Representative Arthur Handy
Deputy Majority Leader
First Vice Chair, House Innovation, Internet 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, Internet 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.
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
sponsored a bill boldly expanding Rhode Island’s offshore
wind capacity. 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 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.