Senate Member

Sen. Steven B. Yarbrough is the Senate President for the 53rd Legislature. He has lived in Arizona since 1963. He graduated from Phoenix Union High School in 1965, earned his B.S. in Business Administration (finance) from ASU in 1968 with high distinction and graduated magna cum laude with his Juris Doctor from the ASU College of Law in 1971. During 1970-1971 he was a Rockefeller Foundation Graduate Fellow in University Administration.

From 1971-1975 he served as a director in the ASU Office of Student Affairs. Since 1975, he has practiced law in Tempe and Chandler. For many years, he was a board-certified specialist in family law.

Since 1998, Sen. Yarbrough has been the Executive Director of the Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization, a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization that has provided scholarships to thousands of Arizona students to attend the school of their parent's choice.

Sen. Yarbrough taught business law at Mesa Community College from 1975-1977. He was a co-founder and served on the school board for Valley Christian High School from 1981-2005.

Sen. Yarbrough has been married to his wife Linda since 1968. She taught choral music for over thirty years. They have three adult sons, all married, seven grandsons and one granddaughter. Two of their sons are East Valley police officers (a Chandler lieutenant and a Gilbert officer) and one is the Global Business Supply Chain Manager for Shell Oil and lives in London, England.

First elected to the House in 2002, Rep. Yarbrough was re-elected three times from former District 21. He was elected to the State Senate in 2010 and re-elected from District 17 (portions of Chandler and Gilbert and all of Sun Lakes) in 2012, 2014 and 2016.

Sen. Yarbrough previously served on the House Education, Appropriations and Judiciary Committees and on the Ethics Committee, of which he was Chairman. He served eight years as a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, including four years as Vice-Chairman and two years as Chairman. He also served two years as Vice-Chairman of the Rules Committee. Sen. Yarbrough was House Speaker Pro Tempore for the 49th Legislature during 2009-2010.

Sen. Yarbrough is Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee. He previously served on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Commerce and Workforce Development Committee, and was Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee for four years before becoming Majority Leader for the 52nd Legislature (2015-16). He also served on the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, the Joint Committee on Capital Review and was Chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee. He is Co-chair of the Legislative Council.