Chairman Rules

HD 36

Rep. Earl Ehrhart is the Chairman of the Rules Committee of the Georgia House of Representatives, and represents House District 36, Powder Springs. Previously, Earl served for eight years as the Minority Whip in the House. He also previously served on the House Rules, Appropriations, Banks and Banking, and Ethics Committees. Born in Miami, Florida, Earl has lived in Cobb County since 1964. He graduated from the University of Georgia with a B.A. in Political Science in 1980. While there, he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. Representative Ehrhart resides in Powder Springs with his sons, Quentin and John.

Earl was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1988, and is currently serving his first term as Chairman of the Rules Committee. He is a past Chairman for the Georgia Chapter of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a bi-partisan group of nationwide legislators. In July of 1999 he was elected Chairman of all the state chairmen in the nation, and has since been named to the ALEC National Board. Chairman Ehrhart is on the Business and Labor Task Force and is also a member of the National Republican Legislator Association. In 1990, the National Federation of Independent Business named him the Guardian of Small Business, due to his years of work for small businesses in Georgia. Earl also received the 1999 Champion of the Free Enterprise System Award from the Associated Builders and Contractors of Georgia. He has also received awards from the Medical Association of Georgia, Kennesaw State University, the Twenty Second Air Force Reserve, and the Georgia Federation of Young Republicans.

Chairman Ehrhart’s involvement with state legislation has received national media attention. He has been quoted in such papers as the New York Times, Atlanta Journal Constitution and the Marietta Daily Journal, and a feature article was written in The Economist. Earl has also appeared on CNN, and is a frequent contributor on the Hannity and Colmes show on Fox News Channel.

Chairman Ehrhart is actively involved in many local civic organizations. He and his family are members of the McEachern United Methodist Church. He is a member of the PTA, the Cobb County Youth Soccer Association, the Oregon Park Baseball Association and is a contributor to the Cobb County Performing Arts. He has also served on the Powder Springs Downtown Development Association which led to the formation of Powder Springs Square. He is a member of the West Cobb Rotary Club and the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce. Earl currently serves as Senior Vice President of The Facility Group, Inc., an architectural and engineering firm located in Smyrna, Georgia.