John Patrick Burke

Sponsored a law capping interest charged on medical debt.

June 26, 2025Supports Healthcare Affordability

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Voted to protect access to individual health insurance regardless of preexisting conditions. The bill passed the Senate 25-11.

June 14, 2023Supports Healthcare Affordability

Source: votes.rilegislature.gov

Introduced a bill to pilot neurofeedback-therapy insurance coverage for veterans with PTSD and people under 21. It was held in committee.

February 15, 2022Supports Healthcare Affordability

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a bill requiring pharmacists to tell customers when their cost sharing would exceed a prescription's retail price. It passed the Senate but not the House.

June 24, 2021Supports Healthcare Affordability

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Voted to make kratom legal to sell to adults 21 and over, with labeling rules and a ban on mixing it with harmful substances. It passed the Senate 23-10.

June 21, 2025Supports Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com

Voted to replace the 10-member coastal council with a 7-member board whose members must have environmental expertise. It passed the Senate 25-10.

June 20, 2025Supports Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com

Voted to require that cosmetic procedures at medical spas be done by a doctor or by staff a doctor supervises on site. It passed the Senate 28-9.

June 17, 2025Supports Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com

Voted to keep Rhode Island's supervised drug-use centers open two more years, to March 2028. The centers are meant to prevent overdose deaths. It passed the Senate 27-7.

May 13, 2025Supports Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com

Introduced a bill requiring landlords to test residential rental properties for radon every five years. It was held in committee.

March 7, 2023Supports Environment and Public Health

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Voted for the 2021 Act on Climate. The bill passed the Senate 28-9.

April 6, 2021Supports Environment and Public Health

Source: votes.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law creating rules for state public-private partnership contracts, including competitive bidding and labor protections.

June 18, 2026Supports Labor Rights

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law establishing a presumption of project labor agreements on public construction projects of at least $25 million, subject to exceptions.

June 18, 2026Supports Labor Rights

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law keeping firefighters' collective-bargaining terms in effect until a new agreement or arbitration award.

June 18, 2026Supports Labor Rights

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Introduced a bill preserving state workplace-safety protections if federal OSHA protections weaken. It was held in committee.

February 27, 2026Supports Labor Rights

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Introduced a bill requiring time-and-a-half pay for health-care workers on Sundays and holidays. It was held in committee.

February 27, 2026Supports Labor Rights

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Introduced a bill giving adjunct faculty who teach at least half a full-time load access to state employee medical benefits. It was held in committee.

February 6, 2026Supports Labor Rights

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law raising Rhode Island's minimum wage to $16 in 2026 and $17 in 2027.

June 24, 2025Supports Labor Rights

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Voted to treat a police officer's heart disease, stroke or high blood pressure as a job-related disability, as firefighters are already treated. It passed the Senate 29-8.

May 15, 2025Supports Labor Rights

Source: legiscan.com

Sponsored a law ending the state's authority to approve subminimum wages for workers with disabilities.

June 15, 2022Supports Labor Rights

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Voted to raise Rhode Island's minimum wage on a phased schedule. The bill passed the Senate 30-6.

February 10, 2021Supports Labor Rights

Source: votes.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law creating rules for state public-private partnership contracts, including competitive bidding and labor protections.

June 18, 2026Supports Government Efficiency

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law allowing interest waivers on overdue commercial-property taxes.

June 18, 2026Supports Government Efficiency

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law moving North Kingstown to another district-court division to balance workloads.

June 12, 2026Supports Government Efficiency

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law moving a Rhode Island primary election to Wednesday when Labor Day falls the preceding Monday.

April 20, 2026Supports Government Efficiency

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law allowing towns to offer local tax-amnesty programs every three years.

June 26, 2025Supports Government Efficiency

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law requiring nonprofits receiving more than $50,000 in General Assembly grants to disclose compensation for their highest-paid staff.

June 13, 2025Supports Government Efficiency

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law requiring the state retirement board to publish recordings of its meetings online.

June 13, 2025Supports Government Efficiency

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law letting towns combine their planning and zoning boards into a single review board.

June 25, 2024Supports Government Efficiency

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law delaying the need for title certificates on pre-2002 vehicles until ownership is transferred or a security interest is created.

