Rick Geist ranks as one of the most senior statesmen of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, moving to the top of the seniority list in the House Republican Caucus in this, his 17th consecutive two-year term representing the city of Altoona, PA.
Geist has served as Chairman of the State House Transportation Committee for the past 16 years, constituting half of his tenure in the General Assembly. He holds the distinction of being the longest-serving Majority Chairman of the Transportation Committee in House history (six terms, before Republicans lost the House Majority in 2007). As Republicans have returned to the majority, Geist reclaimed that position and continues to play a leading role in making policy that benefits Pennsylvania’s motorists and all modes of its transportation system. In addition, he serves as Majority Chairman of the Committee on Committees and is a member of the Commerce and Rules committees.
Learn more on his Facebook page.
Geist is recognized nationally as the Pennsylvania Legislature’s foremost proponent of public-private partnerships as a tool to help Pennsylvania and the nation meet growing transportation infrastructure needs. For the past three legislative sessions, he has sponsored legislation that would enable the Commonwealth to enter into public-private partnerships in order to accelerate the maintenance, improvement and expansion of an aging transportation system. With Gov. Ed Rendell calling for P3 legislation as one of his top priorities, and having recently convened a Special Legislative Session to focus on transportation funding solutions, Geist is confident that Pennsylvania will enact a P3 statute this year, joining the 28 other states that have done so.
During his tenure in Pennsylvania’s General Assembly, Geist has spearheaded several significant legislative accomplishments, including:
- Reforming teen driver licensing laws, which provide more training for young drivers before they receive their unrestricted driver’s license.
- A comprehensive overhaul of Pennsylvania’s 22-year-old drunk driving law in 2003. Geist was the primary architect of the new DUI law, which lowers the state’s blood-alcohol level limit from .10 percent to .08 percent and combines harsher penalties with more intensive treatment for the worst offenders. A new tiered system of escalating penalties has been established, based on the severity and frequency of offenses. The tougher law is designed to take the most serious offenders off the roads and save many innocent lives across the Commonwealth.
- Sponsor of the work zone safety and truck safety legislation, effective in 2003. The laws make it easier to enforce truck safety violations and highway work zone violations, and increase the penalties for those violations.
A longtime advocate of high-speed rail travel, Geist served as chairman of the High Speed Ground Transportation Association, an international organization promoting the development of high speed rail, from 1986 to 1988. In 1984, he won that association’s inaugural award for outstanding achievement. Twenty years later, the High Speed Ground Transportation Association named Geist its 2004 State Legislator of the Year and also awarded him the Chairman’s Award that same year.
In 2001, Geist was extremely honored to be named to the World Academy of Productivity Science in recognition of his efforts to improve the productivity of Pennsylvania’s business and infrastructure sectors. The Academy specifically noted Geist’s work to establish the Ben Franklin Partnership. Geist is one of only four Pennsylvanians ever to receive this prestigious honor.
Also in 2001, the publication Pennsylvania Business Central selected Geist as one of the top 100 most influential business leaders in the 14-county central Pennsylvania region, citing him as “being among those people and organizations that have done the most for central Pennsylvania in the past 12 months.”
In 2010, Geist’s advocacy of technology advancement and innovation was recognized by TechQuest Pennsylvania, which presented him with their Infrastructure Leadership Award. This group promotes transportation, water and energy infrastructure development through cooperation between the public and private sector.
In his spare time, Geist is an avid bicyclist, a passion that led to his founding the Tour de ‘Toona, the largest pro-am cycling event in America. He still serves as Race Director for the annual multi-day stage race in his hometown of Altoona, which began in 1985.
Geist was extremely honored to receive in 2001 the Dr. Paul Dudley White Award from the League of American Bicyclists. This national organization’s most prestigious award recognized Geist’s “outstanding and inspirational contributions to bicycling.” In 1996, Bicycling Magazine named Geist “Best Friend” in public office, also a national award.
When he was first elected in November of 1978, Geist left a senior management position with EADS Corporation in Altoona to begin his career in public service. A 1962 graduate of Altoona Area High School, Geist earned an associates degree from Penn State’s College of Engineering in 1965. Geist also was a Kellogg Fellow and a graduate of the Public Affairs Leadership Program. In 2010, Penn State selected Geist as the fifth annual “Friend of Penn State” legislative award for his work in the Ben Franklin Partnership, the Information Sciences and Technology program, a rail and transit engineering program at Penn State-Altoona and his support of the Penn State Hershey clinical, medical research, educational and community engagement missions.
Geist resides in Altoona. He is married to the former Jean Elizabeth Dillen.
Stay Informed
Sign up to receive occasional updates from me.
Sign up here