Montañez was raised in the city of San Fernando, California along with her five siblings by parents who were immigrants from Mexico.
Early political career
Montañez attended the University of California, Los Angeles. In the Spring of 1993 she was one of five students to join a hunger strike in protest against a decision by UCLA Chancellor Charles E. Young against the creation of a Chicano Studies program on campus. The hunger strike ended after 14 days with the creation of the César E. Chávez Center for Interdisciplinary Instruction in Chicana and Chicano Studies at UCLA. The center later became known as the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies. In 1999 Montañez was elected to the San Fernando city council, and in 2001 she and her older sister, Maribel, made history as two sisters concurrently serving on the same city council when Maribel de la Torre won a seat on the San Fernando city council. Montañez resigned from the San Fernando City Council in late 2002 when she won a seat in the California State Assembly.
Assembly tenure
In February 2004, Montañez was named the chairperson of the Assembly Rules Committee. At 30 years old, she was the youngest person to ever chair the powerful committee as well as the first Latina and the first Democratic woman to chair the committee. Her legislative work focused on issues that were vital to her district. Specific focuses included education, the environment, health care and consumer/worker protection. During her first term, ten of her bills made it out of the legislature and were signed into law. These bills included statutes to improve the management of urban landfills, a law to protect children from a sexually abusive parent and laws to insure the safety of workers. Montanez was the author of the landmark "Car Buyer's Bill of Rights".
Montañez was a candidate in a 2013 special election for the 6th Council District of the Los Angeles City Council, which comprises the neighborhoods of Lake Balboa, Van Nuys, Panorama City, Arleta, Sun Valley and segments of North Hills and North Hollywood. The seat became vacant when Tony Cardenas was elected to the United States House of Representatives. She lost the run-off election on 23 July 2013 to Nury Martinez by a 45-55 margin. Martinez served as the campaign manager for Montañez when Montañez first ran for the State Assembly in 2002. Montañez tried to challenge Martinez in rematch on March 3, 2015 for the full term. Montañez lost the election by a margin of 39 to 61.
