ABOUT
Louis DiPalma
State Senator Louis DiPalma
Rhode Island’s 12th State Senate District
Senior Deputy Majority Leader
First Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance
Member, Senate Committee on Education
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Senator Louis P. DiPalma (Democrat - District 12, Middletown, Little Compton, Newport, Tiverton) was first elected to the Rhode Island Senate in 2008. Prior to being elected to the Senate, Lou served four years on the Middletown Town Council and has always been an active community member.
Senator DiPalma, a Senior Deputy Majority Leader, sits on the Senate’s Committee on Education and serves as first vice-chair of the Senate Committee on Finance. Additionally, he co-chairs the Joint Defense Economy Planning Commission. In recent years, he has focused his efforts on increasing access to STEM education, prioritized professionals who work with the developmentally disabled, and committed to investments and practices that has strengthened Rhode Island’s fiscal health and economy. He has been a staunch advocate of increasing state education to aid to our local communities, including the reinstatement of the state’s school construction program. He also understands that our high school graduates need options for leading fulfilling careers right here in Rhode Island, so, in 2019, he fought to pass the Student Loan Bill of Rights and increase access to apprenticeship opportunities.
Senator DiPalma has also sponsored important legislation to assist Aquidneck Island residents, including a special task force to investigate the 2019 “freeze out” that left hundreds of residents without access to natural gas. He is now working with his colleagues in the General Assembly to pass new laws to improve our public utility infrastructure and prevent such disruptions from ever happening again. He continues to be champion of RI’s small businesses, especially during these unprecedented times. Additionally, he is championing legislation to reduce the cost of prescription drugs.
Senator DiPalma is active with many community boards and associations, including the Aquidneck Land Trust; the Sakonnet Preservation Association; the United States Navy League; the St. Philomena School Board of Trustees; the Rhode Island Science and Engineering Fair; the Rhode Island Space Grant consortium; and, the Brown University School of Engineering’s Corporate Advisory Board. He also serves as a Lector and Eucharistic Minister at St. Lucy's Church.
Lou is married to Margaret and they have two married children, Kellie DiPalma Simeone and Abigail DiPalma Isom, and 4 grandchildren. ;-) He is employed as a Chief Engineer at Raytheon Technologies. He has a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Bridgeport in 1983 and a Masters in Computer Science from Brown University in 1989.
