| State Representative Ron Stephens (R-Savannah) represents the 164th District in the Georgia House of Representatives. Rep. Stephens is the Chairman of the House Economic Development & Tourism Committee. Rep. Stephens has been a member of the House for twenty-one years. Rep. Stephens is also a member of the Appropriations, Rules, and Ways and Means Committees. May 24, 2013 Governor Nathan Deal appointed Rep. Stephens to the Georgia Tourism Foundation.
Representative Stephens is a graduate from Armstrong State & Mercer University with a degree in Pharmacy. He and his wife, Janice, have two daughters, Karen and Ashlin, two grandsons, Walker Brown and James "Beau" William Dukes, IV and one granddaughter, Ivey Carolina. The Stephens' are members of Richmond Hill Baptist Church. Representative Stephens has spent thirty-eight years as a pharmacist. Before being elected to the House, Rep. Stephens earned a seat as a City Councilman in Garden City. Proven a consensus builder and a member who can reach across party lines, Rep. Stephens was selected as the Vice-Chair of the Appropriations Health subcommittee and as a member of the Economic Development subcommittee, under a democratic majority and leadership.
Rep. Stephens was selected as the Chair of the Economic Development & Tourism Committee because of his experience of seventeen years in the General Assembly. Representative Stephens is passionate about protecting and strengthening Georgia's tourism business. He has served on the Appropriations Committee for nineteen years. Representative Stephens is the co-author of the first floating homestead exemption in Georgia now applying in more than 50 taxing districts in the state which effectively freezes property taxes for the homeowner. It is known as the STEPHENS-DAY Bill HB 350. He also served and was pioneer on the original tourism study committee that led to the formation of the current Economic Development and Tourism Committee, which earned him the Leadership Award for efforts to bring non-traditional tourism industries over to the tourism side. |