deputy Majority Leader and Chair of the Government Operations Committee. Legendary columnist Jack Newfield described Bill as "a legislator who has no fear and limitless empathy for life's casualties."
Bill Perkins spearheaded the successful fight to protect children from the deadly effects of lead in their homes and his leadership resulted in the enactment of The Childhood Lead Paint Poisoning Prevention Act of 2004 to protect children from the deadly effects of lead in their homes. New York now has the best preventions in the country and according to the Mayor's "Take Care New York" report has experienced a dramatic decrease in lead poisoning
cases. For winning this fight, Juan Gonzales in the Daily News called Bill Perkins "a hero" and wrote, "It took the stamina of a long-distance runner to prevail against the city's powerful landlord
lobby, which has resisted stronger lead paint removal laws for decades."
A colon cancer survivor, Bill Perkins knows how important early detection is. He has been successful in setting up early detection programs in city hospitals so that other colon cancer victims will survive and he has helped safeguard the health of children and adults by fighting asthma, infant and maternal mortality, HIV/AIDS and making quality health care more accessible to all New Yorkers.
A strong supporter of public education, Bill Perkins has fought to give every single child the same chance to succeed that he was given. He made sure that funding for computer technology, public libraries and the rehabilitation of school playgrounds remain a municipal government priority. Fighting and winning funding to increase The City University of New York (CUNY) scholarships, full-time faculty staffing and college prep courses, Perkins is a leading voice to maintain the public university's mission of access and excellence.
Called an "anti-rat crusader," Bill Perkins has fought the plague of rats on our streets. Serving as Chair of Council's Select Committee on Pest Control, he organized a citywide Rat Summit, authored a comprehensive strategy to solving the City's rat problem and forced the Mayor to act. Even now, some newspapers still refer to him as the "Rat Man."
Bill Perkins was an early, vigorous opponent of the War in Iraq. He introduced and passed an anti-war resolution - one of the first in the nation -- in the City Council and led the fight to pass a resolution to protect our civil liberties and rights by mandating that the Patriot Act not infringe upon the fundamental rights and liberties of New Yorkers. When peaceful 
demonstrators rallying during the Republican National Convention were wrongly arrested, held in unsafe conditions and denied basic rights, Bill Perkins was the first to hold hearings and expose the abuses.
And Bill didn't stop there. He's stood tall for free speech and equity, opposed racial, ethnic and religious profiling, sponsored landmark Legislation to protect the rights of the gay, lesbian and transgender community and he led the fight for the Living Wage Bill to provide a minimum wage that was also a living wage.
Now in the State Senate, Bill Perkins continues to fight for transparency and accountability, to knock down barriers and create opportunity and to be a loud voice for those that too often have no voice in Albany.