Steven Geller

Geller was born in The Bronx and moved to Florida with his family in 1969. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1979 and a Juris Doctor in 1982, both from Florida State University.^[6]

Geller is an actively practicing attorney. He was a shareholder at the national law firm of Greenspoon Marder,^[7] and is the principal of Geller Law Firm, P.A.,^[8] where he practices in the areas of zoning and land use, gaming law, lobbying and administrative law, first party property insurance law, and commercial litigation. He has been practicing law since 1982, is A-V rated by Martindale Hubbell,^[5] has been listed in Florida Superlawyers, and the Bar Register of Distinguished Attorneys. He is of-counsel to the law firm of Sachs Sax Caplan.^[9]

A Democrat, he previously served in the Florida Legislature from 1988 to 2008. He was a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 1988 through 1999.^{[10][11][12][13]} He was elected to the Florida Senate in a special election in 1999, and re-elected until term limits forced his retirement in 2008.^{[14][15][16][17][18]} He served as Senate Minority (Democratic) Leader from 2006 to 2008.^[19] Geller was appointed by different Republican Senate presidents as a committee chair in 2000 and again in 2002.^[20] Geller also served as the Democratic ranking member on numerous committees, and co-chaired the Select Committee on Property Insurance Accountability.^[21]

He serves as chair of the South Florida Regional Planning Council,^[22] on the board of directors of the Florida Association of Counties,^[23] as chair of the Broward County Water Advisory Board,^[24] and on the Broward County Cultural Council.^[25] Geller first ran for County Commissioner in 2010, but lost his challenge to incumbent Commissioner Suzanne Gunzburger by a 56% to 44% vote in the Democratic primary.^[26] Geller was first elected to the Broward County Commission in 2016,^[1] and was re-elected without opposition in 2020.^[27]

Geller served as a national leader in several different legislative organizations. He served on many committees and as national president of both the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL)^[28] and the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States (NCLGS). Geller also served as Chairman of the National Public Sector Gaming Study Commission. Geller currently serves as the pro bono General Counsel of NCLGS.^[29]

Geller served and serves on many Democratic organizations. He was a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention in 2008. He served as parliamentarian of the Florida Democratic Party from 1982 to 1996 and as state president of the Florida Young Democrats in 1980–1981. He currently serves on the state executive committee of the Florida Democratic Party. He also serves as chair of the Real Solutions Caucus, a group of approximately 35 current and former Broward County Democratic elected officials.

He is a past chairman of the board of the Holocaust Documentation & Education Center (HDEC).

He is married to Laurel Geller (née Leffler) and has two sons.^{[citation needed]}