Isaac Bryan

UCLA Black Policy Project

Bryan is the founding director of UCLA's Black Policy Project (BPP). The BPP aims to build connections between black scholarship at UCLA and public policy decision making.^[8] Bryan also served as director of Public Policy for UCLA's Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies.^[4]

During his time at UCLA, Bryan authored numerous studies and reports. Bryan and The Million Dollar Hoods Project issued several reports on the interactions between students and Los Angeles School Police Department.^[9] Bryan regularly provided media commentary on issues of racial inequality in the United States.^[10][11] During the summer of 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, Bryan led peaceful protests in Los Angeles.^[12][4][13]

Criminal justice reform

Bryan was one of the leading scholars who articulated that "defunding police" was really a call to question the size of our tax contributions to policing and criminalization at the expense of social services.^[14] Bryan was the co-chair for Los Angeles County's historic Measure J, which was approved by over 2.1 million voters and diverts at least 10% of the county's general funds "to address the disproportionate impact of racial injustice through community investment and alternatives to incarceration".^[15][16][17] Bryan regularly writes and provides commentary on policing and justice reform in the United States.^[18][19][20] He has been an outspoken advocate on the need to end the criminalization of poverty.

Election

In 2021, Bryan announced that he would be a candidate for the California Assembly to succeed fellow Democrat Sydney Kamlager, who was elected to the California Senate.^[21] Bryan's campaign for the Assembly was endorsed by many people across Los Angeles.^[2][7]

Bryan won the special election to represent the 54th district outright securing over 50% in the primary despite five other candidates, and was sworn into office.^[22][23][24]

On July 3, 2023 Bryan was named Majority Leader of the Assembly, replacing Eloise Reyes.^[25]

During his time in the Legislature Bryan established the UCLA Center on Reproductive Health Law and Policy, ended prison gerrymandering, returned millions in stolen foster youth benefits, shut down the largest urban oil field in California, established a registry for people living with ALS, improved student health insurance coverage, expanded restorative justice practices,^[26][27] and started a select committee on Poverty and Economic Inclusion.

Bryan is a member of the California Legislative Progressive Caucus.^[28] In 2024, Bryan was elected to serve as Vice-Chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus.