Politics and public service
Naughton was first elected to the House of Representatives 2 November 1992 from District 32,defeating incumbent Michael McEntee in the Democratic primary and Republican Arthur F. Chapman by a margin of 73% to 27% in the general election. [2] Upon downsizing of the House of Representatives from 100 to 75 members in the 2002 election,Naughton ran unopposed and was elected to the 21st District. [3] Naughton was most recently reelected on 2 November 2010 defeating Moderate Party challenger Richard L. Lavallee by a margin of 62.1% to 37.9%,winning in all seven of her precincts. [4]
Beginning in January 1993,Naughton served on the Judiciary committee with a four-year tenure on that committee. She had been serving on the Finance Committee since 1997,and was selected to serve as the chairperson of the Subcommittee on Health and the Environment in 2005. Additionally in 2005,she was selected as a Council of State Governments Henry Toll Fellow,and was appointed as chairperson of the Rules Committee.
In addition to being a long-standing member of the Environment &Natural Resources Committee,Naughton has served on a number of committees and commissions focusing on natural resources and environmental issues. Between 1997 and 2004,she was appointed to serve as a Legislative Commissioner on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission,and as a member of the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council. [5] She served as chairperson of the Legislative Commission on Aquaculture Development (1995–1998), [6] chairperson of the Legislative Commission to Develop and Coordinate a Collaborative Effort to Formulate a Restoration Plan for the North Cape Barge Oil Spill (1999), [7] and chairperson of the Narragansett Bay Trust Study Commission (2003–2004). [8]
She also has served on the Rhode Island Commission on Women, [9] the RI Agricultural Lands Preservation Commission [10] and the RI Economic Policy Council. [11]
Naughton's key legislation in her early years in the General Assembly included an overhaul of the laws regarding aquaculture in the coastal waters of the state. [12] She has also engaged in health care policy issues,serving since 2006 as chairperson of a legislative commission to study blood banking of umbilical cord blood in support of adult stem cell research. [13] Since 2008,she has been engaged in national health care policy issues by serving on the Director's Council of Public Representatives for the National Institutes of Health. [14]
During the 2009-10 session of the Rhode Island House of Representatives she serves as the Chairperson of the Rules Committee,Chairperson of the Health and Environment Subcommittee of the Finance Committee,as well as serving on the Environment and Natural Resources,and Labor Committees. [15]
Naughton was defeated in the September 13,2016 Democratic Party primary election by Camille F. Vella-Wilkinson. [16]
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in Rhode Island since August 1, 2013. The state had authorized a limited form of domestic partnerships from 2002 to 2011 and the formation of civil unions from 2011 until the state began recognizing same-sex marriages in 2013. Rhode Island was the last U.S. state in New England to legalize same-sex marriage.
Prostitution in Rhode Island was outlawed in 2009. On November 3, 2009, Republican Governor Donald Carcieri signed into law a bill which makes the buying and selling of sexual services a crime.
Michael Alan Rice, is an American professor of fisheries and aquaculture at the University of Rhode Island and former state representative from South Kingstown, Rhode Island. A Democrat, he served in the Rhode Island House of Representatives, representing the 35th district, encompassing the village of Kingston and West Kingston, and parts of the neighborhoods of Tuckertown, Wakefield and Peace Dale. Rice was first elected on November 4, 2008, and served from January 3, 2009, to January 3, 2011.
Joanne Giannini is an American politician who was a Democratic member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, representing District 7 (Providence) from 1994 till 2010. On July 2, 2010, she announced she would not run for reelection.
Thomas C. Slater (1945–2009) was a Democratic member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve for 30 years, reaching the rank of Sergeant Major. He ran for office in 1994 and defeated incumbent Republican Representative Mary C. Ross for Providence Representative in the state house, and continue serving until his death in 2009. He was a member of the House Finance Committee, and he spoke against cuts to welfare benefits and children's health care, opposed an executive order cracking down on undocumented immigrants living in the state, and supported new fire codes. Medical marijuana access was a large focus for Slater and one of the final pieces of legislation that he sponsored involved the 2009 legalization of medicinal marijuana dispensaries in Rhode Island.
