Principal
Jimmy Fremgen
Jimmy Fremgen works on urgent and stuck issues in the political and policy world. He was senior staff on the House Oversight Committee and the Assembly Committee on Business and Professions, where he drafted and negotiated the framework bills that regulated industries live under. He has also run multi-state advocacy operations — 20-plus states with an outside firm under him.
When a policy agenda gets ignored — an emerging industry nobody’s covering, or a bill threatening client revenue that isn’t getting the intervention it needs — he works surgically. Lynchpin pain points in the legislative, regulatory, or political arena, whether they’ve been sitting there for years or showed up last week. Which lever to pull, how hard, and when—a comprehensive approach quarterbacked by a veteran of the sector.
Sometimes the moment that matters is months before a bill has a number, while the framework is still being drafted. Sometimes it’s the week of the vote. The job is knowing which one you’re in and what moves it.
Background
Where the work has happened.
As Director of State Policy at Food Solutions Action, Jimmy directed multi-state legislative strategy including California’s AB 1264 (Gabriel, 2025), negotiating amendments that preserved alternative protein eligibility for school meal procurement statewide — protecting industry access to a $4B school food market. He launched the California Select Committee on Alternative Protein Innovation and managed a multi-state government affairs operation spanning more than twenty states, directing contract lobbyists and an outside lobby firm.
At Disability Belongs (formerly RespectAbility), Jimmy helped launch California’s Legislative Disability Caucus through coalition organizing and direct legislator engagement, securing an inaugural chair and recruiting seven founding members. He delivered on-the-record testimony before California legislative committees on education, judiciary, and elections policy.
Inside the California State Capitol, as Senior Committee Consultant for the Assembly Committee on Business and Professions, Jimmy directed oversight of twelve state boards and bureaus and led the Assembly’s cannabis policy work following Proposition 64. He drafted, analyzed, and negotiated more than sixty pieces of legislation through hearings and Assembly floor, including major regulatory legislation such as SB 94 (MAUCRSA), and led the legislative process that sunsetted the State Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind.
In Washington, as Senior Policy Advisor on the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform under Representative Elijah Cummings, Jimmy led an investigation into 111 colleges and universities unlawfully screening federal student aid, which drove institution-level changes and national coverage in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. He worked House floor strategy for the Iran Nuclear Agreement and moved the Gun Trafficking Prevention Act through the 113th Congress as its first bipartisan gun-safety bill.
Jimmy began his career as a social science and substitute teacher working for the Sonoma and San Luis Obispo County Offices of Education, where he developed his skills in stakeholder communication, classroom leadership, and translating complex material for diverse audiences.
Jimmy currently chairs the Board of Directors of Relay Resources Enterprises, a Pacific Northwest nonprofit advancing competitive integrated employment for people with disabilities. He previously chaired United CORE Alliance, helping build the criminal justice reform organization from formation through delivery of expungement services to formerly incarcerated Californians. His authored work includes an USA Today opinion piece on Congressman Elijah Cummings, and he was a selected speaker at SXSW 2024 on policy, equity, and disability.
Selected Wins
- Protected industry access to a $4B market.
- Stopped a 2026 workers’ compensation bill within three weeks.
- Worked the post-Prop 64 adult-use cannabis regulatory buildout at Assembly B&P.
- Built California’s first Legislative Disability Caucus.
- Shaped the Select Committee on Alternative Protein Innovation.