Senator Melissa Murray
Chair, Senate Committee on Health & Human Services
Vice Chair, Senate
Committee on Education
Member, Senate Committee on Housing & Municipal Government
Member, Permanent Joint Committee on State Lottery
Melissa Murray is a Democrat representing District 24 (Woonsocket, North Smithfield) in the Rhode Island Senate.
The first openly LGBTQ+ elected official in Woonsocket, Sen. Murray served two terms on the Woonsocket City Council before being elected to the Rhode Island Senate in November 2018.
As Chair of the Senate's Committee on Health & Human Services, Sen. Murray has been at the forefront of the Senate's work on healthcare, overseeing passage of legislation to improve access and affordability for patients while providing stability and sustainability for providers.
Sen. Murray's work on healthcare also includes sponsoring legislation to protect Rhode Islanders from credit problems resulting from medical debts; create a three-year pilot program prohibiting insurers from requiring prior authorization for medically necessary healthcare services ordered by patients' primary care providers; reduce HIV transmission by making prevention treatments free and accessible to qualifying patients; limit insured patients' costs for inhalers and for supplies and equipment used to monitor or treat diabetes; and create a special legislative commission to study the issue of safe hospital staffing ratios.
Sen. Murray has also been a tireless advocate for mental and behavioral health supports. She has sponsored legislation, which was approved by the Senate, to codify the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and BH Link programs in state law. In 2024, she was recognized as the Mental Health Association of Rhode Island's Legislator of the Year.
During her time in the General Assembly, Sen. Murray has been a leading voice on a wide range of other issues. She helped create a $50,000 tangible personal property tax exemption to support Rhode Island's small businesses, and she has sponsored successful legislation to prohibit student use of personal electronics during the school day; stop restrictive grocery store covenants that can create “food deserts"; codify and extend the state's winter utility termination moratorium; eliminate housing rental application fees; protect domestic workers from workplace discrimination; phase out dangerous rat poisons that harm wildlife; enable abuse survivors to terminate rental leases for the sake of their protection; streamline blood lead test analysis for children to help improve health outcomes; and ban the declawing of cats.
Sen. Murray has also been a consistent champion of policy to make Rhode Island's richest residents pay their fair share in taxes, and her leadership helped secure a provision in the fiscal 2027 state budget to institute a high-earner's tax. She has also been a strong advocate for increasing benefits paid to children and families in the Rhode Island Works program.
Born and raised in northern Rhode Island, Sen. Murray attended Woonsocket's public schools. She has an A.A.S. in Criminal Justice with a focus in Forensic Science. She works at a small business based in Woonsocket.
Sen. Murray is deeply involved in her community, volunteering for numerous boards and committees. She is also a lifelong animal lover who has fostered and volunteered for numerous animal rescues for over 25 years.