Heather Hadwick

In Alturas, Heather Hadwick lives with her husband, Bryon, and their children and owns and operates Hadwick Family Farm Pumpkin Patch in Modoc County. Before joining the Assembly, her public work centered on the emergencies rural communities prepare for and endure: school safety, wildfire, flooding, evacuation and recovery. She served in the Modoc County Office of Education, the county Office of Emergency Services and the Sheriff’s Office. Voters sent her to the Assembly in 2024 after she defeated fellow Republican Tenessa Audette. Her assignments now include agriculture, emergency management, the state budget, insurance, and business and professions—the government posts closest to much of her earlier work.

THE JOB BEFORE THE JOB

Hadwick attended Shasta College and earned a master’s degree in leadership and management from CSU Chico. At the Modoc County Office of Education, she worked as a public safety teacher and handled safety and preparedness for local schools.

She also served Modoc County as Deputy Office of Emergency Services Director and worked as a Public Information Officer at the Sheriff’s Office. The duties were practical and immediate. Hadwick organized evacuations during wildfires and flooding, coordinated support and managed recovery. She also assisted on neighboring wildfires, including the Bootleg, Dixie and McKinney fires.

These were jobs in which county government met residents during evacuations and in the difficult period afterward. Across those roles, her work included school safety and preparedness, organizing evacuations, coordinating support, managing recovery and serving as a Public Information Officer. Hadwick entered the Assembly with that county-level experience and with an operating farm in Modoc County, two parts of her background that recur in her committee assignments and policy record.

THE FIRST YEAR

Hadwick campaigned on lowering taxes, supporting local farmers and small businesses, promoting public safety and wildfire prevention, and addressing homelessness. In her first year in office, she secured more than $100 million in state funding for projects and programs benefiting the 1st Assembly District. The money supported wildfire recovery, rural infrastructure and community services across the district.

She also authored six bills that were signed into law. Her committee posts put her in several of the rooms where the district’s recurring concerns are handled: she serves as vice chair of both the Agriculture Committee and the Emergency Management Committee. She is also assigned to the Budget, Business and Professions, and Insurance committees.

In March 2026, Hadwick was named Deputy Republican Floor Leader. The position added a role in the Assembly Republican leadership to a first-year record already centered on district funding and rural programs. Her committee portfolio remains broad, but its two vice chairmanships—agriculture and emergency management—track closely with her work before election.

THE POLICY SIGNATURE

Hadwick’s clearest policy signature is the financing of rural recovery and protection against losses that fall heavily on residents, ranchers and county governments. She secured $2 million for the California Wolf Livestock Compensation Program, which provides financial assistance to ranchers for livestock losses associated with wolf activity. The program provides compensation for livestock losses associated with wolf activity.

On wildfire recovery, Hadwick supported and advanced a $58 million wildfire settlement tax exemption. The exemption provided tax relief to people receiving settlements connected to major wildfire events during a defined eligibility period. Her work on the Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Program addressed another recurring pressure on rural government. She helped secure state support for the program, which provides funding to rural counties affected by declining federal timber revenues.

Taken together with the district’s state funding for infrastructure, recovery and community services, the beneficiaries in Hadwick’s record are specific: wildfire survivors, livestock producers, rural counties and the local services those counties support. Her campaign ranged from taxes to homelessness, but her policymaking record is most developed where agriculture, disaster response and rural public finance meet.