About Bill
Bill Galvano, a member of the Florida Senate, was first elected to the Florida House of Representatives, District 68, in November 2002 and was re-elected to three more terms. In his final term in the House, Galvano served as Chairman of the Rules and Calendar Council, Chairman of the Select Committee on Seminole Indian Compact Review and Chairman of the Select Committee on Standards of Professional Conduct.
Bill also served on the Full Appropriations Council and the Joint Legislative Budget Commission. Prior to that, he chaired both the Healthy Families Committee and the Committee on the Future of Florida’s Families. As Chair of the Future of Florida’s Families Committee, he worked with Governor Bush in establishing the Florida Medicaid Reform Pilots.
Galvano is also the past-chair of the eight-county Bay Area Legislative Delegation and has had the distinct honor to be awarded the Chair’s Cup for Excellence in Regionalism for his creation of the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority. Other more recent awards include the Manatee Chamber of Commerce Statesman Award, Florida Sheriff’s Association Legislator of the Year, the Healthy Families Florida Leadership Award, and the ARC Legislator of the Year. He has been recognized by many organizations for his work in healthcare to protect children and support the disabled.
In addition to serving as a trustee of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and trustee of Mote Marine Laboratory, Bill is a member of Bradenton Kiwanis, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Advisory Council, and the Manatee County Gold Star Club, and the Manatee County Bar Association. Through the Phil Galvano Golf Classic, Bill has raised in excess of a million dollars for public schools to provide enhanced educational opportunities for students and teachers.
Bill was educated in the public school system where he met his wife, the former Julie Anne Forrester. They have been married 19 years and are the proud parents of three children: Michael, William, and Jacqueline.
After graduating from Sebring High School, Galvano earned an associate’s degree from Manatee Community College, before receiving a bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and a juris doctorate from the University of Miami, School of Law. He worked as a custodian and courier at his law firm, before becoming associate attorney in 1992 and four years later a partner of the eighty year old law firm Grimes Goebel Grimes Hawkins Gladfelter & Galvano of Bradenton.