Senator Ana B. Quezada
Deputy Senate Majority Whip
Member, Senate Committee on Judiciary
Member, Senate Committee on
Labor & Gaming
Ana B. Quezada is a Democrat representing District 2 (Providence) in
the Rhode Island Senate.
First elected to the Senate in November 2016,
Sen. Quezada has advanced legislation on many important issues.
She
was the Senate sponsor of legislation, since signed into law, which will
raise Rhode Island's minimum wage to $15 an hour by Jan. 1, 2025. She also
sponsored a law making doula services eligible for reimbursement through
private insurance plans.
Other bills she has sponsored include the
Human Trafficking Prevention Notice Act, which requires hotels to post signs
with a number to report suspected human trafficking; a law allowing the
Parole Board to end a parolee's supervision early if certain guidelines are
met; legislation expanding civil anti-discrimination protections for the
LGBTQ+ community; proposals to implement dual language immersion programs
for Rhode Island students and create a “state seal of biliteracy" for high
school graduates; a law exempting natural hair braiders from having to be
licensed as hairdressers and cosmeticians; and a proposal to end the
“employment-at-will" doctrine in Rhode Island.
Sen. Quezada was born
on April 23, 1965, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She moved to New
York in 1982 and worked in a factory to help support family members back
home.
In 1990, she moved to Providence, where she earned her G.E.D.,
became a volunteer at Dorcas Place, and worked at Ocean State Job Lot. In
1995, she became a social service coordinator at John Hope Settlement House,
and in 2003, she began her current job as a code enforcement inspector for
the City of Providence. In 2017, she graduated from Springfield College with
a Bachelor's in Social Work.
Sen. Quezada has three children – two
daughters from a previous relationship and a son with her husband, Lazaro
Quezada, who she married in 1997.