She received her master's degree in Environmental Planning at CSU Northridge, taught middle school for 29 years and completed her teaching career in Moorpark.

She was a member of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy Advisory Committee and was President of the LA County Division League of California Cities in 1996.

[3] The law extended and expanded upon AB 32, which Pavley co-authored in 2006 and was signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, that required a reduction in GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

[4] During her first term in the Assembly, Pavley authored AB 1493, requiring a reduction in GHG emissions from vehicle tailpipes, signed by Governor Gray Davis in 2002.

During a special ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, the President personally thanked Senator Pavley for her work on creating a clean, safe, secure energy future for California and the United States.

Some of Pavley's legislative victories in the Senate included authoring laws establishing California's first statewide regulation of groundwater basins (SB 1168, SGMA) and SB 1425, the water-energy nexus law that measures the carbon intensity in the movement and treating of water;[6] stiffening penalties for mortgage fraud; banning lead and cadmium in children's jewelry; implementing California's first regulations for oil and gas well stimulation techniques like fracking and acidizing; and setting new safety standards for gas storage wells in response to the massive gas leak at Porter Ranch, Los Angeles in her district.

In addition, she was a member of the following Senate committees: Health, Energy, Utilities and Communications; Transportation and Housing, as well as Environmental Quality.

As the end of her final term in the Legislature approached, former Governor Gray Davis told CALmatters that she would be nearly impossible to replace as an environmental leader.

Pavley also serves as a member of boards and committees including New Energy Nexus, Cal-ETC, and UCLA Law's Emmett Institute on Climate Change & the Environment.