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 Commerce Committee, Ways and Means, Government Operations and Technology Appropriations Subcommittee, and serves as Chair for the Energy and Utilities Committee.

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 here 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 better 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.

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 Senate.

In 2015, Representative Peters was awarded the “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. Just recently, Representative Peters received recognition from the Suncoast Center for her extensive legislative work in mental health. She is a past member of the Advisory Board for the Pinellas Juvenile Assessment Center, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Central Florida Behavioral Health Network.

Protecting Consumers – Stopped Duke Energy from charging higher rates when a billing cycle changed, established term limits for Public Service Commissioners, and limited the deposits electric companies may require from customers.

Cutting Taxes and Government Spending – Voted for over $1 billion in tax and fee reductions, including $428 million in property tax relief for Florida’s homeowners in 2016 alone and helped permanently cut taxes for manufacturers, a barrier to job growth.

Improving Our Schools – Supported the largest budget for education and the highest per pupil spending in our state’s history. Kathleen helped obtain $480 million for teacher pay raises in 2013, secured funds for the new St. Petersburg College marine science laboratory, new USFSP College of Business building, and new SPC Student Success Building.

Growing Our Economy – In the last four years, Kathleen championed $14.5 million in state funds for Pinellas beach renourishment projects to protect tourism jobs.

Helping Veterans – Sponsored legislation which made it possible for all veterans to receive lower in-state tuition rates at our state colleges and universities as well as voted to remove sales tax on food and drink sold to fellow members of veterans organizations.

Assisting Those Who Need Us Most – Passed landmark legislation to improve access to care for individuals with mental illness or substance addiction and procured the first stable state revenue source to assist communities in battling homelessness.