New Lawmaker Profile: Pierce

NOTE: This is one of a series of biographical sketches Cronkite News Service is producing about new members of the Arizona State Legislature. Each follows this format and includes a mugshot.

_ Name: Steve Pierce
_ Chamber: Senate
_ Party: Republican
_ Profession: Rancher
_ Hometown: Prescott
_ Legislative District: No. 1, which covers northeastern Yavapai County and central Coconino County.
_ Committee Assignments: Natural Resources, Infrastructure and Public Debt (vice-chairman); Appropriations; Finance; Retirement and Rural Development; Appropriations Subcommittee on Education and Natural Resources.
_ Previous or Current Elected Offices: None.
_ Highlights of Community Involvement: Yavapai County Republican Party, Anasazi Foundation, Central Arizona Partnership, Yavapai Cattle Growers Association.
_ Why He Ran: “Because our district deserved a better representative than it had. Their former senator was not voting the way the majority of the residents wanted him to.”
_ His Focus: “Agricultural and water issues will be my main focus. Water issues always really affect my district.”
_ A Bill: SCM 1001 would urge members of Congress to oppose legislation that would interfere with a state’s ability to transport unwanted and unusable horses across borders for slaughter.

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Reporting by Andrea Wilson, Cronkite News Service

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Sen. Steve Pierce, R-Prescott