The dean of the Hall County legislative delegation, Representative Carl Rogers, R-Gainesville, announced his retirement from the Georgia General Assembly Wednesday.
"It's always a hard decision," said Rogers. "The decision was made between my wife, Linda, and myself. You reach a point you want to go back to a normal way of life. Starting my 22 year, I just felt like the time was right."
"Linda and I have seven grandchildren, two children, and I think you have to make a decision if you want to be an elected official or a husband, father, grandparent. So I decided it was time to be a grandparent and support my children."
Rogers will continue his term until its expiration on December 31.
"There are many of those accomplishments... I didn't keep a record. I think the hardest thing I've ever done was deal with a work-comp carrier in the state of Georgia that went in to receivership and I had to help people with claims that had insurers - not my insurers - that were left in a situation where they were going to have to file bankruptcy back in 2010," said Rogers. "It was very challenging. No doubt the hardest legislation I've worked on in 22 years. It was done and signed by Governor (Sonny) Purdue, it went through several court challenges and took three years for it to be confirmed and it was."
Rogers was first elected in 1994. He currently chairs the House Higher Education Committee and serves on the Appropriations, Rules, Health and Human Service and Insurance committees. Rogers qualified on the Republican ticket in 2004.
