Carol Hagan McEntee
Chair, House Small Business Committee
First Vice Chair, House Judiciary Committee
Member, House Environment and Natural Resources Committee
Member, House Labor Committee
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.
In 2022, Representative
McEntee was the prime sponsor on several new laws. She introduced The Plastic Waste
Reduction Act, which is designed to
reduce the use of plastic checkout bags by retail establishments by offering
recyclable bag options and providing penalties for violations. She also introduced the new law which establishes criminal penalties for a
wanton or reckless act or omission of a parent, guardian or any other person who has custody or control of a child, where those
acts or omissions result in substantial risk of serious bodily injury to the
child or sexual abuse of a child in their care. She also was the main sponsor of the new “Take it Outside” law which allows restaurants to continue approved outdoor dining that was
established during the pandemic.
Representative McEntee was
honored by the Partnership to Reduce Cancer in Rhode Island with the House Champion Partnership Award. She was recognized for
sponsoring and shepherding the Genetic Counselors Licensing Act into law during
the 2022 legislative session. The law
ensures minimum standards for genetic counselors in the areas of academic
training, certification, clinical experience and the delivery of high-quality
genetic counseling services. Representative McEntee was also honored by the Rhode Island Hospitality
Association as the organization’s 2022 Hospitality Ambassador of the Year for
her advocacy in the “Take it Outside” initiative and legislation she sponsored
which reduced unemployment taxes for Rhode Island’s small businesses.
The 2021 legislative
session saw many of Representative McEntee’s bills become law. She sponsored a new law to allow restaurants to continue outdoor dining in an effort
to help local businesses recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The legislation
put 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.
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 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.