| Rep. Karen Alzate (D-Dist. 60, Pawtucket, Central Falls) was first elected to the House of Representatives in November 2018. She is the chairwoman of the House Special Legislation Committee, second vice chair of the House Labor Committee, and a member of the House Finance Committee and the House Municipal Government and Housing Committee.
In 2024, Chairwoman Alzate introduced legislation that would repeal the law that allows "payday lenders" to operate in Rhode Island. She also introduced a bill that would create an additional personal income surtax of 3% on taxable income over $1,000,000 and legislation that would expand eligibility for the qualified Medicare beneficiary program by increasing the income limit from 100% to 138% of the federal poverty line.
During the 2023 session, she introduced a new law that would make it easier to convert commercial structures such as hospitals or mills into housing. The legislation would allow, as a permitted use, the adaptive reuse of commercial structures, such as mills, factories, hospitals, malls, churches and schools, into high density residential developments without the need to go before a municipal planning board for a zone change.
She also sponsored a law which reduces the fee for an original driver privilege card. In the 2022 session, the General Assembly approved Chairwoman Alzate's legislation that directed the Division of Motor Vehicles to issue driving privilege cards to undocumented residents in the state. This new law reduces the fee for an original driver privilege card from $50 to $25 in order to bring the fee in line with the cost charged for renewing a driver's license.
From 2021 to 2022, Representative Alzate served as the Chairwoman of the Rhode Island Legislative Black and Latino Caucus.
She graduated from Tolman High School in 2006 and received her bachelor's degree in political science from Rhode Island College in 2013. She received a Master's Degree in community development from Roger Williams University in 2019. Representative Alzate was a part of the Latina Leadership Institute in 2017 and she was previously a member of the New Leaders Council in 2016. She also was a member of Leadership Rhode Island in 2021 and a Harvard Kennedy School July 2024 cohort. Also in 2024, she was selected as a Transatlantic Inclusive Leaders Network fellow by The German Marshall fund.
Representative Alzate was born on December 26, 1987 and resides in Pawtucket. |