Senator Ellen Anderson was elected to the Minnesota Senate in 1992 and re-elected in 1996, 2000 and 2002 as a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. She represents District 66, which includes the St. Paul neighborhoods of St. Anthony Park, the University of Minnesota’s St. Paul campus, Midway, Como, North End, part of the East Side, and the city of Falcon Heights. Senator Anderson chairs the Senate Jobs, Energy and Community Development Committee, and is a member of the following Senate Committees: Environment, Agriculture and Economic Development Budget Division, K-12 Budget Division, and Commerce.

She also serves on the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources; Unemployment Insurance Advisory Board; Legislative Electric Energy Task Force; Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans; and, three committees with the National Conference of State Legislatures: Energy and Electrical Utilities Committee and Communications, Technology and Interstate Commerce Committee; and High-Level Radioactive Waste Working Group. Senator Anderson has been a leader in the areas of sustainable energy policy, affordable housing, family friendly workplace policies and worker rights, violence prevention, progressive tax structures, and inner city revitalization.

Senator Anderson holds a B.A. from Carleton College (1982) and a J.D., cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School (1986). In her legal practice she has been a staff attorney for the Minnesota Education Association, a trial attorney for the Hennepin County Public Defender’s Office, a law clerk for Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge Crippen, and a clerk for Legal Services and Proyecto Libertad in Harlingen, Texas. Her other professional experience includes Research Director for U.S. Senator Wellstone’s 1990 Senate campaign, and she previously was a Community Faculty member at Metropolitan State University.

Senator Anderson’s current community involvement includes Board Member-PEOPLE, Inc., Board Member for Lifetrack Resources, and Member-Hampden Park Foods Co-op. She has also served as a Board Member of Como Lake Strategic Management and a Member of the Center for Violence Prevention and Control Advisory Board at University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

Since being elected, Senator Anderson has received the Minnesota Housing Partnership’s 1994 Builder of Housing Justice Award; the Sierra Club North Star (Minnesota) Chapter 1994 Public Sector Environmentalist of the Year Award; the St. Paul Business and Professional Women’s Legislator of the Year Award in 1995; the Minnesota Nurses Association Public Action Award in 2001; the Minnesota Workforce Council Association Legislator of the Year Award in 2001; the WiLL/WAND Pacesetter Award in 2003; the Minnesota League of Conservation Voters 2003 Environmental Leadership Award, Minnesota Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice 2003 Faith and Freedom Award, Minnesota Farmer’s Union Silver Triangle Award, Minnesota AIDS Project 2004 Hanson-Hemmingson Award, Outfront MN 2004 Honored Ally award, the 2005 St. Paul Youth Services High Hopes award, and the Minnesota Farmers Union 2005-2006 Farm and Rural Legislative Award. She was selected the U.S. Democratic delegate to the American Council of Young Political Leaders/East-West Center’s 1994 New Generation Seminar and a Center for Policy Alternatives 1995 Flemming Fellow.

Senator Anderson’s major legislative accomplishments:

• Negotiated for extended unemployment benefits for thousands of Minnesotans laid off during 2001-2002 recession
• Passed first law in the nation providing for right to break time and place for nursing mothers to express breast milk
• Author of Minnesota’s minimum wage increase, successfully passed in 2005, after 8 years of introducing the legislation
• Author of equity stripping consumer protection law
• Legislative champion for renewable, clean energy, including the Renewable Energy Standard, which passed the Senate during the 2006 Legislative Session
• Legislative leader for civil rights for GLBT, affordable housing, and Choice