Paula A. Daniels is a commissioner with the Los Angeles Board of Public Works, which oversees the City’s third largest department, comprised of over 5,000 employees and five bureaus. The Department of Public Works is responsible for the infrastructure of the City of Los Angeles ; Commissioner Daniels provides leadership in the area of water quality, including watershed and urban runoff management, and water re-use. She led the strategic planning, creation and development of the Mayor’s million tree program, now known as Million Trees LA, and also founded the Asian Pacific Islander Leaders Group and the Green Streets Committee.
For over 15 years, Daniels has been actively involved in California environmental policy issues. She is Immediate Past President and member of the Board of Governors of Heal the Bay, an environmental group whose mission is to improve and protect Southern California coastal waters and beaches. Daniels was also recently a senior research fellow at the Institute of the Environment of the University of California , Los Angeles , and is a gubernatorial appointee on the governing board of the Bay-Delta Authority. The Authority is a cooperative effort among more than 20 state and federal agencies that work with local communities to improve the quality and reliability of California ’s water supply.
Daniels is the recipient of Heal the Bay’s Superhealer Award (1991); the Environmental Leadership Award of the California League of Conservation Voters (2005); and the Water Quality Leadership award from the State of California Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board (2007).
In her over 25 years of experience as an attorney, Daniels handled complex civil litigation matters in both state and federal courts, primarily representing businesses and professionals. She also has extensive experience as a mediator and arbitrator, and was a senior fellow with the Western Justice Center Foundation, a mediation policy organization.
Daniels previously served as an appointee of former Assembly Speaker (now Mayor) Antonio Villaraigosa to the California Coastal Commission. She also served on the board of directors of the California League of Conservation Voters and as a member of the Liberty Hill Environmental Justice Community Funding Board. A past president of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association, she was also a regional governor of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, a delegate to the Coalition of Bar Associations of Color and president of the board of the Korean Youth and Community Center.