| Chair, Appropriations Subcommittee on Human Resources
State Representative Katie Dempsey was elected in November 2006 to represent Georgia's House District
13, which includes the city of Rome and parts of Floyd County. Katie currently serves as the Chairman of
the Appropriations Subcommittee on Human Resources, in which she is responsible for crafting a portion
of the state's amended and general fiscal year budgets. Katie also serves on the following House standing
committees- Economic Development & Tourism, Energy, Utilities & Telecommunications, Higher
Education, Public and Community Health, Rules and Transportation committees, as well as the Special
Committee on Healthcare.
In addition to serving on eight House committees, Katie is appointed by the Speaker of the House to serve
on the Georgia Behavioral Health Coordinating Council. The governor appointed Katie to serve on the
Georgia Children's Cabinet, the Georgia Commission on Medical Cannabis and the State of Georgia
Older Adults Cabinet. She also serves on the Division of Family and Children Services' State of Hope
Statewide Design Team. Furthermore, Katie has been appointed to several regional and national
leadership organizations, such as the Southern Legislative Conference's Human Services & Public Safety
Committee and the National Conference of State Legislatures' Education Committee. She is currently
serving on The Council of State Governments, National Conference of State Legislatures State Exchange
on Employment and Disability's (SEED) Mental Health Policy Task Force.
Katie's legislative record proves her strong dedication and passion for serving the citizens of Georgia.
Among her legislative accomplishments, she has championed legislation to increase suicide awareness
and prevention training for school employees; to help Georgians suffering from obesity and health
challenges caused by obesity; to require school systems to distribute information related to influenza; to
require high schools to provide students with instruction in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the use of
automated external defibrillators. Katie was also instrumental in the creation of the My Georgia Crisis and
Access Line (GCAL) app, which enables users to receive immediate support by communicating with
caring GCAL professionals via text message, chat or phone.
As a result of her legislative work, Katie was named the 2017 Georgia Representative of the Year by the
National Alliance of Mental Illness and the Legislator of the Year by the Georgia Chapter American
Academy of Pediatrics. She has also received the Friends of Children Award from the Georgia
Professional Human Services Association and was honored by the U.S. Department of Defense for her
legislative work on behalf of veterans.
Katie remains active within her district and serves on several local non-profit and health-related boards.
She is married to Lynn Dempsey and is the mother of 2 and grandmother of 7. |