Virginia Susan Sosnowski is an American politician who is a Democratic member of the Rhode Island Senate, representing the 37th District, which encompasses the towns of South Kingstown and New Shoreham. She is the owner and operator of Sosnowski Farms, a family farm in West Kingston. Sosnowski was first elected on November 5, 1996, and is serving in her 8th term.
Alfred A. Gemma is an American politician who is a former Democratic member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, representing the 20th District from 2005, following his special election victory to fill the seat of the deceased Representative Paul V. Sherlock, to January 2011. Gemma had previously served on the City Council of Warwick, Rhode Island. During the 2009-2010 sessions, he served on the House Committees on Corporation, Separation of Powers, Veterans Affairs and Oversight, and served Deputy Majority Leader. Gemma lost his bid for reelection in the 14 September 2010 Democratic primary to David A. Bennett, who went on to be elected in the 2 November general election.
Charlene M. Lima is an American politician who is a Democratic member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, representing the 14th district since 1993. During the 2009-2010 sessions, she served on the House Committees on Corporations, Separation of Powers, and Oversight. She also served as Chairperson of the Special House Commission to examine the issue of licensing of builders and contractors. Lima served as the Deputy Speaker of the House from 2010-2022.
Mary Ann Shallcross Smith is an American educator and a Democratic member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, representing the 46th District from 2009 to 2011, and again starting in 2021. During the 2009-2010 sessions, she served on the House Committees on Constituent Services, Finance, Labor and Small Business. Shallcross Smith was defeated for reelection in the 2 November 2010 general elections to Jeremiah T. O'Grady. She went on to be the president and CEO of Dr. Day Care, and she founded the Business Owners of Child Care Association of Rhode Island (BOCA) in 2011. Shallcross Smith was also the chairperson of the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce in 2016.
Anastasia P. Williams is an American politician who was a Democratic party member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, representing the 9th District from 1993 until 2023. During the 2009–2010 sessions, she served on the House Committee on Municipal Government, and the Joint Committee on Accounts and Claims. She also served as the Chairperson of the House Committee on Labor.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the U.S. state of Rhode Island have the same legal rights as non-LGBT people. Rhode Island established two types of major relationship recognition for same-sex couples, starting with civil unions on July 1, 2011, and then on August 1, 2013 with same-sex marriage. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is outlawed within the state namely in the areas of employment, housing, healthcare and public accommodations. In addition, conversion therapy on minors has been banned since 2017.
Robert E. Craven, Sr. is an American politician and a Democrat in the Rhode Island House of Representatives representing District 32 since January 1, 2013. He serves as Chairman of the House Municipal Government Committee and a member of the House Judiciary Committee. Craven also serves on the R.I. Governor's Justice Reinvestment Working Group.
Scott A. Slater is an American politician. He has been a Democratic member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives representing District 10 since 2009.
John M. Carnevale is an American politician and a Democratic member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives representing District 13 from January 2009 to January 2017.
Erin Patricia Lynch Prata is an American politician and an Associate Justice on the Rhode Island Supreme Court. She previously served in the Rhode Island Senate representing District 31 since January 2009. Lynch Prata served as Chairwoman on the Senate Committee on Judiciary, as well as a member of the Senate Committee on Rules, Government Ethics & Oversight and the Senate Committee on Special Legislation & Veterans' Affairs. She focused on issues including public education, economic development, job growth, health care and environmental protection. She was confirmed to be an Associate Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court in December 2020.
Marcia Ranglin-Vassell is an American politician and a former Democratic member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, representing the 5th District from 2017 to 2023. This district includes the Charles, Wanskuck and Elmhurst neighborhoods of the city of Providence. She is also an English language arts and special education teacher at E-Cubed Academy. She is the published author of Journeys, a collection of poems about faith, life, love and determination.
Terri-Denise Cortvriend is an American politician, businesswoman, pilot, and yacht captain. She is a democratic member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, and before that served as a member of the Portsmouth School Committee.
Carol Hagan McEntee is an American politician and a Democratic member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, representing District 33 since 2015.
Kathleen A. Fogarty is an American politician currently serving as a Democratic member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, representing the 35th House District since 2015.
Michael Joseph McEntee is an American lawyer and politician from South Kingstown, Rhode Island. Originally from Warwick, Rhode Island, McEntee served as a Democrat in the Rhode Island General Assembly, representing the 32nd District in the Rhode Island House of Representatives for eight years.
