Zack Stephenson is an American politician and member of the

Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are 134 members, twice as many as the Minnesota Senate. Floor sessions are held in the north wing of the State Capitol in Saint Pa ...

. A member of the

Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) is the Minnesota affiliate of the U.S. Democratic Party. As of 2022, it controls four of Minnesota's eight U.S. House seats, both of its U.S. Senate seats, the Minnesota House of Represen ...

(DFL), he represents District 35A in the northwestern

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...

metropolitan area.

Early life, education, and career

Stephenson was born and raised in

Coon Rapids, Minnesota Coon Rapids is a northern suburb of Minneapolis, and is the largest city in Anoka County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 63,599 at the 2020 census, making it the fifteenth largest city in Minnesota and the seventh largest Twin Ci ...

, and graduated from

Coon Rapids High School Coon Rapids High School (CRHS) is a public high school in Coon Rapids, Minnesota, United States. It is part of the Anoka-Hennepin School District 11 and participates in the University of Minnesota's College in the Schools program. Academics The C ...

in 2002. He attended Knox College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in public policy analysis in 2006, and the

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dist ...

, graduating with a Juris Doctor in 2010. Stephenson is a prosecutor for

Hennepin County Hennepin County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Its county seat is Minneapolis, the state's most populous city. The county is named in honor of the 17th-century explorer Father Louis Hennepin. The county extends from Minneapol ...

. He was formerly a staffer for U.S. Senator

Amy Klobuchar Amy Jean Klobuchar ( ; born May 25, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Minnesota, a seat she has held since 2007. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Minne ...

Minnesota House of Representatives

Stephenson was first elected to the

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

. He chairs the Commerce Committee, and also serves on the Climate and Energy Committee and the Elections Committee. During the 2019 session, Stephenson successfully authored a bill to get rid of Minnesota's "marital rape exception". Before his bill passed, Minnesota law prevented prosecution of rape in certain circumstances when the victim was married to the rapist. With the bill's passage, rapists can be prosecuted regardless of whether they are married to the victim. Stephenson also successfully authored a provision to take the first steps towards building a new Mississippi River crossing between

Dayton, Minnesota Dayton is a city in Hennepin and Wright counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 7,262 at the 2020 census. Dayton is mainly located within Hennepin County, but a part of the city extends into Wright County as well. It is th ...

, and

Ramsey, Minnesota Ramsey is a suburb 22 miles (35 km) north-northwest of downtown Minneapolis in Anoka County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 23,668 at the 2010 census. It is a northwest suburb of the Twin Cities. U.S. Highways 10 / 169 ( ...

. In 2020, Stephenson was the chief author of a bill to provide grants to small businesses that were not able to operate due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The bill allocated $62.5 million in grants up to $10,000, with $18 million reserved for microbusinesses, defined as businesses with less than 6 employees. Stephenson's bill passed the House by a margin of 129 to 5 and was unanimously approved in the Senate. Stephenson's legislative priorities include consumer protection and combating climate change. In 2021, he authored the Energy Conservation and Optimization Act, which significantly expands Minnesota's

energy conservation Energy conservation is the effort to reduce wasteful energy consumption by using fewer energy services. This can be done by using energy more effectively (using less energy for continuous service) or changing one's behavior to use less service (f ...

programs. The bill is expected to cut carbon emissions in Minnesota, in particular by incentivizing "fuel switching", whereby utilities offer consumers incentives to switch from less efficient fossil fuels to more efficient electricity. Stephenson also authored the Natural Gas Innovation Act (NGIA), which passed into law with bipartisan support in 2021. NGIA gives Minnesota regulators and utilities new tools to decarbonize the building sector, establishes a new goal to reduce the use of fossil gas, and starts a new regulatory proceeding to plan for further

decarbonization Climate change mitigation is action to limit climate change by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases or removing those gases from the atmosphere. The recent rise in global average temperature is mostly caused by emissions from fossil fuels bur ...

. In 2021, Stephenson also secured passage of Minnesota's Student Borrower's Bill of Rights, which regulates student loan servicers and protects student borrowers from abusive practices. He has also authored legislation to ban price gouging by prescription drug companies. During the 93rd Minnesota Legislature, Stephenson garnered attention as the DFL point man on

cannabis legalization The legality of cannabis for medical and recreational use varies by country, in terms of its possession, distribution, and cultivation, and (in regards to medical) how it can be consumed and what medical conditions it can be used for. These ...

. Stephenson also authored legislation that banned political donations from foreign-owned corporations, a bill providing a rebate for electric vehicles, and legislation to criminalize certain misleading

deepfake Deepfakes (a portmanteau of "deep learning" and "fake") are synthetic media in which a person in an existing image or video is replaced with someone else's likeness. While the act of creating fake content is not new, deepfakes leverage powerful ...

Personal life

Stephenson and his wife, Austin, have two children. He resides in

. In 2023, he came out as bisexual.

References

External links

Official House of Representatives website

Official campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephenson, Zack Living people Democratic Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives 21st-century American politicians People from Coon Rapids, Minnesota 21st-century American lawyers American bisexual people Knox College (Illinois) alumni University of Chicago alumni LGBT people from Minnesota Bisexual male politicians 1984 births