Bill Monning was born in 1951 and raised in Southern California. He received his A.B. Degree in the Dynamics of International Development from the University of California at Berkeley in 1972 and his J.D. degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 1976. As an attorney, Monning worked with the United Farm Workers Union (UFW) and California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA). He served as Director of the Salvadoran Medical Relief Fund, executive director of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and was cofounder of Global Majority. From 1993-2008, he worked in private practice. A Distinguished Professor of Law at the Monterey College of Law, he also worked as a professor of international negotiation and conflict resolution at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS). In 2004 and 2005, Bill was awarded Fulbright Scholarships to teach and conduct research at the Universidad de Lima in Peru and at the Universidad de Tarapaca in Arica, Chile. He also served as a consultant to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the International Institute for Mediation and Conflict Resolution.
Monning also had a long political career. He served in the California Legislature from 2008-2020, first as a member of the California State Assembly (2008-2012) and then in the California State Senate (2012-2020). During his time in the California State Senate, he was Senate Majority Leader from 2015-2019. During his legislative career, Monning authored legislation on a broad range of issues including safe, clean, drinking water; public health; worker health and safety; implementation of the Affordable Care Act in California, environmental protection; climate action; and the landmark End of Life Options Act.