Arizona Sen. Steve Farley (D)

Email Address: @azleg.gov

Phone: (602) 926-3022

Fax: (602) 417-3128

Office Address:
Room Room 213
1700 W. Washington
Phoenix, AZ 85007

Steve Farley is a 51-year-old small-business owner and father of Amelia, 19, and Genevieve, 15. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Williams College (Mass.) in 1985 with a bachelor's degree in Political Science. He was elected to represent the citizens of District 9 as State Senator in 2012. He was first elected to the Arizona Legislature as State Representative from District 28 in November 2006, eventually rising to become Assistant Minority Leader. He now serves as the Ranking Democrat on the Transportation Committee, as well as Member of the Finance, Government and Environment, and Ethics Committees.
Steve is working to move Arizona forward, with legislative priorities in the areas of jobs and economic development, education, senior issues, public safety, transportation choices, sustainable growth, fiscal health, and quality of life. In his legislative career, he has worked to invest in new technologies and high-wage jobs, expand health care for self-employed and small-business owners, make long-term care more affordable for middle-class seniors and the families that love them, increasing the production of clean solar energy, outlaw driving while texting, build passenger rail between Tucson and Phoenix and beyond, protect Tucson's sovereignty, and create livable communities. He has repeatedly been named Conservation Hero by the Arizona League of Conservation Voters, and Legislative Champion by the Arizona League of Towns and Cities.
He is well-known as the artist who gathered personal photos from the Tucson community and turned them into those historic photographic tile murals around the Broadway Underpass, at the eastern gateway to Downtown Tucson, which has won the title of Best Mural in the Tucson Weekly's annual Best of Tucson reader poll eleven years in a row. For that project, he invented a new way of converting photographs to glazed ceramic tile, and he has since completed numerous mural projects around the U.S. He has run his own public art and graphic design business since 1991.
Steve has also become well-known as a strong advocate for public transit and other transportation improvements, and is founder of Southern Arizona Transit Advocates. He was instrumental in gaining approval for a comprehensive regional transportation system of roads, buses, bikeways and sidewalks, and the Modern Streetcar starter light rail line which will be running in Tucson by early 2014 and which has already created hundreds of jobs and more than $800 million in private construction projects within three blocks of its route -- all in the middle of the worst recession Arizona has seen. Steve's leadership in the creation of the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) has resulted in thousands of new, good jobs and rebuilt vital Tucson regional roadways like La Cholla and La Canada.
The Arizona Transit Association honored him with the statewide Friend of Transit award, and the Arizona Chapter of the American Planning Association named him the statewide 2011 Distinguished Elected Official. He is also a Board Member of the central-city Blenman Elm Neighborhood Association.
Father of Amelia, 19, and Genevieve, 15
Small-business owner for 23 years
Arts Hero Award Arizona Citizens for the Arts 2013
Tech Ten Legislator of the Year Arizona Technology Council 2013
Leader of the Year in Public Policy Arts and Humanities AZ Captiol Times 2013
Creator of historic photo-tile murals at Tucson's Broadway Underpass
Designer/author of several Tucson community history books
Ranking Member, Senate Transportation Committee
Member, Senate Finance Committee
Member, Senate Government and Environment Committee
Member, Senate Ethics Committee
Assistant Minority Leader, Arizona House Democrats
Arizona House Democratic Policy Leader
Ranking Member, House Transportation Committee
Member, House Ways & Means Committee
Member, House Military Affairs and Public Safety Committee
Member, House Ethics Committee
Named Conservation Hero by the Arizona League of Conservation Voters
Named Legislative Champion by the League of Arizona Cities and Towns
Honored with several other national awards for community art and activism
Board Member, Blenman-Elm Neighborhood Assocation
Board Member, Arizona Citizen Action for the Arts
Union member: Graphic Artists Guild
Founder, Southern Arizona Transit Advocates
Vice-Chair, Pima Association of Governments Regional Transportation Plan Task Force
Vice-Chair Transportation committee, National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL)
Transportation committee member, Council of State Governments- West (CSG-West)
High Speed Rail Working Group, NCSL
Class President, Western Legislative Academy
Toll Fellow national leadership institute
Presenter, U.S. Dept of Transportation Distracted Driving Summit
UofA College of Education Public Service Award