Representative Brian Patrick Kennedy
Speaker Pro Tempore
Member, House Corporations Committee
Member, House Innovation, Internet and Technology Committee
Member, House Rules Committee
Member, House State Government and Elections Committee
Brian
Patrick Kennedy (D) represents District 38 in Hopkinton and Westerly. First
elected in November 1988, Representative Kennedy is the senior ranking member
of the House of Representatives. He is Speaker Pro Tempore and was the former
long-time chairman of the House Corporations Committee, of which he is still a
member. He also serves on the House Innovation, Internet and Technology
Committee; the House Rules Committee; and the House State Government and
Elections Committee. He also is a member of the Joint Defense Economy Planning
Commission.
In
August 2023, Representative Kennedy was elected president
of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), a bipartisan
organization serving the nation’s 7,383 state lawmakers and legislative staff.
Representative
Kennedy had an extremely
productive session in 2024, with nine of his bills becoming law. A strong advocate for preparedness in the face of
climate change and natural disasters, he sponsored the Facilitating Business
Rapid Response to State Declared Disaster Act of 2024, which exempts
out-of-state businesses and their employees performing services during declared
state or federal disasters or emergencies from state or local business
requirements.
He also introduced
the Vegetation Management for Electric System Reliability Act that requires an
electric distribution company to develop a vegetation management plan approved
by the Division of Public Utilities and Carriers to implement activities for
vegetation clearing on and around utility infrastructure along public and
private rights of way.
In 2023, he sponsored legislation, which was signed into law, to amend Rhode Island’s interstate nurse licensure compact to allow nurses to hold a multi-state license, allowing them to practice across state lines without having to obtain multiple licenses.
During
the 2022 legislative session, he introduced a new law that requires Medicare
supplement policies in the state to be offered to all patients who are
eligible for Medicare by reason of disability, including end-stage renal
disease (ESRD) regardless of age.
He
sponsored a law in 2021 that limits insured patients’ copays
for insulin used to treat diabetes to $40 for a 30-day supply.
During
the 2018 session, Representative Kennedy introduced a law that tightens the
regulatory controls on automobile
airbags, comprehensively expanding their registration to prohibit the
manufacture and importation of substandard airbags. He also sponsored a
pro-business law to make things easier for food
truck owners. The law standardized the business registration process
for trucks or carts that sell food, ice cream or lemonade by creating a state
mobile food establishment registration, and explicitly exempts such
establishments from laws regulating hawkers and peddlers.
In
2017, he introduced an elderly-protection
law that provides persons under limited guardianship with rights designed
to protect them from mental, physical and financial abuse by guardians. He also
successfully sponsored consumer-protection legislation that criminalizes
residential mortgage fraud.
A strong
advocate of business and consumer protections, he introduced legislation in
2016 that prohibits
patent trolls, which prevents a person or company from making bad faith
assertions of patent infringement against a Rhode Island business or
individual. He also sponsored legislation that prevents unintentional lapses in
insurance coverage by requiring insurers to offer a designation of an alternate
contact.
Representative
Kennedy sits on a number of local boards, including the South County Tourism
Council and Westerly Hospital. He is also a member of the American Council of
Young Political Leaders, the Insurance Legislators Foundation, National
Association of Realtors and R.I. Association of Realtors.
Representative
Kennedy, an estate broker and appraiser for Kennedy Realty Appraisal, has a
master’s degree in business administration from Anna Maria College in 1987. He
earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Providence College in 1983. He is
a member of Chariho Regional High School’s Class of 1979. He was born on
January 3, 1961.