Prior to being elected to the Assembly in 2014 to succeed term-limited incumbent Steven Bradford, she was a realtor and business consultant. She is the daughter of former Assemblywoman, Congresswoman and Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke.[4] Her mother was the first member of Congress to give birth (to Autumn) while in office.[5] They appeared together on the March 1974 cover of Ebony magazine.[6]
Her legislative career has included taking on several significant issues, including extension of California's Cap and Trade climate market, building local climate resiliency in disadvantaged communities, wildfire abatement, and expanding and strengthening protections for reproductive health. Additionally, she has realized significant revenue by successfully negotiating the state's implementation of the South Dakota v. Wayfair decision and by authoring the Loophole Closure and Small Business and Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2019, which provided tax relief to small businesses and funded expansion of funding to state social safety net programs.[7]
Burke served as the chairwoman of the Committee on Revenue and Taxation and the Select Committee on Career Technical Education and Building a 21st Century Workforce.[8] She is also a member of the Committees on Accountability and Administrative Review, Banking and Finance, Health, Utilities and Energy, the Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies, and the State Allocation Board.
She was previously vice-chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus and has served as an appointee to the Domestic Violence Advisory Council.[9][10]
On February 1, 2022, Burke announced that she would not be a candidate for reelection in 2022.[11]
