District 19 - Steven D. Rhoads

Biography

Steve Rhoads grew up in Wantagh, where his mom still resides, and presently lives in Bellmore with his wife of over 25 years, Linda, who grew up in East Meadow.  Steve attended the Wantagh Public Schools, graduating in 1987 and attended college at the State University of New York at Albany. Steve was active in intermural sports, served as a radio color commentator for Albany athletics and held several elected student positions while there, including serving as President of the 12,000 member student body in his senior year. During his time at Albany, he also worked as a Legislative Aide for State Assemblyman Fred Parola during the 1988-1991 legislative sessions, and graduated, with honors, in 1991.

After college, Steve attended law school at Hofstra University School of Law, graduating in 1994, also serving as a columnist for the Conscience, Hofstra Law School's newspaper. He was admitted to the State Bar in February 1995. While in law school, Steve played Stan Musial League baseball, and also joined the Wantagh Volunteer Fire Department in 1992, where he is currently in his 30th year of service, 9 of which were as a line officer of Engine/Rescue Company 5. In 2013, Steve and his unit were recognized by the County Executive for their service during Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath.

Steve worked for County government after law school, rising through the ranks to become Deputy Bureau Chief of the Bureau of Tort and Civil Rights Litigation in the Office of the Nassau County Attorney before leaving for private practice in 1999. That unit was responsible for defending the Nassau County Police Department, District Attorney and the Department of Corrections, in false arrest, malicious prosecution and brutality cases brought in Federal Court and all other County departments in a variety of state civil cases.  Steve is now a successful litigation attorney with the law offices of Grey & Grey, L.L.P. in Farmingdale, handling their Long Island-based personal injury cases. The firm also specializes in Workers' Compensation matters, including police and municipal compensation cases, as well as Social Security Disability claims.

In addition to serving with the Wantagh Volunteer Fire Department, he is a member of the Brehon Law Society, Knights of Columbus, 3rd Degree, Kiwanis, the Wantagh-Seaford Homeowners' Association, Bellmore Lions, the Nassau County Bar Association, the Nassau County Police Emerald Society and various other civic organizations. A member of St. Barnabas the Apostle Parish in Bellmore, Steve and his wife Linda, ran the Parish's Youth Ministry Program for 6 years, mentoring Parish teens. Steve has served the past 8 years as the Director of the Youth Ministry Program at St. Pius X Parish in Plainview and plays 1864 and rules baseball at Old Bethpage Village Restoration as well as modern MSBL baseball for two local teams.

From 2006 until his election, Steve served on the Open Space and Parks Advisory Committee to the Nassau County Planning Commission, becoming its secretary in 2009. On March 10, 2015, Steve was elected in a special election to represent the 19th Legislative District in the Nassau County Legislature, encompassing portions of Freeport, Merrick, North Merrick, Bellmore, Wantagh and Seaford, and was re-elected by wide margins in the general elections of 2015, 2017, 2019 and again in 2021.

Steve has sponsored and passed major legislation expanding the County's "panic alarm" program to include schools, houses of worship, malls and places of mass assembly, an extension of fee waivers for families still rebuilding from Superstorm Sandy and helped secure passage of Anti-BDS legislation which made Nassau the first County in the nation to take a stand against the BDS movement which is attempting to delegitimize the State of Israel.  This past term, he wrote and passed the County’s infrastructure protection act; passed a variety of reforms to attempt to restore fairness and transparency to the County’s Assessment system and led the County’s COVID response in his district, conducting PPE collections, mask distributions, advocating for increased local testing and vaccination centers and producing a series of Coronavirus Update videos providing his constituents with calm, relevant and timely information at the height of the pandemic.

Steve was honored to receive the 2015 Louis J. Walker Presidents' Award from the Police Emerald Society of Nassau County and the Torch of Life Award from the NYS AMT Children of Hope Foundation. In December, 2016, Steve was presented with the George M. Estabrook Distinguished Service Award by Hofstra University.

Steve's goal is to make County government work for taxpayers by providing quality services at the lowest possible cost; to expand Nassau’s economy to create opportunities for the long-forgotten middle-class that built this County and to protect our safety and quality of life.