2025 -- S 0995

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LC002791

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2025

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S E N A T E   R E S O L U T I O N

EXPRESSING DEEPEST CONDOLENCES ON THE PASSING OF THE HONORABLE

DOMINICK J. RUGGERIO, PRESIDENT AND DEAN OF THE RHODE ISLAND SENATE

     Introduced By: Senators Lawson, Ciccone, Tikoian, Bissaillon, Gallo, Sosnowski,
DiPalma, Felag, LaMountain, and de la Cruz

     Date Introduced: April 30, 2025

     Referred To: Recommended for Immediate Consideration

     WHEREAS, It is with deepest sorrow that this Senate has learned of the passing of our

colleague and valued friend, the Honorable Dominick Ruggerio, the greatly respected President

of the Rhode Island Senate from 2017 until his passing; and

     WHEREAS, "Donny," as he was known to family, friends and colleagues at the State

House, grew up in the Fruit Hill neighborhood of North Providence. He was a graduate of La

Salle Academy, attended Bryant College, and earned his Bachelor of Science degree from

Providence College. Over the next five years, he worked as a policy aide to Lt. Gov. Thomas

DiLuglio, and in 1985, began a decades-long career with the Laborers' International Union of

North America and in 2005, became an administrator for the New England Laborers' Labor-

Management Cooperation Trust; and

     WHEREAS, President Ruggerio was elected to the Rhode Island House of

Representatives, where he served from 1981, until being elected to the Rhode Island Senate in

November of 1984, representing the people in District 4, which includes North Providence and

neighborhoods in Providence. During his early years in the Senate, he was a member and Vice

Chairman of the Senate Labor Committee, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, the

Senate Rules Committee, and the Joint Committee on Accounts and Claims; and

     WHEREAS, During his initial years in the Senate, President Ruggerio became a leader in

efforts to allow the Narragansett Indian Tribe to build a casino in Providence, and furthered his

efforts in the State's gaming industry with the request for a study commission on state-run sports

betting. He also championed job creation and retention through the development of land being

made available in downtown Providence from the relocation of Interstate 195, and helped to

create a new $50,000 tangible personal property tax exemption; and

     WHEREAS, Earning the respect of his colleagues in the Senate, President Ruggerio was

named Majority Whip, a position he held from 2003 through 2010, was elected Majority Leader

in November of 2010, and in March of 2017, was elected by the Senate membership to be the

Senate President, a position he held until his passing, and during which time, also earned him the

distinction of being Dean, the longest-serving, member of the Senate; and

     WHEREAS, With fairness, a quick wit, and the innate knowledge of what the

membership wanted, and what our State needed, President Ruggerio led the Senate during the

passage of landmark legislation including, the passage of the 2021 Act on Climate, after which he

sponsored the most aggressive energy standard with legislation requiring 100 percent of the

State's electricity be offset by renewable energy by 2033. He also championed legislation on the

legalization of sports betting, and successfully pushed the legislature to authorize remote iGaming

in 2023. In addition, he sponsored legislation to make the Rhode Island Promise program

permanent, led the State's efforts to address lead poisoning by replacing all lead pipes in Rhode

Island's water supply, championed the Plastic Waste Reduction Act to reduce single-use plastic

bags, and laws to institute a recycling program for mercury used in automobiles, as well as

improve collection and disposal rules for mercury thermostats, and legislation creating the state's

mattress recycling program, to name but a few of the areas of life he helped to make Rhode Island

safer for generations to come; and

     WHEREAS, In addition to a lifetime spent dedicated to the people of Rhode Island,

President Ruggerio was devoted to his family including, being the proud father of his son,

Charles Ruggerio and his wife, Jillian, his beautiful daughter, Amanda Fallon and her husband,

PJ, his effervescent sister, Lisa Aceto, and the loves of his life, his four grandchildren, Ava and

Mia Ruggerio and Natalie and Jameson Fallon; and

     WHEREAS, Always active and devoted to the local community and his Italian roots,

President Ruggerio served on the Board of Directors of the Wanskuck Library, and as a member

of the Sons of Italy, Loggia Vittoria and the DaVinci Center Development Committee; and

     WHEREAS, Throughout his long and distinguished career, President Ruggerio was

honored with a panoply of awards for his leadership and initiatives including, The Humane

Society of the United States' Humane Legislator Award in recognition of his efforts to prohibit

double-decker horse trailers, the Mattress Recycling Council's Environmental Stewardship

Award, the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce's Barbara Burlingame Award, and the

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Clean Water Association's Legislator of the Year award; and

     WHEREAS, The legacy of this remarkable gentleman, whose knowledge and leadership

during his decades of service in public office, and whose support for working people, the

environment and the betterment of this State, is and will continue to be felt and be beneficial to

every Rhode Islander for generations to come; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island hereby expresses deepest

sympathy and heartfelt condolences to his bereaved family and friends on the passing of the

Honorable Dominick J. Ruggerio, President of the Rhode Island Senate; and be it further

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

transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to Charles Ruggerio and Family, Amanda Fallon

and Family, and Lisa Aceto and Family.

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LC002791

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