Senator Linda Ujifusa was elected in November 2022 to represent District 11
(Portsmouth and Bristol) in the Rhode Island Senate. She serves on the
Senate Health & Human Services Committee and the Special Legislation &
Veterans' Affairs Committee.
Since taking office, she has focused on
expanding access to affordable healthcare. She was the lead sponsor of
legislation to regulate pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in both commercial
and Medicaid Managed Care Organization (MCO) plans, a resolution urging
stricter federal oversight of the Medicare Advantage program, and a bill to
regulate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by insurers to prevent
excessive coverage denials. She also introduced bills to reduce restrictive
prior authorization requirements for primary care and for mental health and
substance use treatment.
Sen. Ujifusa has sponsored a range of
legislation to protect taxpayers, consumers, veterans, and seniors, and to
promote government accountability. She was the lead sponsor of the Rhode
Island Climate Superfund Act, which would hold polluters financially
responsible for climate change-related damages, as well as legislation for
stronger oversight of internet service providers and a bill requiring
transparency in RI Energy billing. She has also introduced bills addressing
wildfire prevention, tax credits for family caregivers, and rent and
property tax assistance for low-income seniors and people with disabilities.
She sponsored and helped pass a bill limiting hidden mandatory “junk fees,"
and as co-chair of the Statewide Student Transportation Study Commission,
led efforts to enact reforms projected to save taxpayers millions of
dollars.
In 2025, she was honored by the Housing Network of Rhode
Island for her role in launching the Ade Bethune House project in
Portsmouth, which created 54 units of affordable senior housing and a new
senior center.
Sen. Ujifusa has also worked to recognize contributions
of minority communities, co-hosting the annual Asian American, Native
Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month celebration at the
State House and sponsoring resolutions honoring Black Revolutionary War
soldiers and the Pokanokets.
Before serving in the Senate, she served
three terms on the Portsmouth Town Council, including as vice president from
2018 to 2022. During her tenure, she led efforts to improve property and
budget management, emergency planning, and climate change resiliency. She
also helped secure grants to support town resilience and develop an open
space and recreation master plan.
Her community involvement includes
volunteering in Portsmouth public schools, on the Portsmouth Open Space
Committee, and at COVID-19 vaccination clinics in Portsmouth and Bristol.
She has served as chair of the Aquidneck Land Trust board, a board member of
the RI Democratic Women's Caucus, and co-chair of a local nonprofit
advocating for universal, comprehensive single-payer healthcare.
Sen.
Ujifusa graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and earned
her law degree from NYU School of Law, where she served as an editor of the
NYU Review of Law & Social Change and was a member of the Moot Court
Board. She previously worked at the law firm Mintz Levin, in the U.S. EPA
Office of Regional Counsel, and taught legal writing at UC Hastings School
of Law.
A third-generation Japanese-American, she has lived in
Portsmouth since 1993 with her husband, Dr. J. Mark Ryan. They have three
adult children—John, Katie, and Jamie Ryan—all graduates of Portsmouth
public schools.
Sen. Ujifusa can be reached at (401) 472-4721
and sen-ujifusa@rilegislature.gov.