Nan Grogan Orrock

Nan Grogan Orrock

Orrock in 2008
Member of the Georgia Senate
from the 36th district
Assumed office
2007
Preceded by Sam Zamarripa
Member of the Georgia House of Representatives
from the 58th district
In office
1987–2007
Personal details
Born (1943-11-08) November 8, 1943
Abingdon, Virginia
Political party Democratic Party
Children 2
Residence Atlanta, Georgia
Alma mater Mary Washington College (B.A.)
Committees Agriculture and Consumer Affairs
Religion Unitarian Universalist

Nan Grogan Orrock (born November 8, 1943) is a Democratic state senator in the Georgia State Senate for the State Senate, district 36. Following the 2006 retirement of State Senator Sam Zamarripa, Orrock was a candidate for his district; in the Democratic primary held on July 18, 2006 Orrock defeated Grace Davis to win a seat in the State Senate since she has no Republican opponent for the general election. She was sworn into office in 2007.

She was previously a member of the Georgia House of Representatives from 1987, representing the 58th district. She was the Vice-Chair of the House Democratic Caucus and the former Majority Whip.

Biography

Senator Orrock’s legislative expertise includes health policy, women's issues, child/family policy, workplace issues, civil liberties, civil rights, and environmental issues. She is a founder of both the Georgia Legislative Women's Caucus and the Working Families Agenda caucus.

Orrock's successful legislative initiatives include 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 has been named Public Health Legislator of the Year for her efforts. In 1996, Orrock worked with a legislative team to pass landmark legislation regulating landfills and has continued to monitor landfill issues and advocate for environmentally sound policy on air and water, solid waste, and nuclear waste.

Orrock is the Chair of the Labor and Workforce Development Committee of the National Conference of State Legislators. She is a founding member and Secretary of the National Labor Caucus of state legislators. She is a member of the Bakery, Confectionery, and Tobacco Union and was employed at Nabisco for 17 years.

She is the Chair of the board of the Center for Policy Alternatives and serves as a Trustee of the Sapelo Foundation. She has served since 1997 as President of the Women Legislators’ Lobby, a national network of women state legislators launched by Women’s Action for New Directions.

Her activism began as a young college student when she stepped into the streets with the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. She also worked with SNCC in Atlanta and Mississippi and led a community civil rights project in Black Belt counties of her home state of Virginia in the mid-sixties.

She is currently the President of Women Legislators' Lobby, a national, non-partisan group of legislators, which works for balanced budgets, increased spending on families, education, health and child care, and a reduction in excessive and wasteful military spending.

Awards

Senator Orrock has been recognized and honored recently by the Center for Policy Alternatives, the Center for Democratic Renewal, Georgia Conservation Voters, the Human Rights Campaign, Georgia Equality, Georgia State AFL-CIO, and the American Civil Liberties Union.

References

    External links

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