June 21, 2023Supports Government Efficiency

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law requiring towns to record road abandonments in land-evidence records.

June 14, 2023Supports Government Efficiency

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Voted to let Providence raise its property tax levy by up to 8 percent in one year, above the usual state cap. It passed the Senate 28-7.

June 20, 2025Opposes Cost of Living Reduction

Source: legiscan.com

Voted to bury part of a high-voltage power line in Providence and East Providence. Electric customers in those two cities pay the extra cost through their bills. It passed the Senate 28-9.

June 18, 2025Opposes Cost of Living Reduction

Source: legiscan.com

Voted to keep federal immigration agents at least 200 feet from any polling place while voting is going on. It passed the Senate 29-8.

June 9, 2026Supports Immigration

Source: legiscan.com

Introduced a bill restoring annual pension cost-of-living adjustments for teachers and state employees who retired after July 2012. It did not pass.

March 13, 2026Opposes Government Spending Reduction

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored an act authorizing West Warwick to borrow up to $71 million for public-school facilities.

June 23, 2025Opposes Government Spending Reduction

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Introduced a bill to set the state's contribution to public libraries at 25 percent of municipalities' appropriations. It did not pass.

March 1, 2024Opposes Government Spending Reduction

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law directing the motor-vehicles agency to give local fire departments information about registered electric and hybrid vehicles with high-voltage batteries.

June 19, 2026Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Voted to make it a crime for a prisoner to use force or a weapon to resist a lawful order from a corrections officer. It passed the Senate 25-13.

June 11, 2026Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: legiscan.com

Voted for changes to police disciplinary procedures and oversight. The bill passed the Senate 33-4.

June 6, 2024Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: votes.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law requiring police training on recognizing mental-health and substance-use conditions, including crisis-intervention training.

June 22, 2023Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Introduced a bill increasing penalties for leaving the scene of a fatal crash. It was held in committee.

February 16, 2023Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law ending firefighters' exemption from the road test for a commercial driver's license.

July 6, 2022Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law requiring correctional officers to qualify with a handgun annually instead of every two years.

June 27, 2022Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law making possession, transfer or production of child erotica for sexual gratification a misdemeanor.

July 12, 2021Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Introduced a bill expanding police disciplinary hearing panels and suspending pay for officers charged with a felony or jailed on a misdemeanor. It did not pass.

March 4, 2021Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Voted for Rhode Island's Cannabis Act. It passed the Senate 30-5.

May 24, 2022Supports Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties

Source: votes.rilegislature.gov

Voted to make towns answer a written zoning question within 20 days instead of 15, and to let the applicant appeal that answer. It passed the Senate 28-7.

June 21, 2025Supports Housing Affordability

Source: legiscan.com

Voted to require town zoning rules to allow attached single-family homes, such as townhouses, in designated districts. It passed the Senate 23-12.

June 20, 2025Supports Housing Affordability

Source: legiscan.com

Voted to define co-living housing, where residents rent a private room and share a kitchen or bath, and let towns allow it. It passed the Senate 25-10.

June 20, 2025Supports Housing Affordability

Source: legiscan.com

Voted to require town zoning rules to allow homes in commercial districts, including apartments above shops. It passed the Senate 25-10.

June 20, 2025Supports Housing Affordability

Source: legiscan.com

Voted to require town zoning rules to allow housing other than detached single-family homes in sewered areas inside the urban services boundary. It passed the Senate 23-12.

June 20, 2025Supports Housing Affordability

Source: legiscan.com

Introduced a bill creating a process to develop underused state-owned land for housing. It did not pass.

May 23, 2025Supports Housing Affordability

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Introduced a bill allowing prepaid final rent while raising the maximum residential security deposit from one month's rent to two. It was held in committee.

March 14, 2025Opposes Housing Affordability

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law adding Rhode Island's housing secretary to the state planning council.

June 12, 2024Supports Housing Affordability

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Voted for housing-related zoning changes. The bill passed the Senate 32-6.

June 23, 2022Supports Housing Affordability

Source: votes.rilegislature.gov

Voted for a fair-housing bill. It passed the Senate 33-4.

June 8, 2021Supports Housing Affordability

Source: votes.rilegislature.gov

Introduced a bill restoring annual pension cost-of-living adjustments for teachers and state employees who retired after July 2012. It did not pass.

