| Representative Carol Hagan McEntee (D-Dist. 33, South Kingstown and Narragansett) was first elected in June 2015, after winning a special election to fill the vacant District 33 seat. She is the chair of the House Small Business Committee and is the first vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee. Representative McEntee is also a member of the House Labor Committee and the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee.
The 2021 legislative session saw many of Representative McEntee's bills become law. She sponsored a new law which allows restaurants to continue outdoor dining in an effort to help local businesses recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The legislation puts a moratorium on enforcement of municipal ordinances or zoning requirements that would penalize restaurant and bar owners for modifying their premises to allow for outdoor dining. She also introduced a law which requires all public schools to provide feminine hygiene products at no cost and another new law which made changes to unemployment benefits to ensure an incentivized workforce that can help Rhode Island's economic recovery while also taking advantage of available federal funding to help Rhode Islanders support themselves and stimulate the economy.
Representative McEntee was also instrumental in the creation and unveiling of the "Rhode Island Purple Heart Trail" with signage located in six locations along Route 4 and Route 1. The designation was a result of legislation sponsored by Representative McEntee in the 2020 session.
During the 2020 legislative session, Representative McEntee sponsored legislation, which was passed into law, that repealed archaic and inequitable state law regarding parentage and replaced it with a uniform act that provides procedures establishing parentage, genetic testing, surrogacy agreements and assisted reproduction. She also sponsored a new law which enables South Kingstown to establish a municipal court and a housing court, allowing the town and its residents to take care of their local business in the most direct and efficient way.
In 2019, Representative McEntee championed the enactment of a bill she sponsored that extends the civil statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse. She was also honored by Day One with the advocacy organization's Spotlight Award due to her sponsorship of the new law.
Representative McEntee served as a member of the South Kingstown Town Council from 2008 until June 2015. She is an attorney at law, licensed in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts. She is a former Special Assistant Attorney General in Rhode Island and a former assistant city solicitor and prosecutor for the City of Warwick.
A graduate of the University of Rhode Island, Representative McEntee has lived in Wakefield and Bonnet Shores for more than 30 years. She is married to Mike McEntee, a former State Representative, and they have three children- Meg, Mickey and Rory, a member of the South Kingstown Town Council. |