| Katherine S. Kazarian (D) has served the residents of East Providence in District 63 since first being elected in November 2012. In January 2021, she was elected by her Democratic colleagues as the House Majority Whip, the third highest-ranking position on the House Leadership Team. She is a member of the House Corporations Committee, the House Municipal Government and Housing Committee, the House Labor Committee, the House Rules Committee and the House Special Legislation Committee.
During the 2021 legislative session, Whip Kazarian sponsored a new law that prohibits anyone from carrying a firearm on school property, with the exception of peace officers, retired law enforcement officers, persons under contract to provide school security services, and unloaded firearms in locked containers or a locked rack in a motor vehicle.
She also sponsored another new law which increases temporary caregiver benefits over the next two years.
Whip Kazarian was also the sponsor of a new law that bans health insurers from utilizing the discriminatory practice known as gender rating, or routinely charging women and men different premiums for individual insurance.
Whip Kazarian has sponsored numerous bills to expand the scope of health insurance coverage for Rhode Islanders, including a law that requires health insurance plans to provide for a 12-month supply of birth control to all those who are insured. She has also sponsored legislation to reduce the burden of student loans and successfully created a process for the Department of Education to collect and organize information concerning the duties and responsibilities performed by school social workers.
With eight great-grandparents who survived the Armenian Genocide of 1915, she and her family have been very active in Rhode Island's Armenian community. She was the sponsor of legislation which made Holocaust and Genocide education mandatory in all of the state's middle schools and high schools.
With eight great-grandparents who survived the Armenian Genocide of 1915, she and her family have been very active in Rhode Island's Armenian community. She was the sponsor of legislation which made Holocaust and Genocide education mandatory in all of the state's middle schools and high schools.
She has a strong background in the tech field, having worked at both Upserve and Virgin Pulse, and was previously a Senior Planner for the City of Pawtucket. She is currently a student at the Roger Williams University School of Law.
Whip Kazarian received a bachelor's degree in urban studies and economics from Columbia University's Barnard College and was inspired to run for office by President Barack Obama's commencement address to her graduating class in 2012. She had graduated from St. Mary Academy Bay View in East Providence in 2008.
She was born on June 25, 1990, and is a lifelong resident of East Providence. She is engaged to Sam Daniel. |