During his two terms in office, Assemblymember Jeffries has sponsored more than fifty bills including measures that strengthen tenant regulations, protect the civil liberties of law-abiding New Yorkers during police encounters, increase the availability of mortgage information to potential homebuyers, and facilitate the successful re-entry of formerly incarcerated individuals.

In his second term, Assemblymember Jeffries launched Project Reclaim, an initiative designed to transform vacant luxury apartments throughout central Brooklyn into affordable homes for working and middle-class families. Last year, Governor David A. Paterson signed into law Project Reclaim legislation that Assemblymember Jeffries pushed forward. The law is designed to encourage banks and financial institutions to refinance distressed, market rate developments in order to create affordable housing. He also co-sponsored in 2007 the groundbreaking 421-a law that requires developers who receive tax breaks to build affordable housing in the Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhoods that he represents. At least fifty percent of the affordable housing must be reserved for people who live in the community.

Assemblymember Jeffries successfully sponsored legislation that reforms the New York Police Department’s stop and frisk practices and protects the civil rights of hundreds of thousands of law-abiding New York City residents. The law, which was signed on July 16, 2010, prohibits the NYPD from maintaining an electronic database with the personal information of individuals who are stopped, questioned and frisked during a police encounter, but not charged with a crime or violation.

In addition, Assemblymember Jeffries also sponsored and championed legislation to end prison-based gerrymandering, which was signed into law on August 3, 2010. With its passage, New York became the second state in the country to count incarcerated individuals in their home communities rather than in the counties where they are incarcerated for purposes of legislative reapportionment.

The Assemblyman regularly conducts town hall meetings on issues such as mass transportation, public safety and education. Throughout the summer, he sets up his office outside subway stations in the district on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings to meet with his constituents as they return home from work. Assemblyman Jeffries also founded Operation Preserve, a free housing clinic that provides legal representation and advice for residents confronting displacement, eviction or harassment.

Assemblymember Jeffries obtained his bachelor’s degree in political science from the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he graduated with honors for outstanding academic achievement. He then received his master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University. He attended New York University School of Law, where he graduated magna cum laude, served on the law review, finished in the top 10 percent of his class and delivered the commencement speech at graduation.

Following the completion of law school, Assemblymember Jeffries clerked for the Honorable Harold Baer Jr. of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Prior to his election to the Assembly, he practiced law for several years at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton Garrison, an internationally renowned law firm, and then in the litigation department of a Fortune 100 company.