During his 28-year tenure in the Louisiana House from 1972 to 2000, Jenkins authored more than three hundred major bills that became law, including the Free Enterprise Education Act, which requires all high school students in Louisiana to complete a one-semester course on the free enterprise system; the Private Education Deregulation Act, which removed many regulations from private and Christian schools and legalized home schooling in the state. The Teacher Proficiency Act requires all new public school teachers in Louisiana to pass the National Teachers Examination; the TOPS scholarship program, under which more than 100,000 Louisiana students have been granted full college scholarships. Jenkins also sponsored the Concealed Carry Act and the Shoot the Burglar Act.