 When the Liberal Party won the 2018 election, Stephens was appointed as Government Whip in the Legislative Council.In February 2020, he replaced Andrew McLachlan as President of the South Australian Legislative Council.In June 2020, it was alleged that although Stephens had claimed to live in Victor Harbor since 2014, he spent a significant amount of time at his property at Norwood, in Adelaide's inner east, and so had been wrongly claiming an allowance paid to him as a regional MP.