Governor Roy E. Barnes

Roy E. Barnes was born on March 11, 1948 to Agnes and W.C. Barnes in Mableton, Georgia. He grew up talking politics and selling merchandise at his family's general store nestled between the highway and the railroad tracks in Cobb County.
 
After graduating from South Cobb High School in 1966, with honors, he attended the University of Georgia where he majored in history and joined the debate team, coming home during summers and at breaks to work in the family's store.
 
After college Roy attended UGA law school.  The student bar association elected him as its president, and he graduated with honors in 1972.  Law degree in hand, he returned home to Cobb County to work in the district attorney's office.
 
When Roy won a seat to represent his neighbors in the state Senate only two years after finishing law school, he was one of the youngest legislators in the state. Mableton's voters elected Roy to the Senate eight times. After two terms he was named Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and he served as Administration Floor Leader for Governor Joe Frank Harris for seven years. He used his legal talents as Senate Chairman of the Constitutional Revision Committee to rewrite Georgia’s Constitution.
 
While establishing himself in the Senate, Roy started a family with his college sweetheart, Marie Dobbs, whom he married in 1970. They have three children - Harlan, Allison Barnes Salter, and Alyssa, a son-in-law John Salter, and a daughter-in-law Amy Crist Barnes.  He and Marie also have two grandchildren, Will Barnes and Lilly Salter.
 
In 1992, after his earlier terms in the Senate and an unsuccessful run for Governor, Roy was elected to the State House of Representatives. As a member of the House, Roy was Vice-chairman of the Judiciary Committee and was a member of the Rules and the Banks and Banking Committees.
 
In 1998, Roy began his second run for Governor, stressing a message of education and healthcare reform to the people of Georgia.  Roy won the election with 53 percent of the vote. On January 11, 1999, he was sworn in as Georgia's 80th Governor.
 
Roy had many legislative accomplishments during his term as Governor.  In Education, he focused on lowering class size, raised standards by requiring accountability, and passed legislation requiring more discipline in the classroom.  He also created a comprehensive group to study education in Georgia and undertook the most widespread revision of education in a generation.
 
Believing that health care in Georgia must be both affordable and accessible, Roy successfully fought for passage of the bill that guaranteed patients the right to choose their own doctor, and a bill that established a patient's bill of rights and allowed insurance companies to be held liable for denying or delaying much needed care.
 
As Governor, Roy also demanded that taxes be cut.  He completed four years of a property tax cut on homes and family farms.  He passed a property Tax Payers Bill of Rights that exposes backdoor tax increases of increasing assessments to public scrutiny.  Roy also passed the first ever Sales Tax Holiday for Georgia in an effort to stimulate the economy and provide citizens with immediate tax savings.  Roy honored his campaign promises and made tough decisions to insure hope for jobs, education and healthcare.

After leaving the Governor’s office in 2003, Roy spent six months at Atlanta Legal Aid as a full time volunteer.  He now practices law in Marietta with John Bevis, his daughter, Allison; son-in-law, John Salter; and Jennifer Auer Jordan.
 
In May of 2003, Roy was awarded the Kennedy Library Foundation’s Profile in Courage Award for his unpopular position in reducing or removing the Confederate Battle Flag from Georgia’s state flag.
 
Roy is presently serving as the Chair of the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards, and the Chair of the Institute of Education Leadership as well as a member of the Teaching Commission.