Gov. Brown to name new Riverside County Supervisor following the death of John Benoit

It will be up to Gov. Jerry Brown to appoint a new member of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, following the death of Board Chairman John. J. Benoit.

Benoit, 64, died Monday evening, one month after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Benoit's district is the largest in Riverside County, extending from the wind farms outside Palm Springs inland to the state border. After a career in the California Highway Patrol, he won elections to the Desert Sands Unified School Board District and to the state Assembly and Senate.

While in the Assembly, he wrote Aryanna’s Law, which requires daycare businesses to notify parents when they have been found to have violations during state regulator inspections, said Michelle DeArmond, the late supervisor's chief of staff.

Benoit had been supervisor since 2009, when he was appointed to fill the remainder of the late Roy Wilson's term.

Benoit had represented Riverside County at both the South Coast and the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management Districts. Riverside County Supervisor Marion Ashley will fill the vacancy on the two regional air quality boards.