SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom on Aug. 6 announced the reappointment of Troy K. Taira, 61, of Alameda as commissioner to the Board of Parole Hearings, where he has served since 2018.
Taira served as administrative law judge for the California Public Utilities Commission in 2018 and was a commissioner for the Board of Parole Hearings from 2016 to 2017. He was deputy commissioner and administrative law judge for the Board of Parole Hearings from 2015 to 2016.
Taira was special assistant to the inspector general in the Office of the Inspector General from 2013 to 2015; an administrative law judge in the Office of Administrative Hearings from 2012 to 2013; an administrative law judge for the Department of Social Services from 2011 to 2012 and for the Office of Administrative Hearings from 2009 to 2011.
He served as a commissioned officer and staff attorney for the U.S. Coast Guard from 1992 to 2009. Taira was a defense attorney in the Fresno County Public Defender’s Office from 1991 to 1992.
He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the UC Davis School of Law. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $166,306. Taira is a Democrat.
The Board of Parole Hearings conducts parole suitability hearings and nonviolent offender parole reviews for adult inmates under the jurisdiction of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The duties of the board also include:
• Conducting medical parole hearings
• Reviewing and conducting hearings for offenders with a mental health disorder (formerly known as mentally disordered offenders).
• Review of sexually violent predators
• Investigating requests for pardons, reprieves, and commutations of sentence
• Processing foreign prisoner transfer requests