SPEAKERS
President Pro Tem Michael Gibbons
Senator Michael Gibbons was elected unanimously by his colleagues to serve as President Pro Tem of the Missouri Senate for the 93rd General Assembly. A Republican from Kirkwood, he represents the 15th Senatorial District which includes the area along I-44 from the St. Louis City limits to just west of Fenton.
Senator Gibbons was elected to his second term in 2004. He was first elected to the Senate in 2000, after serving eight years as a state representative. He served as Chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee his first two years, then as Majority Floor Leader for two years, before taking on the role of President Pro Tem.
His legislative accomplishments include creating the Safe Places for Newborns Act that lets young, vulnerable parents leave their newborn at a hospital or with an emergency worker without facing prosecution. Gibbons also reformed the property tax re-assessment process by outlawing drive-by inspections. In 2004, he created the Comprehensive Children’s Mental Health System that keeps families together while providing children with much needed mental health services.
In his first year as pro tem, the Senate passed legislation focused on protecting children, preserving and creating jobs and saving taxpayers money. The Senate led the way on rewriting the funding formula for Missouri’s public schools as well as passing a budget that provides an additional $158 million for K-12 education without raising taxes. It also tackled comprehensive workers’ compensation reform and sweeping lawsuit reform protecting employees and keeping doctors in Missouri. Other key measures the Senate passed include legislation creating new tools to combat underage drinking, and a measure that has cut meth production in Missouri by half.
This year the Senate is dedicated to protecting the rights of property owners as well as creating a new state healthcare system that will make quality, affordable health care available to the state’s most vulnerable citizens.
Besides his duties at the capitol, Sen. Gibbons practices law at Stinson, Morrison Hecker LLP in St. Louis. He lives in Kirkwood with his wife, Liz, and daughter, Meredith. Their son Danny, graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2005 and works in Baltimore.
Sen. Gibbons was born and raised in Kirkwood, Missouri. He graduated from Kirkwood High School in 1977. He then graduated from Westminster College in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and later earned his Juris Doctorate from St. Louis University School of Law in 1984. When he returned to Kirkwood he began his career in public service when he was elected to the Kirkwood City Council in 1986.
Sen. Gibbons is honored to serve as Pro Tem during this time of great change. This is the first time in 84 years that Republicans control both chambers of the legislature as well as the governor’s office. By design, he has worked to shape the tone of the Senate in his new leadership role by putting people before politics.
