Steve Yarbrough (politician)
Steven B. Yarbrough (born August 26, 1947) is an American politician. A Republican, he was the president of the Arizona Senate, and represented District 17 from January 14, 2013 to January 14, 2019. Yarbrough served in the Arizona State Legislature from January 2003 until January 2011 in the Arizona House of Representatives District 21 seat, then in the Arizona Senate in the District 21 seat from January 10, 2011 until January 14, 2013 for his first term in the Senate. This District was renumbered from 21 to 17 in 2012, although it remained substantially the same geographically . Private school tuition tax credit programs. Yarbrough has sponsored the majority of Arizona legislation expanding programs to redirect state income tax liability to tax credits that can be applied toward tuition scholarships for students attending private elementary and secondary schools (scholarship tax credits). Yarbrough is also the director of one of the largest of those programs, the Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization, from which Yarbrough (the chairman of the AZ Senate Ethics Committee) also receives administration fees, processing fees, and rent. Education. Yarbrough earned his BS in business administration and finance from Arizona State University and his JD from the  Arizona State University College of Law (now the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law). Arizona senate. Tenure. Yarbrough proposed Arizona SB 1062. It was one of several similar bills in U.S. state legislatures allowing individuals to refuse service based on religion, with some bills specifically protecting religious disapproval of same-sex marriage. The bill was passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature and vetoed by Republican Governor Jan Brewer on February 26, 2014.