Representative Katherine S. Kazarian
House Majority Whip
Member, House State Government and Elections Committee
Member, Municipal Government and Housing Committee
Member, House Rules Committee
Member, House Special Legislation Committee
Katherine S. Kazarian (D)
has served the residents of East Providence in District 63 since first being
elected in November 2012. In January 2021, she was elected by her Democratic
colleagues as the House Majority Whip, the third highest-ranking position on
the House Leadership Team. She is a member of the House State Government and Elections Committee, the Municipal Government and Housing Committee, the House Rules Committee, and the House Special Legislation Committee.
In 2022, Whip Kazarian was
the main sponsor of the “Let RI Vote Act.” The new law expands voter access
while ensuring the integrity of Rhode Island elections. The law makes mail voting easier by allowing
online mail ballot applications, and permitting any voter to use a mail ballot
or an emergency mail ballot without needing an excuse for why they can’t visit
their polling location on Election Day.
As in previous legislative
sessions, in 2022 Whip Kazarian introduced legislation which would appropriate funding
to school
districts and municipalities to employ additional social
workers and legislation to allow a deduction from federal
adjusted gross income for interest payments on outstanding student loans.
During the 2021 legislative
session, Whip Kazarian sponsored a new law that prohibits anyone from carrying a firearm on school property,
with the exception of peace officers, retired law enforcement officers, persons
under contract to provide school security services, and unloaded firearms in
locked containers or a locked rack in a motor vehicle.
She also sponsored another new law which increases temporary caregiver benefits over the next two
years.
Whip Kazarian was also the
sponsor of a new law that bans health insurers from utilizing the discriminatory
practice known as gender rating, or routinely charging women and men different
premiums for individual insurance.
With eight great-grandparents who survived the Armenian Genocide of 1915, she and her family have been very active in Rhode Island’s Armenian community. She was the sponsor of legislation which made Holocaust and Genocide education mandatory in all of the state’s middle schools and high schools.
She has a strong background
in the tech field, having worked at both Upserve and Virgin Pulse, and was
previously a Senior Planner for the City of Pawtucket. She is currently a
student at the Roger Williams University School of Law.
Whip Kazarian received a
bachelor’s degree in urban studies and economics from Columbia University’s
Barnard College and was inspired to run for office by President Barack Obama’s
commencement address to her graduating class in 2012. She graduated from
St. Mary Academy Bay View in East Providence in 2008.
She was born on June 25, 1990, and is a lifelong resident of East Providence. She is married to Sam Daniel.