SEN. BRIDGET G. VALVERDE, D-North Kingstown, received the Golden Paw Award from Animal Rescue Rhode Island. The annual award is given to organizations and individuals who advocate for addressing issues associated with homeless, abused and abandoned animals. Valverde is one of two recipients, along with Rep. Joseph J. Solomon Jr., D-Warwick. Animal Rescue Rhode Island provides humane welfare and well-being for animals, and rescues abandoned, abused and surrendered animals without geographic limitation.
What was your reaction to being selected as a recipient of an ARRI Golden Paw Award? I was surprised and delighted to receive the 2020 Golden Paw Award from Animal Rescue Rhode Island. ARRI is a wonderful organization that has been protecting animals and connecting pets and people for decades. And their work goes beyond rescuing animals from high-kill shelters. They also provide emergency pet food assistance to low-income pet owners and provide pet care classes to the community. To be associated with ARRI is truly an honor.
What laws are you working on to protect animals? This year, I introduced a bill to prohibit the use of live animals in medical training. Currently, Brown University uses live pigs to train students on airway procedures. Students make incisions in the pig’s neck to insert a tube, and then the pig is euthanized when the procedure is done. Most medical schools have discontinued the use of live animals in favor of highly realistic, synthetic training devices known as simulators. Brown is an outlier among its peers with the continued use of live animals, and it is time for that practice to stop.
What are the biggest issues that you are addressing as a senator? In the midst of this pandemic, the most important thing we will be addressing ... is passing [a budget that supports] our most vulnerable and [does] not make a recovery harder. That means asking our top earners to pay more of their fair share in income taxes and saying no to cuts to Medicaid and other social safety net programs that the poor rely on.
What do you hope to accomplish for your district during your tenure? I hope to work with my colleagues in the R.I. General Assembly to accomplish a number of things for all Rhode Islanders, from improving access to health care, to addressing the climate crisis, to tackling economic inequalities. I want to see us improve our education system so that students of all ages have access to a great, affordable education from pre-K to college. Expanded access to high-quality child care and early education will help ensure that our youngest learners get off to a great start and their parents can work while raising children. We must also make some real progress on environmental issues. We need to get on a clear path toward net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 by investing in green energy infrastructure, which will create jobs and keep our energy dollars here in Rhode Island.
