Senator Melissa Murray
Deputy Senate Majority Leader
First Vice Chair, Senate
Committee on Finance
Member, Senate Committee on Housing & Municipal Government
Member, Senate Committee on Labor
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.
During her time in the General Assembly,
Sen. Murray has been active on a number of issues. She was the Senate
sponsor of a $50,000 new tangible personal property tax exemption – which
fully eliminates a significant financial burden for 75 percent of Rhode
Island businesses, including all smaller businesses – as well as a law
prohibiting rental application fees.
She was also the Senate sponsor
of new laws making HIV-prevention treatments free and accessible to
qualifying patients; formalizing protections in state law against
discrimination in health care; and requiring the state crime laboratory to
conduct an audit of DNA samples in the databank to determine the number of
DNA profiles that should have been entered in the databank but haven't been.
She also introduced legislation to increase benefits paid to children and
families in the Rhode Island Works program, a measure that was included in
the approved budget.
She has additionally sponsored legislation to cap
the cost of insulin and diabetes testing supplies for Rhode Islanders with
diabetes; allow Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous to meet during
a state of emergency; and improve restroom access for all genders.
Sen. Murray was born on Oct. 3, 1974. Born and raised in northern Rhode
Island, she attended Woonsocket's public schools. She has an A.A.S. in
Criminal Justice with a focus in Forensic Science. A self-taught artist who
travels locally, she also works at a family-owned business in Woonsocket.
Sen. Murray is deeply involved in her community. She is involved with
numerous boards and committees, including serving as Vice Chair of the
Woonsocket Democratic City Committee.