Representative Kathleen Peters moved to Pinellas County in 1985. She received her BA degree from Eckerd College majoring in Human Development. She currently holds the position of State Representative for the Florida House of Representatives, District 69 and formerly VP of Public Affairs at the Clearwater Regional Chamber of Commerce.
In the Florida Legislature, Representative Peters serves on the Economic Affairs Committee, Justice Appropriations, Transportation & Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee, Transportation and Ports Subcommittee, and as Vice Chair for the Children, Families & Seniors Subcommittee.
In her freshman year as a state legislator, Representative Peters successfully acquired funding to establish the first and only Center of Excellence for Orthotics and Prosthetics at St Petersburg College. She also secured funding for beach re nourishment for our local Pinellas County Beaches and passed several bills to benefit Floridians both locally and across the state, including reducing taxes for apartment and condominium owners across the state. In the name of a local teenage girl who lost her life in a boating accident, Rep. Peters also passed legislation for more boater safety requirements. She is also spearheading a social marketing campaign “Who knew?” to bring attention to the true face of the homeless, veterans, single moms and children.
Representative Peters began her political career by serving on the City of South Pasadena’s Planning and Zoning Board. She was then elected to the City Commission in 2008. In June 2009, she was elected by the Commission to serve as Mayor for the remainder of the retiring Mayor’s term. She was re-elected Mayor in March 2010 and State Representative in 2012. She previously served on the Board of Directors for the Florida League of Mayors, the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority and Pinellas County EMS Advisory Board. She also served on the Florida League of Cities Growth Management and Transportation Legislative Committee, the American Marine Institute Pinellas Board of Directors, and the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council.
Her past employment included working at the Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County where she coordinated a statewide advocacy group to develop a legislative agenda for positive youth policies associated with juvenile justice. She also coordinated a group of more than 70 youth for developing program criteria and acquiring funding to open a local teen center as a millennium youth legacy project.
In 2001 she began work at the YMCA of Greater St. Petersburg as grant manager and later as the Financial Development Director. Along with developing numerous partnerships for the YMCA, Kathleen built consensus to identify strategies to combat the high rate of school suspensions and school related arrests among middle school students. This research resulted in the development of the award winning YMCA Youth Enhancement Skills Program, which demonstrated strong positive outcomes. In 2004, Kathleen presented this award winning program at a Congressional Briefing for the U.S. House and the Senate.
Recently Representative Peters was awarded the 2014 League of Cities “Defender of Home Rule” Award and the Association of Counties 2015 “County Champion” Award. In 2015 she was named “Legislative Champion” from Florida Partners in Crisis and the Florida Sheriffs Association. She was also named “Legislator of the Year” by the Osteopathic Medical Society, the Suncoast League of Cities, and the Florida Veterinary Medical Association. For her extensive work on homelessness and on mental health she was named the Florida Housing Coalition’s “Housing Champion”, and received the M.A. Bernstein Award for Mental Health Awareness. She is a past member of the Advisory Board for the Pinellas Juvenile Assessment Center, and has chaired major fundraising events for the St. Petersburg Museum of History, Queen of Hearts Royal Court, Boys and Girls Clubs, and several private schools.
