Representative Ken Zebrowski Contact information

Kenneth Paul Zebrowski is a Member of the New York State Assembly representing the 96th District in Rockland County. He was first elected in a special election on May 1, 2007, and was re-elected in 2022 to his 9th term. He chairs the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions.

Ken lives in the Town of Clarkstown with his wife, Clare, a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, daughter Reagan, son Kenneth Patrick, and daughter Norah. He graduated from Clarkstown Schools before receiving his Bachelor of Arts, Magna cum Laude, in Political Science from the State University of New York at Albany and his Juris Doctor degree from the Seton Hall University School of Law. He previously served in the Rockland County Legislature and has been a practicing attorney in Rockland County.

Ken has served as chair for several committees in the Assembly, including Banks and Governmental Operations, and currently chairs the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions. He also serves as Chair of the Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment, which oversees the reapportionment process for Senate, Assembly and Congressional districts.

As Chair of the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, Ken helped craft the MTA rescue plan that eliminated the post-COVID operating deficit and put the MTA on more secure financial footing. Other committee work during his tenure as chair has included increasing transparency of LLC ownership and ensuring New Yorkers have access to affordable and reliable utility service. Under his leadership, the committee has also taken on important environmental legislation in the face of the climate crisis, including passing the Build Public Renewables Act.

During his time as Chair of the Committee on Governmental Operations, Ken worked with his colleagues to usher through bills that have reformed state procurement to fight climate change, modernized the notary public statute, prioritized volunteer firefighter recruitment and retention, increased transparency in the criminal justice system, reformed the regulatory process on job impacts, better served the disabled, and addressed sexual harassment. Ken also proposed technological modernizations to the Open Meetings Law and the bill language he authored was passed as part of the state budget in 2022. He currently sponsors a major bill that is working its way through the legislature that revamps the Secretary of State’s code enforcement powers to protect citizens from dangerous buildings. In 2021, during the COVID-19 health crisis, Ken partnered with Speaker Carl E. Heastie, to author, negotiate and debate a rollback of the governor’s emergency powers in order to re-establish legislative, municipal and public input.

Ken led the charge to protect consumers as Chair of the Committee on Banks. As chair, he passed legislation to regulate the student loan industry, worked to foster community and state-chartered banks, and dealt with the changing legal structure surrounding emerging financial products and the Fintech industry. Ken protected student loan borrowers with new regulations on loan servicers, ensured New York was compliant with federal “Dodd-Frank” reforms related to real estate appraisals and, after his chairmanship ended, authored and passed a landmark commercial financing law that established transparent and uniform disclosures for commercial lending products. He also authored the bill that transitioned New York contracts off the LIBOR benchmark interest rate, providing critical stability to countless financial contracts.

As a Member of the Assembly, Ken has been one of the most prolific legislators, passing significant legislation that has improved the lives of New Yorkers. Among the major bills that he has sponsored include a first in the nation Hepatitis C testing bill that has become a template for other states; the full-day kindergarten funding bill that achieved full-day kindergarten for North Rockland and put a full-day kindergarten program within reach for the entire state; and laws that allow domestic violence survivors additional time to sue for civil damages and expands the criminal complaint filing process to any police department in the state. He also sponsored the law that allows a 10% property tax reduction for volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers.

Throughout his career, Ken has fought corruption and worked to clean up government. In 2018, he was the sponsor of a bill that passed in the state budget to bring transparency to previously unregulated “dark money” internet ads, and in 2019, he authored a law that requires all campaign material to include “paid for by’” disclosures and sponsored a law that prevents LLCs that own real estate from hiding the identity of their members.

Currently, Ken is the sponsor of two major environmental bills, one that reforms New York’s procurement process to curb deforestation and another that bans the use of PFAS chemicals that are polluting our drinking water.

While working on significant statewide legislation, Ken has also spearheaded issues that matter to Rocklanders. There is no stronger voice against irresponsible development and illegal housing. Ken’s dogged advocacy has exposed illegal building and fire code practices throughout the county that puts people’s lives and home values at risk. Ken’s years of advocacy against illegal housing and in support of firefighters across the state earned him the 2022 Golden Trumpet Award from the Firefighters Association of the State of New York. His efforts have overhauled the school inspection process; implementing both regulatory reforms and legislative changes that ensure school buildings are inspected and administrators are held accountable. He has passed a package of laws that fights illegal housing, including one that increases penalties for illegal building conversions that lead to injury or death and another that mandates a minimum daily fine for dangerous conditions that sit unmitigated.

Ken achieved a toll freeze/discount for Rockland commuters over the new Tappan Zee/Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, aggressively fought for MTA investments and reforms, and continues to advocate for a Rockland discount as part of the proposed congestion pricing plans. He co-authored the bill that set up a deficit financing program, with annual state comptroller review, to help Rockland County get out of a $96 million deficit and established the most stringent oversight in New York State over the East Ramapo School District. He has also authored and passed bills for Rockland County school districts and taxpayers that deal with unique tax certiorari challenges and tax shifts. Some additional examples of his efforts to improve Rockland’s economy and foster job creation include adding Rockland to a manufacturing tax incentive program, reforming regulations in the craft beer industry to foster Rockland’s growing brewers, and exempting Rockland from the 2023 increase to the MTA payroll tax. Ken has been successful in securing significant funding for Rockland County municipalities and not-for-profit agencies. This funding has fixed Rockland’s infrastructure, assisted the developmentally disabled, improved animal welfare, fostered inclusion and diversity, protected the environment, increased recreational and cultural opportunities, preserved our history, and promoted public safety.

2024 Committee Membership: Chairman, Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions; Member, Committees on Rules, Ways and Means, Judiciary, Government Employees, Ethics.

Past Committee membership includes Codes, Labor, Environmental Conservation, Governmental Operations, Libraries and Information Technology, Governmental Operations, and Banks.

The 96th Assembly District includes the entire Towns of Clarkstown and Haverstraw and a portion of the Town of Orangetown.