Capitol Weekly’s Top 100: Erika Contreras

27. Erika Contreras

Erika Contreras may be the most important unelected person in California’s legislative branch. As the nonpartisan Chief Administrator and Parliamentarian of the upper house, she oversees every aspect of the institution, from human resources and accounting, to contracts and legal issues, to operations and facilities (in Sacramento buildings and in nearly 70 district office spaces), to Rules Committee and shepherding all bills, to floor session and committee policies, procedures, and politics… and much more. That’s a lot of herding cats, some of whom are pretty sure they are lions. Contreras is known to carry copies of the state constitution and the Senate’s standing rules, as she regularly must say “no” more often than she can say “yes” – a job duty that requires a thick skin, a brass backbone, an encyclopedic memory, and unassailable ethics. Born in Mexico and raised in Los Angeles County, Contreras has worked in the capitol for 22 years and was elected Secretary of the Senate in 2018. (The Senators vote on the Secretary every two years.) She is the first Latina to serve in the role and the first woman to do so since 1921

Updated Aug. 26, 2025