[4] After working for several years in Washington, D.C., as a program analyst for the United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, and as a policy analyst for the White House Office of Management and Budget,[4] Ferrandino relocated to Colorado when his partner, Gregory, took a job with the U.S. Customs Service.
[16] Ferrandino worked as a senior budget analyst in the Colorado Department of Health Care and Financing from 2005 until his legislative appointment in 2007.
His twin Nicole is a business analyst for the University of Colorado Denver and his older brother Micheal is a surgeon at Duke Medical Center in North Carolina.
Ferrandino was elected to Cerbo's seat in the Colorado House of Representatives in September 2007 by the 2nd District Vacancy Committee on a vote of 23–3.
Ferrandino has declared his legislative priorities to include health care, consumer protection, and TABOR reform.
[12][18] For the 2008 legislative session, Ferrandino is exploring regulation requiring greater transparency and guaranteed lifetimes for gift cards,[20] and plans to sponsor a bill to direct funds from fines collected from scammers to educate the public about consumer scams.
[22] He has also proposed, with Rep. Sara Gagliardi, the "American Dream Protection Act of 2008," which would allow judges to delay home foreclosures by 90 days, in response to the ongoing subprime mortgage crisis.
[23][24] The bill was amended in the legislature to only increase public outreach efforts and notification requirements before passing the state house.
Ferrandino objected to senate amendments, claiming that they weakened the bill by loosening caps on lending fees.
[32] Ferrandino easily won the Democratic nomination with over 81 percent of the vote,[33] and faced Republican Thomas "Doc" Miller in the general election, winning handily.
[34][35] Ferrandino's re-election bid was endorsed by the Denver Post,[36] and he easily won a full term in the legislature with 80 percent of the popular vote.
With Sen. Jennifer Veiga, Ferrandino introduced legislation to allow same-sex partners of state employees to receive health insurance benefits.