Missouri State Senate
Biography for Senator Gibbons

Senator Michael Gibbons was elected unanimously by his colleagues this year to serve as the President Pro Tem of the Missouri Senate for the 93rd General Assembly. A Republican from Kirkwood, he represents the 15th Senatorial District which includes the area along I-44 from the St. Louis City limits to just west of Fenton.

Senator Gibbons was elected to his second term in 2004. He was first elected to the Senate in 2000, after serving eight years as a state representative. He served as Chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee his first two years, then as Majority Floor Leader the past two years, before taking on the role of President Pro Tem.

His legislative accomplishments include reforming the property tax assessment process by outlawing drive-by inspections. Last year he created the Comprehensive Children's Mental Health System that keeps families together while providing children with much needed mental health services. This year the Senate has passed legislation focused on protecting children, preserving and creating jobs and saving taxpayers money. The Senate has led the way on rewriting the funding formula for Missouri's public schools as well as passing a budget that provides an additional $170 million to K-12 education without raising taxes. It also tackled comprehensive workers' compensation reform and sweeping litigation reform building a better business environment in Missouri. Other key measures the Senate passed include legislation eradicating methamphetamine production, creating new tools to combat underage drinking, and eliminating sweetheart retirement benefits for administrative law judges and Labor and Industrial Relations Commissioners.

Besides his duties at the capitol, Sen. Gibbons practices law alongside his father, Michael Gibbons, in Kirkwood where he and his wife, Liz, live. They have two children, Danny who attends the University of Missouri-Columbia and Meredith who is in high school.

Sen. Gibbons was born and raised in Kirkwood, Missouri. He graduated from Kirkwood High School in 1977. He then graduated from Westminster College in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and later earned his Juris Doctorate from St. Louis University School of Law in 1984. When he returned to Kirkwood he began his career in public service when he was elected to the Kirkwood City Council in 1986.

Sen. Gibbons is honored to serve as Pro Tem during this time of great change. This is the first time in 84 years that Republicans control both chambers of the legislature as well as the governor's office. He is excited to shape the tone of the Senate in his new leadership role by putting the people of Missouri before politics.