| Roger Bruce was born in Harlem, New York. He attended St. Emma Military Academy
graduating after serving as the Battalion Executive Officer and Company Commander,
demonstrating leadership skills very early in his life. He then went on to graduate from
Morehouse College where he majored in Political Science. As a student, not only did he
succeed academically but also displayed great concern for his fellow students and the next
generation of students. He was President of the Political Science Club and reinstituted the
Frederick Douglas Tutorial Institute to help high school students struggling in school.
During college, he interned for former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson at the law firm of
Jackson, Patterson, Parks and Franklin. He is married to Angela, an Educator and has three
children Andrea, Brandon and Ariel and three grandchildren.
Roger Bruce represents District 61 in the Georgia House of Representatives. His district
includes parts of South Fulton County, which includes parts of the new City of South Fulton,
North Atlanta, Douglas County and Cobb County. He was first elected in 2003 and has been
re-elected every two years since then. During his time in office Rep. Bruce has focused on
issues related to children with special needs, the aging, education, working families,
economic development, voting rights, and criminal justice. He has served on the Insurance,
Education, Motor Vehicles, MARTOC and Intergovernmental Coordination Committees. He
currently serves on the Judiciary, Game Fish and Parks, Small Business and Job
Development, and Human Relations and Aging Committees.
His first major piece of legislation was to provide for a licensing process for developers in
response to elderly constituents that were being taken advantage of. He then sponsored
the Time Out for Schools Legislation to protect parents that needed time off from work to
address issues at their child's school. After being asked to provide the same protection for
parents that were providing assistance to their aging parents the bill was amended and
became known as the Parent Protection Act, receiving support from many groups,
including the Georgia Federation of Teachers, Georgia Council on Aging, AFL-CIO, PAGE,
Georgia PTA, AARP and many more. He also sponsored a bill that was signed into law in
June 2013 to prohibit internet companies from charging a fee to remove mug shots from
their sites if you have been exonerated for the offense you were accused of. He has also
introduced legislation to assist minority and women entrepreneurs with accessing state
contracts. His most recent legislation includes HB 22 that allows citizens to vote at any
precinct within their county versus having to go to a specified location to vote. He also introduced HB 21 to assist minorities in accessing state contracts. His most recent
legislation, HB 514, allows citizens of Unincorporated South Fulton County the opportunity
to vote to establish their own city. Voters overwhelmingly chose to create what is now the
City of South Fulton. His campaign slogan "Bruce Will ProduceAgain" is most
appropriate.
Representative Bruce has served twice as a delegate to the Democratic National
Convention. This gave him the opportunity to vote for President Obama to be the
Democratic nominee. He is a post seat holder for the Democratic Party and in his earlier
days served as the Vice President for the Young Democrats of Georgia. He has been
recognized for his work by many organizations, including A. Phillip Randolph Elementary
School, Herndon Elementary School, All Children Are Special, Another Way Out, Metro
Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, National Coalition of 100 Black
Women, and the Georgia Council on Aging. The Atlanta Police Department recognized him
for his efforts to protect the officers by organizing the community and business owners in
raising money to purchase bulletproof vests.
He currently serves on the Board of Trustees at The Interdenominational Theological
Center, the Board of Directors for Fulton Atlanta Community Action Authority, Inc. and All
Children Are Special. He is a member of Leadership Atlanta Class of 1980 and the 2006
Class of the Flemming Leadership Institute.
Outside of his community and government responsibilities, Representative Bruce has had a
distinguished career as a Human Resources Executive, having served as Vice-President of
Human Resources for Burger King Corporation, American Hospital Supply, Nation Wide
Credit Corporation and Atlanta Life Financial Group. In these roles he was responsible for
recruitment and retention, training and management development; legal compliance,
benefits, and all other aspects of Human Resources.
He was the founder of Saving Our Society Pretrial Intervention, LLC. The company works
with first time offenders and others that have minor infractions and assists them to get
back on track. Once they complete the program they will be eligible to have their arrest
record removed. While he has left SOS to pursue other interests, his impact on the lives of those that were kept out of the prison system, because of his work, will last a lifetime. |