| Ana B. Quezada is a Democrat representing District 2 (Providence) in the Rhode Island Senate.
First elected to the Senate in November 2016, Sen. Quezada has advanced legislation on many important issues.
She was the Senate sponsor of legislation, since signed into law, which will raise Rhode Island's minimum wage to $15 an hour by Jan. 1, 2025. She also sponsored a law making doula services eligible for reimbursement through private insurance plans.
Other bills she has sponsored include the Human Trafficking Prevention Notice Act, which requires hotels to post signs with a number to report suspected human trafficking; a law allowing the Parole Board to end a parolee's supervision early if certain guidelines are met; legislation expanding civil anti-discrimination protections for the LGBTQ+ community; proposals to implement dual language immersion programs for Rhode Island students and create a "state seal of biliteracy" for high school graduates; a law exempting natural hair braiders from having to be licensed as hairdressers and cosmeticians; and a proposal to end the "employment-at-will" doctrine in Rhode Island.
Sen. Quezada was born on April 23, 1965, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She moved to New York in 1982 and worked in a factory to help support family members back home.
In 1990, she moved to Providence, where she earned her G.E.D., became a volunteer at Dorcas Place, and worked at Ocean State Job Lot. In 1995, she became a social service coordinator at John Hope Settlement House, and in 2003, she began her current job as a code enforcement inspector for the City of Providence. In 2017, she graduated from Springfield College with a Bachelor's in Social Work.
Sen. Quezada has three children - two daughters from a previous relationship and a son with her husband, Lazaro Quezada, who she married in 1997. |