Steve Elkins (politician)

Elkins attended University of California, Berkeley, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in economics.^[1]

Elkins was a member of the Bloomington city council for three terms until Governor Mark Dayton appointed him to the Metropolitan Council in 2011.^[3] He was chair of the Metropolitan Council Transportation Advisory Board, and served on the Bloomington School District Transportation Task Force and the Bloomington City Planning Commission. Elkins is an IT architect.^[1][4][5]

Elkins was first elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2018 and has been reelected every two years since. He first ran after four-term DFL incumbent Paul Rosenthal resigned to take a position in another state. After 2022 legislative redistricting put him in the same district as fellow state representative Andrew Carlson, Elkins defeated Carlson in the DFL primary election.^[1][6]

Elkins serves as vice chair of the Veterans and Military Affairs Finance and Policy Committee, and sits on the Health Finance and Policy, Taxes, and Transportation Finance and Policy Committees as well as the Property Tax Division of the Taxes Committee. From 2021 to 2022, he was vice chair of the Local Government Division of the State Government Finance and Elections Committee, and from 2019 to 2020 he was vice chair of the Subcommittee on Local Government.^[1]

Elkins supported bipartisan legislation to allow undocumented immigrants to register vehicles with a consular ID.^[7] He authored legislation to reduce penalties for fare evasion on public transit and create "uniformed transit safety officials" to ride light-rail trains instead of police officers.^[8][9] He has said that suburban police departments are willing to help monitor Metro Transit sites.^[10] Elkins supported efforts to audit the Metropolitan Council's management of the Southwest Light Rail project.^[11]

Elkins has written many bills to address housing prices and supply, including a Housing Affordability Act in 2021, saying, "NIMBYism is alive and well" in Minnesota.^[12][13][14] He wrote an op-ed calling for cities to pursue rule changes and zoning policies that promote the creation of more affordable housing on smaller lots.^[15] He authored legislation that would limit cities' power to regulate development and local zoning practices in order to increase housing supply and reduce prices and rents.^[16][17] His bill would also allow cities to impose development and street maintenance fees in exchange for eliminating their power to declare development moratoriums and requiring cities to allow duplexes in any residential area.^[18][19] City councils around Minnesota and the League of Minnesota Cities have opposed Elkins's efforts.^[20]

Elkins supports ranked-choice voting and authored legislation to expand its use to state and federal general and primary elections in Minnesota.^[21][22] He wrote a bill to give major political parties more power over which candidates can run under their party name and make it easier for minor parties to qualify candidates for legislative offices, lowering the threshold for major party status from five percent to one percent.^[23][24]

Elkins authored the Minnesota Consumer Data Privacy Act, which would increase privacy rights for Minnesota residents.^[25] He also worked on legislation to update Minnesota's antitrust laws.^[26] Elkins supported a ban on the use of conversion therapy in Bloomington.^[27] He wrote legislation to allow cities to ban the use of plastic bags.^[28] Elkins was part of a bipartisan group of state legislators that traveled to Israel and the West Bank in 2019.^[29]