Representative Arthur Handy
Deputy Majority Leader
First Vice Chair, House Innovation and Technology
Committee
Member, House Environment and Natural Resources Committee
Member, House Health and Human Services Committee
Member, House Oversight Committee
Representative Arthur Handy (D) was first elected to
represent District 18 in Cranston in November 2002. Representative Handy
was named a Deputy Majority Leader in January 2021. He is the first vice
chair of the House Innovation and Technology Committee and is a member of
the House Oversight Committee, chairing that committee's Energy
Subcommittee. He is also a member of the House Environment and Natural
Resources Committee and the House Health and Human Services Committee.
Representative Handy was the primary sponsor of the House same-sex
marriage bill that became law in 2013, after he'd introduced it every
year of his legislative career. A former chairman of the House Environment
and Natural Resources Committee, he has championed greater environmental
protections throughout his legislative career, and has also been a strong
advocate for low-income Rhode Islanders, minorities, and the disabled. He
was a force behind long-overdue rate increases and adjustments in the 2022
and 2023 state budgets for
R.I. Works, the state's cash-assistance and work-readiness program for
low-income families, and has successfully continued to push to make the
program
relevant to today's needs. In 2024, a law he sponsored prohibited
insurers from charging higher rates to those who have been
widowed.
Representative Handy was the architect of the ResilientRI act,
which created the Climate Change Council, a panel charged with creating a
plan for the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and in 2022 he
sponsored a law boldly expanding Rhode Island's offshore
wind capacity. In 2024, his legislation establishing benchmarks for
energy storage capacity for Rhode Island's power grid became law. He was
honored as Legislator of the Year in 2021 by the Rhode Island Clean Water
Association and by the Audubon Society of Rhode Island in 2017.
Representative Handy, who is employed by Family Services Rhode Island,
graduated from the University of Miami (Fla.) in 1990 with his Bachelor of
Arts degree. Born on February 15, 1967, he is the husband of the late
Patricia DiPrete and the father of their son, Alexander.