Representative Teresa A. Tanzi
Teresa Tanzi (D) has served the people of Narragansett and South Kingstown in District 34 since she was first elected in November 2010. She is a member of the House Finance Committee and chairs its Human Services Subcommittee. She is also a member of the House Innovation, Internet and Technology Committee and the House State Government and Elections Committee.
Representative Tanzi has been a leader in safeguarding the limited resources Rhode Island has for economic development by making sure new and existing tax incentives provide a benefit to the state’s economy and its residents.
Her passions include the development of bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly community infrastructure, working to increase availability of multi-modal transit options for commuters, and working to enact greater prevention measures for teen tobacco and nicotine addiction, including laws she sponsored requiring that e-cigarette liquid be sold in child-proof packages and banning e-cigarette use on school property.
In 2022, she was the sponsor of a law that raised the minimum age for gun and ammunition purchases to 21 in Rhode Island. In 2017, the General Assembly enacted her legislation to disarm domestic abusers to protect the lives of their victims. The bill was the result of intense negotiations over the course of the three years since it was first introduced, and was the subject of strong public campaigns both for and against it.
Other signature legislative accomplishments include bringing benefit corporations to Rhode Island, the 2015 Cesspool Elimination Act, helping to close a loophole that allowed large companies to evade taxes in Rhode Island, requiring comprehensive economic development tax incentive analyses and reporting and offering protection to seniors from door-to-door solicitations.
She has studied at Middlesex County College, the University of Rhode Island and Brown University. Born on November 3, 1971, she is a Realtor at Lila Delman Real Estate in Narragansett. She and her husband, Dr. Eric Buchbaum, live in Wakefield with their daughter, Delia Tanzi Buchbaum, where they foster puppies and raise chickens and bees.