![Leslie Herod](https://www.netrootsnation.org/wp-content/uploads/userphoto/12983.jpg)
Representative Leslie Herod was elected in 2016 as the first LGBTQ African American in the Colorado General Assembly. Since then, she has passed 68 bills, addressing criminal justice reform, mental health, addiction, youth homelessness, and civil rights protections. Some of her signature work includes: ending cash bail for minor offenses, de-felonizing drug possession, giving every Colorado newborn a $100 college kickstarter account, providing free menstrual hygiene products to inmates in Colorado’s prisons and jails, and passing a comprehensive police accountability bill following the highly public murder of George Floyd, and the nationwide movement that followed. In addition to winning reelection in 2018, Herod championed a ballot initiative—Caring for Denver—that raises $35 million annually for mental health and substance abuse treatment and services for children and adults. Herod is the Chair of the House Finance Committee, Vice Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Chair of the Committee on Legal Services, and the Chair of the Colorado Black Democratic Legislative Caucus.