| Jennifer Stewart (D) was elected in November 2022 as the State Representative from District 59 in Pawtucket. She is a member of the House Health and Human Services Committee, the House Innovation and Technology Committee, and the House State Government and Elections Committee.
A vocal advocate for tenants' rights, during the 2024 legislation session she championed a new law amending the state's Residential Landlord and Tenant Act to give tenants more notice before raising their rent.
She cosponsored a bill, which became part of the state budget, to add another $5 million to the $10 million the governor proposed to help the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority close an $18.1 million budget gap following the end of federal pandemic aid, avoiding service cuts.
During the 2023 legislative session, Representative Stewart supported the passage of the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act to provide insurance coverage for abortion care to individuals on Medicaid as well as state employees. She also supported passage of several bills that will address Rhode Island's insufficient housing stock as well as the elimination of rental application fees. Rhode Island's chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union recognized her strong voting record on bills concerning civil liberties issues by giving her a perfect score on its 2023 Legislative Score Card.
In 2023, Representative Stewart introduced bills to make Rhode Island a better place to live for all its residents. These bills included extending the notification time that landlords must provide to tenants about rent increases, promoting visitable and accessible building standards for all residential projects that receive public support, repealing the Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights, and renaming Victory Day as Peace and Remembrance Day. She was the prime sponsor of resolutions to require state agencies to report on their use of artificial intelligence and to welcome the Golden Rule to Rhode Island when it arrived to educate the public about the continued threats of nuclear destruction.
A graduate of the University of Chicago, Representative Stewart has a master's degree in political science and is a teacher of history and political science. She previously had a successful seven-year tenure as humanities department chair.
She was a recipient of the U.S. Presidential Scholars Teacher Recognition Award in 2011. She has been privileged to pursue many professional development opportunities, including a summer fellowship on cartographic history with the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Representative Stewart is a 2018-2019 recipient of the Fulbright Distinguished Award for Teaching. As a Fulbright grantee, she made Finland her home from January through June, 2019, and conducted an inquiry project entitled "How Less Can Be More- What Finland Can Teach the U.S. about Cutting the Homework in the Humanities." During her stay, she was hosted by the University of Helsinki.
Representative Stewart resides in Pawtucket with her husband. She is excited to represent her Oak Hill and Woodlawn neighbors in the Rhode Island House of Representatives. |