Jerry Melvin was first elected to the Florida
House of Representatives in November 1968, and he served for
5 terms (10 years). From the beginning, his leadership and
enthusiasm for the legislative process drew him interesting
appointments and important committee assignments.
He recognized that his first duty and responsibility was
to provide service and information to the constituents of
his district. He set up office procedures which enabled him
to help individuals and groups in matters varying from obtaining
long-overdue child support payments to funding improvements
to sewer systems or having new traffic lights installed.
As Chairman of the Committee on Retirement, Personnel, Claims
and Aging, he developed and passed the Florida Retirement
System which coordinated a number of separate systems into
one functioning program which is in use today not only by
the legislature but by county and city governments, schools
and other agencies.
He became Chairman of the state's first House Committee on
Tourism and Economic Development, and was recognized as being
the catalyst for bringing recognition of tourism as the state's
leading industry - an industry which produces a major portion
of the sales taxes generated to fund Florida's government.
Through his committee activities toward economic development,
Florida's image was changed as an "anti-business state"
to that of a state cooperating and building with new businesses
from all parts of the nation.
His concern with the environment was demonstrated when he
succeeded in passing legislation making it illegal to cut
or otherwise disturb sea oats on public properties. He recognized
that commercial cutting of the sea oats was endangering the
existence of a valuable source of stabilizing the dunes.
During the following years, his broad committee assignments
and legislative activities have brought him extensive understanding
of the ever-expanding issues facing Florida. After taking
17 years to fulfill family responsibilities, he was returned
to the House in 1994 and was re-elected each two years thereafter
until term-limited in 2002.
When he returned to the House in 1994,his interests focused
on Education when Speaker Dan Webster asked him to head a
new committee known as "Education Innovation". He
served as Chairman of that committee until 2001 when Speaker
Tom Feeney named him to head the Lifelong Learning Council,
including all education activities of the House.
In the 2002 session and subsequent special sessions, Jerry
was responsible for crafting and guiding to passage the rewrite
of the entire Education Code - the first time in 40 years
that such a project had been undertaken. The result was a
coordinated effort of staff, Superintendents' Association,
School Board Association, teacher unions and university representatives,
as well as lobbyists who spent days reviewing the documents
and recommending changes, so that the finished product provided
the first "seamless" K-20 education system in the
nation.
In addition, he has been extremely active in Worker's Compensation
issues in the state and held extensive meetings with groups
and individuals seeking answers to the problems.
Recognitions and awards have come from all aspects of his
work. He received top ratings by the Florida State Chamber
of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida for his voting
record in 2002. But to him the most important accolade was
his designation as "Dean of the Florida House" when
his peers recognized his long service to Florida. |
