Senator Eric Johnson was elected to the Georgia State Senate from the 1st District in 1994 after serving in the House of Representatives for one term. Sen. Johnson is a Republican representing the citizens of Bryan and portions of Chatham and Liberty counties.

Sen. Johnson served as the Senate Minority Leader for two terms before being elected as President Pro Tempore of the Georgia Senate in January 2003. This is the highest position in the Senate and helps run the day-to-day operations of this legislative body.

As President Pro Tem, Sen. Johnson chairs the Administrative Affairs Committee. He serves as co-chairman of the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee and vice chairman of the
Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee. He is also a member of the Appropriations, Assignments, Ethics, Finance, Natural Resources and the Environment and Rules committees.

Sen. Johnson has authored several important pieces of legislation while serving in the Senate. He created a new crime of domestic terrorism and placed it under the death penalty statute; he increased penalties for child abuse, including making it a felony to seriously injure a child; he allowed soldiers stationed overseas to get all property tax filing deadlines extended until they return home and passed an amendment to the Georgia Constitution to protect Georgians’ right to hunt and fish.

Sen. Johnson also passed the “Know Thy Neighbor Act” that requires the Board of Pardons and Paroles to set up a system whereby any citizen can obtain a list of parolees. In 1997, he passed the “School Safety Act” that requires notification of local school systems by Superior Court when a juvenile is convicted of a felony.

Sen. Johnson led the successful effort to pass civil justice reform, brought local jails under the “Mutiny in Prison Act” so that prisoners who harm a jailer could be charged with a felony, allowed ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ orders to be portable, mandated periodic re- negotiation of the distribution of the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) between local governments to increase the fairness of property tax roll-backs and wrote the amendment
to the “Moment of Silence” law to allow student-initiated prayer at school and school events. In addition, he required local law enforcement to pay the cost of the medical exam of rape victims and created the “Rape Victims’ Bill of Rights.”

Sen. Johnson authored the historic Georgia Special Needs Scholarship program. Parents of children with special needs now have the option of attending a private school or a
neighboring public school using the state's share of education funding if their assigned public school fails to deliver a satisfactory education. He received a master’s degree in architecture from Tulane University in 1976 and
currently is an architect working for North Point Real Estate, a residential and commercial development firm.

Sen. Johnson and his wife, Kathryn, are the parents of two children – Righton and Marcus. They attend Savannah Christian Church.

Sponsored Legislation