Senator Cruz - The Florida Senate

Home > 2020-2022 Senators > Senator Cruz

Quick Links

Effective Communication with a Legislator

Contact:

District Office

210A S. MacDill Avenue
Tampa, FL 33609
(813) 348-1017
Senate VOIP: 41800
FAX (888) 263-3681

Legislative Assistants

John Learn, Deborah Martin, and Beatriz Zafra

Tallahassee Office

216 Senate Building
404 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1100
(850) 487-5018
Senate VOIP: 5018

Connect with the Senator:

Track this Senator's Media

Florida Senate Service

2020-2022
2018-2020

2020-2022

Senator Janet Cruz

Party: Democrat

Committee Assignments

District 18

Maps:

Report:

2010 Census Demographic Profile (pdf)

Consists of part of Hillsborough county

Bills Introduced

Introduced in 2021

S 26 Relief of the Estate of Crystle Marie Galloway/Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners
Last Action: 12/9/2020 Referred to Special Master on Claim Bills
S 28 Relief of Clemente Aguirre-Jarquin by the State of Florida
Last Action: 12/9/2020 Referred to Special Master on Claim Bills
S 172 Medical Marijuana Identification Cards for Service-disabled Veterans
Last Action: 12/15/2020 Referred to Health Policy; Military and Veterans Affairs, Space, and Domestic Security; Appropriations
S 174 School Safety Funding
Last Action: 12/15/2020 Referred to Education; Appropriations Subcommittee on Education; Appropriations; Rules
S 176 Postsecondary Fee Waivers
Last Action: 12/15/2020 Referred to Education; Appropriations Subcommittee on Education; Appropriations
S 178 Public School Transportation
Last Action: 12/15/2020 Referred to Education; Appropriations Subcommittee on Education; Appropriations
S 202 Standard High School Diploma Award Requirements
Last Action: 12/15/2020 Referred to Education; Appropriations Subcommittee on Education; Appropriations
S 222 Abandoned Cemeteries
Last Action: 1/15/2021 On Committee agenda-- Governmental Oversight and Accountability, 01/27/21, 9:00 am, 37 Senate Building
S 782 Educational Opportunities for Veterans
Last Action: 1/25/2021 Filed
S 784 Legislature
Last Action: 1/25/2021 Filed
S 786 Prescription Insulin Drugs
Last Action: 1/25/2021 Filed
S 788 State Contracting
Last Action: 1/25/2021 Filed
S 834 Drinking Water in Public Schools
Last Action: 1/26/2021 Filed

Co-Introduced in 2021

S 242 Student Health Services
Last Action: 12/21/2020 Referred to Education; Appropriations Subcommittee on Education; Appropriations
S 704 Entertainment Industry
Last Action: 1/21/2021 Filed

Personal & Career

Legislative Service

Elected to the Senate in 2018
House of Representatives, February 23, 2010-2018
- Minority Leader, 2016-2018
- Democratic Deputy Whip, 2010-2012

Honors and Awards

Aetna Healthcare, National Financial Account Manager
CIGNA Healthcare for Seniors Group Sales, Regional Director
CIGNA Healthcare Optical Operations, Director
Fourth Generation Tampa/Ybor City Resident
Pearle Vision Center, owner
American Cancer Society, Freshmen Legislator of the Year Award, 2010
Community Health Charities of Florida, House Member of the Year Award, 2010
Italian Club Ladies Auxiliary, Italian American Woman of Excellence, 2010

Affiliations

FBI Citizens' Academy Alumni
Hillsborough Community College Alumni Foundation
NAACP
National Association of Latino Elected Officials
Tampa Latin Chamber of Commerce
West Tampa Chamber of Commerce
Women In Government
Hillsborough County Democratic Hispanic Caucus, past Chair
Paint Your Heart Out Tampa, past board member
United Way Campaign CIGNA Healthcare, past Corporate Chair

Biographical Information

Occupation:	Optician/Healthcare Executive
Spouse:	Dr. Stephen "Steve" Rifkin
Children:	Ana Cruz, Raymond "Nick" Cruz, Stephen Rifkin, Laura McCauley
Grandchildren:	Madison McCauley, Peter McCauley, Teresa McCauley
Education:	Hillsborough Community College, A.A., Opticianry Dispensing, 1977
Born:	July 7 in Tampa, Florida
Religious Affiliation:	Catholic
Recreation:	Gourmet cooking, tarpon fishing, watercolor, writing

Flsenate.gov was designed with the user in mind. We welcome your input and ask that you email us with suggestions for future enhancements.

Searches

The following searches are available:

Go directly to a bill. This is located at the top of every page on the site.
Search for a Statute. This is located at the top of every page on the site.
Site search powered by Google. This is also located at the top of every page. See Site Search Tips for more information.
Additional searches located on these pages:
- Bills - See Bill Search Tips for more information.
- Statutes - See Statute Search Tips for more information.
- Find your Senate and House State Legislators, U.S. Representatives & U.S. Senators by entering your US Postal address or Zip+4 Code.
- Executive Appointments
- Press Releases
- Publications
- Videos

Printing

The website is automatically set up to remove the header and footer and only provide what's in the content area (with the white background). This will save on printing time and ink. Use your normal browser print buttons to print or CTRL+P.

Printing District Maps

From each Senator’s District tab and for each district under Maps and Statistics, two PDF maps are available. To print a district map that is 8.5 x 11 inches, select the Letter Size map. For a larger map, if you have a printer that can accommodate it, select the Poster Size map. Many copy centers have large-format printers.

A full-size poster is 42 x 63 inches, portrait or landscape (depending on the district). PDFs can be reduced to your preferred size. For example, reductions to 24 x 36 inches or 20 x 30 inches will fit standard poster frames. Prints can be as small as 11 x 17 inches, but the legibility suffers. To print from within Acrobat Reader, click the print icon Acrobat print icon :

For a full-size poster, set the page size to 42 x 63 inches. For reduced sizes, set the length or width 1.5 times the shorter dimension.
Set the correct orientation (portrait or landscape) for the map.
Select "Autorotate" and "Small" margins, if available.
Set page scaling option to "Fit" or "Fit to Printable Area".