Representative Arthur Handy
Deputy Majority Leader
First Vice Chair, House Innovation, Internet and Technology
Committee
Member, House Environment and Natural Resources Committee
Member, House Health and Human Services Committee
Member, House Oversight Committee
Representative Arthur Handy (D) was first elected to represent District 18 in
Cranston in November 2002. Representative Handy was named a Deputy Majority
Leader in January 2021. He is the first vice chair of the House Innovation,
Internet and Technology Committee and is a member of the House Oversight
Committee, chairing that committee’s Energy Subcommittee. He is also a member of
the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee and the House Health and
Human Services Committee.
Representative Handy was the primary sponsor of the House same-sex
marriage bill that became law in 2013, after he’d introduced it every
year of his legislative career. A former chairman of the House Environment and
Natural Resources Committee, he has championed greater environmental protections
throughout his legislative career, and has also been a strong advocate for
low-income Rhode Islanders, minorities, and the disabled. He was a force behind
long-overdue rate increases and adjustments in the 2022 and 2023 state budgets
for R.I. Works, the state’s cash-assistance and work-readiness program for
low-income families. In 2023, he sponsored new laws eliminating potential legal
barriers for those purchasing
hearing aids, and updating licensing requirements for speech language
pathologists to account for telehealth.
Representative Handy was the architect of the ResilientRI act,
which created the Climate Change Council, a panel charged with creating a plan
for the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and in 2022 sponsored a bill
boldly expanding Rhode Island’s offshore
wind capacity. He was honored as Legislator of the Year in 2021 by
the Rhode Island Clean Water Association and by the Audubon Society of Rhode
Island in 2017.
Representative Handy, who is employed by Family Services Rhode Island, graduated
from the University of Miami (Fla.) in 1990 with his Bachelor of Arts degree.
Born on February 15, 1967, he is the husband of the late Patricia DiPrete and
the father of their son, Alexander.