Senator Leo R. Blais
Senate Deputy President Pro Tempore - Minority

Senator Leo Blais is a life long Rhode Island resident. Having grown up in Coventry , he understands the needs of Northern Rhode Islanders, and has been successfully representing them as a State Senator Since 1992. In addition to his public service, Senator Blais is a pharmacist. 

Over the course of his time as a State Senator he has championed the issue of quality of life for the disabled and chronically ill. He has fought for child welfare and protection. Sen. Blais is a pro-life legislator. He has worked to support small businesses in Rhode Island . This last legislative session, Senator Blais introduced legislation recently signed into law by the Governor that would provide for greater flexibility and input when small business regulations are established and implemented. Most importantly, in the last term Senator Blais successfully pushed legislation through the General Assembly to establish a Rhode Island Organ Donor Registry and to add a one-time tax credit for living organ donors. 

Senator Blais is Pharmacist in Charge of A pothecare Compounding Solutions in Coventry , R.I. , and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy from the University of Rhode Island . He is a licensed Pharmacist in this state.

Senator Blais is also active on a number of boards and associations. He was appointed by the US Small Business Administration to the NE Regional Fairness Board to enforce the US Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act. He is also on the Kent County Hospital Board of Incorporators, a member and past president of the Rhode Island Pharmaceutical Association, and on the Board of Directors of the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists. He received the Hubert Humphrey Public Service Award from the American Pharmaceutical Association in 1997.

In his free time, Senator Blais enjoys spending time with his wife, Beverly, and his children, Jeremy and Leanne. He also enjoys reading and classical music.

 

Highlights of Public Service (1992-2009)

PUBLIC SAFETY

• Introduced legislation that authorizes the director of environmental management with the to carry out measures to mitigate unsafe conditions of dams around the state and to assess costs against the person owning the dam.

• Sponsored a law that requires the medical examiner to provide all the available information to federal organ procurement agencies to facilitate timely organ and tissue donation.

ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

• Worked for funding to clean up the Pawtuxet River.

• In response to controversy over Napp Technologies, co-sponsored bill allowing towns to regulate chemical manufacturing businesses.

• Introduced legislation to ban the use of MBTE as a gasoline additive.

• Diligently worked for the successful reintroduction of the 1-888-Clean RI program which provides citizens an opportunity to report incidents of littering.

CHILD WELFARE AND PROTECTION

• Introduced a bill creating a new interstate compact on juveniles to provide for the welfare and protection of runaway juveniles or delinquent minors.

• Convened two Coventry substance abuse prevention meetings to bring together town officials, educators, residents, and substance abuse prevention to reduce the town's high rate of youth substance abuse.

• Proposed bill allowing children to testify on videotape about alleged incidents of child abuse and neglect.

• Sponsored legislation to prohibit cigarette advertising near educational buildings and recreational areas.

• Sponsor of law which improved fire safety in DCYF group homes.

• Served on DCYF Adoption Study Commission which examined adoption and foster care practices in Rhode Island and recommended improvements in the system.

• Presently serve on DCYF Legislative Oversight Commission to monitor the policies and practices of the state Department for Children, Youth and Families.

• Served as Chairman of Senate Commission to Study Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention. 

• Sponsored legislation to extend social workers’ authority to put abused and neglected children into protective care.

• Sponsored legislation which both chamber approved to allow medical attention to be given to children in medical emergencies even when the guardian protests due to personal beliefs.

CONCERN FOR OUR SENIORS

• Supports expanded prescription drug benefit for senior citizens.

• Successfully worked for “Kent County Water Authority Rates Stabilization Act”, which allowed the water authority to establish regulations protecting seniors from increasing water rates.

• Support local control of senior transportation services.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PREVENTION AND PUBLIC  SAFETY

• In response to loopholes identified in criminal justice system, sponsored new law  that recognizes the dangers of stalking by increasing the offense from a misdemeanor to a felony.

• Co-sponsored new law allowing domestic violence suspects to be held without bail during times when courts are not in session.

• Sponsored new law to establish fund to help towns purchase fire safety equipment such as thermal imaging cameras.

