Preceded by Joseph Amaral Name John Edwards Nationality American | Religion Roman Catholic | |
Profession Construction Project Manager Office Member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives since 2009 | ||
Education Northeastern University | ||
John 'Jay' Gustav Edwards IV (born April 7, 1958 in Newport, Rhode Island) is an American politician and a Democratic member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives representing District 70 since January 2009. On March 25, 2014, Rep. Edwards was elected House Majority Whip by the House Democratic Caucus when Rep. Nicholas Mattiello became Speaker. Prior to that he had served as the Senior Deputy Majority Leader under Speaker Gordon Fox. Edwards serves on the House Labor, House Oversight, House Judiciary and House Small Business Committees. In September 2014, Edwards became a CSG Henry Toll Fellow.
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Legislation
In his freshman year, Rep Edwards was able to push through legislation that would increase the fines on industrial polluters from $1,000/day to $25,000/day in response to an environmental problem that occurred in the Bay Street area of his district in 2002. In 2012 Rhode Island became the 15th state to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana under legislation championed by Rep Edwards. The major legislation that Edwards is responsible for is stopping the toll on the Sakonnet River Bridge that spans both towns represented by Edwards, Tiverton & Portsmouth. Included in the 2015 RI Budget, Edwards was able to have the toll removed, increased funding added to RIDOT and to have a statewide infrastructure program established outside of the state's budget.
Education
Edwards earned his BS in political science from Northeastern University. Edwards attended the Centre Scolaire St. Marc a Lyons in Lyons, France during his junior year in high school and graduated from St. George's School in Middletown RI in 1976.