Jerry Frangas

Early career

Jerry Frangas was born in Denver, Colorado. Frangas earned a bachelor's degree in Political Science and then completed a Master of Public Administration at the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University. At Cleveland State, he served as student body president and was a scholarship athlete and team captain for the fencing team. He was also appointed to serve on the Cleveland State Board of Trustees by Ohio Governor George Voinovich.

2007 Legislative Session

In the 2007 session of the Colorado General Assembly, Frangas sat on the House Finance Committee and was the Vice-Chairman of the House Health and Human Services Committee.

In 2007, Frangas, after failing to find a cab in downtown Denver on New Year's Eve, sponsored a bill to allow for greater competition between taxicab companies. Attempted deregulation had failed numerous times before, and Frangas was only able to reform regulation regarding the lease rate cabbies pay from the cab companies.

Frangas was also one of only a few Democrats to oppose a plan by Governor Bill Ritter to freeze property tax rates which would have increased state revenue through property taxes. Under the final version of this legislation, "...few local districts would see additional money from the freeze. Instead, all of the money raised will go to the districts and will replace, rather than supplement, a similar amount that the state had provided each district..." (Ed Sealover, Colorado Springs Gazette).

2008 Legislative Session

In the 2008 Legislative Session of the Colorado General Assembly, Frangas sits on the House Finance Committee and is vice-chairman of the House Health and Human Services Committee.

2008 Election

Frangas won re-election in November 2008 to a fourth term in the legislature with 18,163 votes over Republican Rick Nevin who won 4,257 votes.

2009 Legislative Session

In the 2009 session of the Colorado General Assembly, Frangas sat on the House Transportation and Energy Committee and was vice-chairman of the House Finance Committee.

2010 Legislative Session

In the 2010 session of the Colorado General Assembly, Frangas sat on the House Finance Committee and was Vice-Chairman of the House Transportation and Energy Committee. In this session, Frangas carried and passed numerous pieces of legislation including a bill for better enforcement of handicap parking laws, a requirement for insurance coverage for reproductive health and maternity care for women, a bill to include pets in protective orders related to domestic violence, legislation to prevent financial exploitation of seniors and the disabled, and bills to improve access to mental health care, as well as to push for the development of behavioral health crisis response services. He also passed a resolution calling on the Federal Government to not charge interest on unemployment insurance loans to the States. Legislation that he was not successful in passing included efforts to enhance penalties for discrimination against the disabled as well as efforts to allow for the pooling of health insurance for small businesses and local governments.