Ann H. Rest (born April 24, 1942) is an American politician and President pro tempore of the

Minnesota Senate The Minnesota Senate is the upper house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. At 67 members, half as many as the Minnesota House of Representatives, it is the largest upper house of any U.S. state legislature. Floor sessions are h ...

. A member of the

Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) is the Minnesota affiliate of the U.S. Democratic Party. As of 2022, it controls four of Minnesota's eight U.S. House seats, both of its U.S. Senate seats, the Minnesota House of Repr ...

(DFL), she represents District 45, which includes portions of the western suburbs of

Hennepin County Hennepin County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Its county seat is Minneapolis, the state's most populous city. The county is named in honor of the 17th-century explorer Father Louis Hennepin. The county extends from Minneap ...

in the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in stat ...

metro area.

Early life, education, and career

Rest attended Rich Township High School in

Park Forest, Illinois Park Forest is a village located south of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, with a small southern portion in Will County, Illinois, United States. The village was originally designed as a planned community for veterans returning from World War I ...

, graduating in 1960, then went on to

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Chart ...

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, Downtown Chicago, ...

, where she received her

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four ye ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

and

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

. She then attended the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

on a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship and earned a

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...

in Latin and Greek. She later received an M.A. in Teaching from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, a Masters in Business Taxation from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, and a Masters of Public Administration from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government through a Bush Fellowship. She is a retired

Certified Public Accountant Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Sta ...

Minnesota Legislature

Rest was first elected to the Senate in 2000, and was re-elected in 2002, 2006, 2010, 2012, and 2016. She served as an assistant majority leader from 2003 to 2007 and Senate President 2013–2017. Before being elected to the Senate, Rest represented District 46A in the

Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the Minnesota Legislature, Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are 134 members, twice as many as the Minnesota Senate. Floor sessions are held in the north wing of the Min ...

for 16 years, being first elected in 1984, and re-elected in 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996 and 1998. She was an assistant majority leader of the House from 1989 to 1991. She chaired the House Tax Committee from 1993 to 1997, and the House Local Government and Metropolitan Affairs Committee from 1997 to 1999. She chaired the Senate State and Local Government Operations and Oversight Committee from 2007 to 2011. For the 2021-2022 92nd Biennium Legislature, Rest is serving on the following committees of Housing Finance and Policy and Rules and Administration. Rest is also Ranking Minority Chair of the Taxes committee. Her special legislative concerns include tax policy, education funding, and transportation.

Personal life

Rest has been active on numerous government and community boards through the years. She is a member of the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, and NCSL's Executive Committee's Task Force on State and Local Taxation. She is the second Vice President of the Streamline States Governing Board. She serves on Minnesota's Legislative Audit Commission. Rest was a member of the Minnesota Statehood Sesquicentennial Commission (2006–2008) and served on the Minnesota Capitol Area Architectural Planning Board and the Capitol Preservation Commission. Rest is a Minnesota delegate to the Great Lakes Commission and was a founding member of the Great Lakes Legislative Caucus, which she also chaired.

References

External links

Senator Ann Rest
''official Minnesota Senate website''
Minnesota Public Radio Votetracker: Senator Ann RestProject Vote Smart - Senator Ann Rest Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rest, Ann 1942 births Living people Democratic Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives Democratic Party Minnesota state senators People from New Hope, Minnesota Women state legislators in Minnesota University of Minnesota alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians Methodists from Minnesota Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni