Senator Nan Orrock Senate District 36
Senator Nan Orrock was elected by Atlanta voters to the Georgia State Senate in 2006, after serving 10 terms in the House of Representatives. During her House tenure, she was the first woman elected to the position of House Majority Whip. She also served as the Governor’s Floor Leader, a committee chair, and a member of the Speaker’s Policy Committee. Her Senate District 36 includes downtown Atlanta (portions of northeast, southeast, and southwest Atlanta), as well as College Park, East Point, Hapeville, and Hartsfield Jackson International Airport.
Her Senate committee appointments include Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, Government Oversight, Health and Human Services, Higher Education, and Urban Affairs.
Her legislative expertise encompasses health policy, women’s issues, civil rights and civil liberties, workforce issues, and the environment. She is a founder of the Georgia Legislative Women’s Caucus and the Working Families Legislative Caucus. She has chaired the National Labor Caucus of Legislators and the Labor Workforce Committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Among Orrock's successful legislative initiatives are passage of the Georgia Family Medical Leave Act, the Prescriptive Equity for Contraceptives Act, the Chlamydia Screening Act, Georgia Hate Crimes Act, and the Omnibus AIDS statute. She was named Public Health Legislator of the Year for her efforts. Orrock worked with a legislative team to pass landmark legislation regulating landfills and continues to monitor landfill issues and advocate for environmentally sound policy on air and water, solid waste, and nuclear waste.
Senator Orrock’s engagement with public policy dates back to her participation in the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, an experience that has led to a lifetime of activism. It helped shape her strong commitment to bringing the voices of women and other disenfranchised groups into the public arena.
Senator Orrock serves as a Trustee of the Sapelo Foundation. Recent board service includes Women in Government, Progressive States Network, Georgia WAND, SCLC/W.O.M.E.N., and Metro Atlanta YWCA. She has been recognized by the Center for Policy Alternatives, the Center for Democratic Renewal, Georgia Conservation Voters, GA Council on Developmental Disabilities, Human Rights Campaign, Georgia Equality, Georgia State AFL-CIO, the American Civil Liberties Union, Georgia Federation of Democratic Women, Planned Parenthood, Feminist Women’s Health Center, Women’s Action for New Directions (WAND), United Food and Commercial Workers, Bakery and Confectionary Workers Local 42, Immigrants' List, and the Humane Society of the US.
She has appeared on MSNBC, and has been featured in Governing, TIME, and The Nation. Orrock was selected by Creative Loafing readers as “most effective local elected official” and received their 2010 ARNIE “Loyal Opposition” award. In 2013 she was awarded the Monroe Medal for distinguished lifetime service by the Board of Visitors of Mary Washington University.
Senator Orrock is the president of Women Legislators’ Lobby (WiLL), a national nonpartisan network that advocates for federal policies to reduce wasteful military spending and to strengthen services to families, children, veterans, the disabled and the elderly. She was former executive director of the Fund for Southern Communities and a member of the Bakery Confectionery and Tobacco Workers International Union. Her work experience spans the fields of philanthropy, civil rights, union and community organizing.
|
