Representative Leonela Felix
Member, House Judiciary Committee
Representative Leonela “Leo” Felix (D) was elected in November 2020 to the seat
in House District 61 in Pawtucket. She is a member of the House Judiciary
Committee. In 2023, she was elected by her fellow caucus members to serve as
co-chair of the Rhode Island Black, Latino, Indigenous, Asian-American and
Pacific Islander Caucus (RIBLIA).
In 2024, Representative Felix successfully sponsored a law to require Rhode Island's domestic workers to be paid minimum wage. She also passed a law addressing the housing crisis that streamlines the financial guarantees developers provide on public projects, building on the work she did during the 2023 session, when she sponsored a law to promote “transit-oriented development" near transit hubs like the Pawtucket/Central Falls train station. The law was part of a package of new laws to address the state's housing crisis. Pawtucket is well-positioned to take advantage of this additional funding and new laws.
Representative Felix also successfully passed bills to protect homeowners facing foreclosure and ensure bail money is returned at the completion of the case. She also helped secure significant funding increases for Pawtucket public schools, including for multilingual learners and special education students.
In 2022, she sponsored a law that stops mandatory DNA collections from participants in the state's diversion program, amending the law so that DNA would only be collected from those convicted of violent crimes. She also sponsored a law that enumerates penalties for the open carrying of loaded shotguns and rifles in Rhode Island, part of a package of bills aimed at gun safety.
During her first term, Representative Felix sponsored a law that prohibits clauses in pharmacy contracts that prevent pharmacists from offering customers more affordable prescription options. She also sponsored a law that prevents candidates who embezzle their campaign funds from paying their restitution to their own campaign accounts. Instead, restitution must be deposited into the Rhode Island Crime Victim Compensation Program Fund, which assists crime victims with expenses related to putting their lives back together after a violent crime.
Representative Felix was selected in 2021 as one of 19 leaders from across the country to join the NewDEAL (Developing Exceptional American Leaders), a selective national network of state and local elected officials. She also serves as Chair of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislatures' Government, Social Justice, and Taxation Task Force and as Vice-Chair of the National Conference of State Legislatures' Law, Criminal Justice, and Public Safety Standing Committee.
Additionally, she is a member of the Future Caucus's Criminal Justice Reform Advisory Council and a 2024 fellow of the German Marshall Fund's Transatlantic Inclusion Leaders Network, which fosters cross-cultural dialogue and leadership development to promote inclusivity across the transatlantic community. In 2019, she was named to the inaugural Public Leaders for Inclusion Council by America Indivisible.
Born in Boston on Oct. 4, 1987, Representative Felix spent her childhood in the Dominican Republic, her parents' native home. She graduated from Charles E. Shea High School in Pawtucket in 2005, received her associate's degree from the Community College of Rhode Island in 2011, and graduated cum laude from Rhode Island College with degrees in justice studies and sociology in 2013. She worked full time while attending law school at New England Law/Boston and received her Juris Doctorate Degree in 2018.
Representative Felix works as the ethics education coordinator in the legal department for the City of Providence, focused on ethics education and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance. She resides in Pawtucket with her husband, Greg Kowalski, and her dogs, Chiquita, Chanel and Lord Blackington.