Steve Englebright ‘75, New York State Assembly
Assemblyman Steve Englebright ’75 has an extensive background in science and education, which brings an important perspective to the State Legislature. With professional training as a geologist and biologist, Assemblyman Englebright’s skill at translating technical concepts and findings into innovative public policy has enabled him to shape laws that have practical relevance to our lives and health.
For example, Assemblyman Englebright’s scientific background helped him successfully advocate for the New York State ban on the sale of baby bottles and other childcare products containing the estrogen-disrupting chemical bisphenol-A (BPA).
First elected to office in 1983, Steve Englebright’s tenure in the Suffolk County Legislature was strongly defined by his interest in the interface of science and society in the policy area of public health. He helped lead the movement to protect the Pine Barrens watershed, successfully fought the opening of the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant and pushed through the first local law in the nation to require biodegradable packaging.
As Chair of the Parks Committee, Englebright spearheaded Suffolk County’s premiere open space program which became a much-copied national model. In Suffolk, this resulted in doubling the county’s preserved open space as parkland and validated the ecosystem protection approach to strategic open space policy.
Following his election to the New York Assembly in 1992, Assemblyman Englebright pushed successfully for the New York State Pine Barrens Protection Act. A leading proponent for the use of clean, renewable energy, Assemblyman Englebright authored New York’s solar and wind net-metering laws in the 1990s and successfully pushed in 2008 for the expansion of solar net-metering to include all utility customer classes.
Additional legislative accomplishments include the Pesticide Use Registry Act of 1996, the Long Island North Shore Heritage Area Act, and the Assisted Living Reform Act of 2004, which is widely regarded as a national model.
Assemblyman Englebright supports a comprehensive reform of our state’s inequitable school aid formula and will continue to fight for a predictable formula that adjusts for regional costs, student enrollment, student need and the misperception of wealth driven by our regional real estate market. As the leading advocate for Stony Brook in the Assembly, Assemblyman Englebright played a major role in advancing the NY-SUNY2020 Challenge Grant Program and rational tuition plan for SUNY schools, which will enable expanded research and economic development as well as increasing access to a quality education at Stony Brook.
The 4th Assembly District is situated on the north shore of Long Island and encompasses Port Jefferson Station, sections of Coram, Centereach, Selden and Lake Grove as well as the historic maritime communities that developed around the harbors of Stony Brook, Setauket, Port Jefferson and Mt. Sinai.
A Setauket homeowner since 1973, Assemblyman Englebright has two daughters, Christina Marie and Jennifer Lynn both of whom are graduates of Stony Brook University. Assemblyman Englebright is a graduate of Bayside High School, received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Tennessee in 1969 and a Master of Science degree in Paleontology/Sedimentology from Stony Brook University.