• Fought proposed elimination of the state Division of Drug Control.

EDUCATION

• Introduced bill designed to help alleviate shortage of substitute teachers.

• Supported increased state aid to cities and towns for education, reduce tax burden and improve quality of education.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

• Sponsored a law requiring the issuers of rebates to remit the rebate to the purchaser within 30 days.

• Introduced legislation at the request of the State Police making the copying of computer data a computer crime.
  
• Sponsored bill to stimulate investment in Rhode Island's small businesses.
  
• Supported tax cuts on the state level.
  
• Worked for improvements in state’s business climate, to attract new jobs and keep employers in the state.
  
• Successfully worked for the passage of legislation that would bring flexibility and input to the process of creating and implementing small business regulations.

QUALITY OF LIFE FOR THE DISABLED and CHRONICALLY ILL

• Sponsored Disability Access Credit for Small Businesses, a tax incentive to encourage businesses to make their premises accessible to the disabled.

• Sponsored law which extends tax exemptions for specially adapted automobiles for the disabled.

• Introduced bill to allowed disabled access to playgrounds throughout the state.

• Sponsored bill which allows doctors greater latitude in prescribing medication to treat chronic pain.

• Introduced legislation which successfully established an organ donor registry.

• Sponsored legislation which the Governor signed into law providing a one time tax credit to living organ donors.

LOCAL ISSUES

• Sponsored a law that prohibits commercial trucks weighing more than four tons from using South Main Street in Coventry as a through route.

• Advocated for road/sidewalk improvements in Coventry and Scituate, at Knotty Oak Road.
  
• Worked for traffic safety in the Zeke’s Bridge construction area.
  
• Worked with state departments to minimize inconveniences from several road construction projects.
  
• Sponsored bill that would prevent communities with Scituate Reservoir watershed property from losing tax revenue under the Farm, Forest, and Open Space Act.
  
• Sponsored a bill that would set restrictions on gravel removal and processing in the Town of Coventry, allowing the town to regulate truck routes leading from local gravel processing and removal operations. 
  
• Introduced legislation that would prohibit the RI Resource Recovery Corporation from purchasing any land adjacent to the former Global Waste site without the approval of the Coventry Town Council.

AWARDS AND HONORS

• Honored with a John E. Fogarty Memorial Award for legislation to improve the quality of life for Rhode Islanders with disabilities.

• Recipient of the American Pharmaceutical Association’s Hubert Humphrey Award in recognition of his major contributions in government and legislative affairs.   Also received the Wyeth-Ayerst Bowl of Hygeia Award, the Merck Pharmacist Achievement Award, the DuPont Pharma Innovative Practice Award. 

• Recognized by Camp E-Hun-Tee with the Jack and Ruth Eckerd Achievement for Youth Award for his support of the camp’s programs for troubled youth.

OBTAINED GRANT FUNDING TO SUPPORT COMMUNITY PROGRAMS

• Helped secured grants for numerous worthwhile organizations and institutions, including:  Coventry Adult Day Care Center, Coventry Friends of Human Services, the Coventry Little League, Pawtuxet River Authority, Western Rhode Island Civic Historical Society, Hope Jackson Fire Department, Potterville Volunteer Fire Department, Nathanael Greene Homestead, Volunteers in Coventry Schools, Volunteers in Scituate Schools, Coventry Historical Society, the Apeiron Foundation, Eckerd Family Aftercare, Camp E-Hun-Tee, the Rhode Island Chapter of the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse, Camp Yawgoog Boy Scout Camp; Central Coventry Little League; Foster Ambulance Corps; Foster Center Volunteer Fire Co.; Foster Preservation Society; Foster Senior Services; Fosteringarts.org; Friends of the Scituate Animal Shelter; Hope Associates; Literacy Volunteers of Kent County; Moosup Valley Fire Company; National Kidney Foundation of RI; Problem Pregnancy of Providence; RI Foundation of Dentistry for the Handicapped; RI Safe Kids Coalition; Scituate Football Team; Scituate Senior Services; Scituate Welfare Department; South Foster Fire Company; Tis the Season; Washington Annex Work Study Program; Western Coventry School – Academy Program.