Steven Kuykendall

Steven T. Kuykendall served in the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2001 representing California’s 36th Congressional District. Congressman Kuykendall served on the Armed Services, the Science and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committees of the House.

In his first year in Congress, Congressman Kuykendall helped craft a plan to pay down the national debt while still providing a tax cut and protecting Social Security. He secured funds to help clean up Santa Monica Bay and dredge the Marina del Rey Harbor entrance. Congressman Kuykendall also authored a provision in the defense authorization bill that allowed active duty military bases to swap surplus land for new structures on the sites they retain, making them better stewards of their assets.

Before his election to Congress, Mr. Kuykendall served two terms in the California State Assembly, from 1994 to 1998. During his first term in the state legislature, he served as Republican Whip. He also served on the Banking and Finance, Labor and Employment, Higher Education, and Utilities and Commerce Committees. Mr. Kuykendall demanded a full accounting of legislative spending and oversaw the Assembly’s first “clean” fiscal audit in ten years. In addition, he co-authored California’s “Megan’s Law” and wrote the “Tyler Jaeger Act” to protect children from abuse and child molesters.

Mr. Kuykendall began his public service as councilman and mayor of Rancho Palos Verdes. He has also served as president and trustee of the Peninsula Education Foundation, regional commissioner for AYSO Youth Soccer, trustee of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, chairman of the Palos Verdes Regional Law Enforcement Committee and vice- chairman of the Los Angeles County Emergency Preparedness Commission.

Commissioned as a Marine Corps Second Lieutenant in 1968, Mr. Kuykendall served two tours of duty in Vietnam, participating in the effort to stop the North Vietnamese Easter Offensive in 1972. He rose to the rank of Captain and retired in 1973 after a permanent shoulder injury.

In 1973, Mr. Kuykendall became a businessman working in the commercial and mortgage- banking field until 1994. During that time, he founded and served as president of Lockheed Mortgage Corporation, a subsidiary of Lockheed Corporation. He was also a principal with David Buxton Financial Corporation from 1984-1994. Since leaving Congress, he is engaged in local, state and federal government relations and management consulting as proprietor of Steven T. Kuykendall & Associates. In 2013 Mr. Kuykendall became the volunteer president and CEO of Fisher House Southern California, Inc., a 501(c)3 charity, dedicated to raising funds for the construction of a Fisher House on the Long Beach Veterans Administration Medical Center campus.

Congressman Kuykendall holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Oklahoma City University (1968) and a Masters of Business Administration from San Diego State University (1974). He is a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars, First Marine Division Association, Military Officers Association of America, Rotary International and the U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress. He and his wife, Jan, live in Long Beach, California and have three grown children – Kerry, a pilot in the U.S. Navy; Brent, a public school administrator; and Craig, a Los Angeles fire fighter.