Senator Novelle E. Francis, Jr. is a public servant with over 30 years of service to the people of the Virgin Islands. He is honored to serve as the President of the 35th Legislature and previously served as the Vice-President of the 34th Legislature and President of the 33rd Legislature.

Since his freshman term in the 31st Legislature, Sen. Francis has built a strong record on legislative initiatives that are informed by his background in law enforcement, his experiences as a public school graduate and parent, his studies at John Jay College, and his years as a small business owner.

As a senator, he has expanded the public school curriculum to require civics courses for all public high school students, now Act 7934. Senator Francis has taken steps to narrow the school to prison pipeline by addressing student absenteeism in Act 8550 and also successfully spearheaded the merger of Fire Services and EMS, now Act 8545.

Senator Francis is proudest of his work on two significant pieces of legislation: Act 8376, which establishes the South Shore Trade Zone and positions St. Croix for industries such as transhipment and light manufacturing and Act 8668 which returns compassion to the treatment of the mentally ill and brings critically needed reform to the territory’s behavioral health care systems.

Senator Francis looks forward to continuing his work to strengthen education, healthcare, government accountability, and quality of life issues as a member of the 36th Legislature of the Virgin Islands.