Rhoda Perry
Encyclopedia
Rhoda Perry is a Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 member of the Rhode Island Senate
Rhode Island Senate
The Rhode Island Senate is the upper house of the Rhode Island General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. State of Rhode Island. It is composed of 38 Senators, each of whom is elected to a two-year term. Rhode Island is one of the 14 states where its upper house serves at a two-year...

, representing the 3rd District (Providence's East Side). Perry is the chairwoman of Senate Committee on Health & Human Services and a member, Senate Committee on Judiciary.

Legislation

Rhoda Perry was the first legislator in Rhode Island to attempt to change the prostitution law. In 2005 Senator Perry submitted a bill to change the prostitution law, but later withdrew her support for the bill stating "I want to get at the source, not the poor woman who was being used in this way," After withdrawing her support for a prostitution law, Perry lobbied for and passed a Human Trafficking
Human trafficking
Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery...

 bill in 2007 and submitted another bill in 2009 to strengthen the previously passed law.

In the documentary Happy Endings?
Happy Endings?
Happy Endings? is a 2009 cinema verite documentary film directed and produced by Tara Hurley.Filmed over 27 months, it chronicles the lives of the women in massage parlors in Rhode Island during a battle in the state legislature to make prostitution illegal...

, Senator Perry explains how she changed her mentality on prostitution laws, wanting to address the source and not the victims.

Perry was also integral in the creation of "Compassion Centers" in Rhode Island. The Medical Marijuana bill was sponsored by Senator Perry and named after her nephew Edward O Hawkins and Representative Slater who worked on the House to pass the bill.

Perry is the Senate legislative sponsor for Clean Elections Rhode Island
Clean Elections Rhode Island
Clean Elections Rhode Island is a non-profit group dedicated to passing clean elections in the state of Rhode Island.-Clean Elections:Clean elections is a term used to describe a system of taxpayer financing of political campaigns...

Introducing the act in spring of 2004, it has been brought before the House Finance and Senate Judiciary committees every year since, but has not yet been brought to a vote. Clean elections is a term used to describe a system of taxpayer financing of political campaigns. Candidates that qualify by collecting a prescribed number of signatures and $5 contributions from registered voters in their district can agree to not raise or spend any private money during the primary and general elections. Instead, a set amount of funding for the candidate's campaign is provided from the state budget.

External links

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