Senator Linda Ujifusa was elected in November 2022 to represent District 11 (Portsmouth and Bristol) in the Rhode Island Senate. She serves on the Senate Health & Human Services Committee and the Special Legislation & Veterans' Affairs Committee.
Since taking office, she has focused on expanding access to affordable healthcare. She was the lead sponsor of legislation to regulate pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in both commercial and Medicaid Managed Care Organization (MCO) plans, a resolution urging stricter federal oversight of the Medicare Advantage program, and a bill to regulate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by insurers to prevent excessive coverage denials. She also introduced bills to reduce restrictive prior authorization requirements for primary care and for mental health and substance use treatment.
Sen. Ujifusa has sponsored a range of legislation to protect taxpayers, consumers, veterans, and seniors, and to promote government accountability. She was the lead sponsor of the Rhode Island Climate Superfund Act, which would hold polluters financially responsible for climate change-related damages, as well as legislation for stronger oversight of internet service providers and a bill requiring transparency in RI Energy billing. She has also introduced bills addressing wildfire prevention, tax credits for family caregivers, and rent and property tax assistance for low-income seniors and people with disabilities.
She sponsored and helped pass a bill limiting hidden mandatory “junk fees," and as co-chair of the Statewide Student Transportation Study Commission, led efforts to enact reforms projected to save taxpayers millions of dollars.
In 2025, she was honored by the Housing Network of Rhode Island for her role in launching the Ade Bethune House project in Portsmouth, which created 54 units of affordable senior housing and a new senior center.
Sen. Ujifusa has also worked to recognize contributions of minority communities, co-hosting the annual Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month celebration at the State House and sponsoring resolutions honoring Black Revolutionary War soldiers and the Pokanoket Tribe.
Before serving in the Senate, she served three terms on the Portsmouth Town Council, including as vice president from 2018 to 2022. During her tenure, she led efforts to improve property and budget management, emergency planning, and climate change resiliency. She also helped secure grants to support town resilience and develop an open space and recreation master plan.
Her community involvement includes volunteering in Portsmouth public schools, on the Portsmouth Open Space Committee, and at COVID-19 vaccination clinics in Portsmouth and Bristol. She has served as chair of the Aquidneck Land Trust board, a board member of the RI Democratic Women's Caucus, and co-chair of a local nonprofit advocating for universal, comprehensive single-payer healthcare.
Sen. Ujifusa graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and earned her law degree from NYU School of Law, where she served as an editor of the NYU Review of Law & Social Change and was a member of the Moot Court Board. She previously worked at the law firm Mintz Levin, in the U.S. EPA Office of Regional Counsel, and taught legal writing at UC Hastings School of Law.
A third-generation Japanese-American, she has lived in Portsmouth since 1993 with her husband, Dr. J. Mark Ryan. They have three adult children—John, Katie, and Jamie Ryan—all graduates of Portsmouth public schools.
Sen. Ujifusa can be reached at (401) 472-4721 and sen-ujifusa@rilegislature.gov.