2020 -- S 2942

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LC005587

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2020

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S E N A T E   R E S O L U T I O N

THANKING SENATOR ELIZABETH A. CROWLEY FOR HER TWELVE YEARS OF

DISTINGUISHED AND EXEMPLARY SERVICE AS A MEMBER OF THE RHODE

ISLAND SENATE

     Introduced By: Senators Ruggerio, McCaffrey, Goodwin, Metts, and Conley

     Date Introduced: December 18, 2020

     Referred To: Recommended for Immediate Consideration

     WHEREAS, Senator Elizabeth A. Crowley was born in 1951, and is the mother of two

children, Christine M. DeFaria and Melissa Crowley. She is a 1970 graduate of Central Falls

High School and a 1993 graduate of the Municipal Clerk Institute at Salve Regina University; and

     WHEREAS, For forty years, Senator Crowley served with distinction and integrity as a

clerk for the Town of Central Falls. She also served as the President of the New England

Association of City & Town Clerks; and

     WHEREAS, Senator Crowley began her meritorious legislative career when she was

elected to the Rhode Island Senate in 2008, representing the citizens of District 16. She currently

serves as the Vice Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Housing & Municipal Government,

as Co-Chairwoman of the Permanent Commission on Childcare, and as a Member of the Senate

Committee on Health & Human Services, Special Legislation & Veterans' Affairs, and as a

Member of the Permanent Committee on the State Lottery; and

     WHEREAS, Thanks to her tireless work ethic and abiding integrity, Senator Crowley

was chosen by her Senate colleagues to serve the body as the Deputy President Pro Tempore.

Throughout her distinguished public service career, Senator Crowley has been a leading voice on

a host of critical issues including economic development, urban affairs, and affordable housing

and childcare. She is retiring as the head of the Pawtucket delegation to the Rhode Island Senate;

and

     WHEREAS, Senator Crowley played an instrumental role in helping Central Falls to

emerge from bankruptcy stronger and more vibrant. She has championed increased state aid for

both Central Falls and the other distressed and underprivileged communities throughout our State.

Senator Crowley is a fierce advocate for her district and underserved people throughout the State

and she fought tirelessly to restore a portion of Central Falls retirees' pensions, which had been

cut during the bankruptcy; and

     WHEREAS, Senator Crowley has always been an outspoken defender of the voiceless.

She sponsored laws to improve housing and building standards, including a requirement that

elderly housing must have emergency generators in the event of utility outages. She also authored

laws to increase access to Family Courts by lowering prohibitive fees, authored a new law to

increase access to public transportation by requiring RIPTA to have an open-door service to all

passengers to and from Rhode Island within a five mile radius of the border. She also fought to

restore no-fare bus passes to low-income seniors and disabled residents, to increase funding for,

and access to, quality childcare, and was a strong advocate for affordable housing development

that helped to transform neighborhoods in her district; and

     WHEREAS, Senator Crowley has received numerous honors in recognition of her

distinguished public service career including the Channel One Volunteer Award, the Historic

Central Falls Award, the Certificate of Recognition from the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun

Violence, the Ernie Marot Humanitarian Award from the Pawtucket Soup Kitchen, the Housing

Network Award, and the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless "Jack Reed Advocacy Award".

She also serves as a Eucharistic Minister at the Holy Spirit Church in Central Falls; now,

therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island hereby thanks Senator

Elizabeth Crowley for her twelve years of distinguished service in the Rhode Island Senate; and

be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to the Honorable Elizabeth A. Crowley.

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LC005587

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