March 13, 2026Supports Social Programs and Welfare

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law removing a sunset on increased earnings allowed to people receiving partial unemployment benefits.

June 26, 2025Supports Social Programs and Welfare

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law increasing West Warwick property-tax exemptions for veterans and older residents.

May 30, 2024Supports Social Programs and Welfare

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law allowing West Warwick to join the state employees' retirement system.

July 8, 2021Supports Social Programs and Welfare

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored an act authorizing West Warwick to borrow up to $71 million for public-school facilities.

June 23, 2025Supports Public Education Quality

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Voted to require safe storage of firearms when not in use. The bill passed the Senate 30-7.

June 6, 2024Supports Gun Control

Source: votes.rilegislature.gov

Voted for a law shielding Rhode Island reproductive and gender-affirming care providers from certain out-of-state actions. It passed the Senate 30-7.

May 2, 2024Supports Women's Reproductive Rights

Source: votes.rilegislature.gov

Voted to include abortion care in Medicaid and state employee health plans. The bill passed the Senate 24-13.

May 18, 2023Supports Women's Reproductive Rights

Source: votes.rilegislature.gov

Voted to keep federal immigration agents at least 200 feet from any polling place while voting is going on. It passed the Senate 29-8.

June 9, 2026Supports Election Integrity

Source: legiscan.com

Sponsored a public-health data privacy bill that passed the Senate but not the House.

June 5, 2026Supports Data Privacy

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law protecting judges' and their immediate families' personal information from public disclosure.

June 27, 2025Supports Data Privacy

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Voted for a law shielding Rhode Island reproductive and gender-affirming care providers from certain out-of-state actions. It passed the Senate 30-7.

May 2, 2024Supports Civil Rights

Source: votes.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law letting classified state employees run for elected office if they resign their jobs when elected.

June 27, 2022Supports Civil Rights

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Voted for a fair-housing bill. It passed the Senate 33-4.

June 8, 2021Supports Civil Rights

Source: votes.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law ending Rhode Island's exception that let minors marry with parental consent.

June 7, 2021Supports Civil Rights

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Introduced a bill barring credit-card interchange fees on the tax portion of a sale. It was held in committee.

March 14, 2025Supports Corporate Accountability

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law treating an insurer's refusal to honor an insured person's direction to pay for property damage as an unfair claims practice.

June 29, 2024Supports Corporate Accountability

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Introduced a bill requiring large online sellers to disclose identifying information to marketplaces and shoppers. It was held in committee.

March 1, 2022Supports Corporate Accountability

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a bill requiring pharmacists to tell customers when their cost sharing would exceed a prescription's retail price. It passed the Senate but not the House.

June 24, 2021Supports Corporate Accountability

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Joined other Kent County lawmakers in asking the Auditor General to review water-authority billing problems.

February 25, 2021Supports Corporate Accountability

Source: rilegislature.gov

Voted to bury part of a high-voltage power line in Providence and East Providence. Electric customers in those two cities pay the extra cost through their bills. It passed the Senate 28-9.

June 18, 2025Supports Public Infrastructure

Source: legiscan.com

Voted to let Rhode Island's electric utility buy nuclear power and sign long-term contracts for it. It passed the Senate 23-14.

June 18, 2025Supports Public Infrastructure

Source: legiscan.com

Voted against banning plants that burn or chemically break down waste and plastics into fuel at the Quonset industrial park. It passed the Senate 29-9.

June 10, 2026

Source: legiscan.com

Voted against banning the sale, manufacture and purchase of assault-style firearms in Rhode Island. It passed the Senate 25-11.

June 20, 2025

Source: legiscan.com

Was appointed chair of the Rhode Island Senate Committee on Labor and Gaming.

May 1, 2025

Source: rilegislature.gov

Introduced a bill to set the state's contribution to public libraries at 25 percent of municipalities' appropriations. It did not pass.

March 1, 2024

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Introduced a bill restricting the use of live animals in medical training when alternatives are available. It was held in committee.

February 12, 2024

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Introduced a bill creating a review and appeal process for handgun-carry permit applicants. It was held in committee.

February 16, 2023

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov

Sponsored a law allowing compensation for emotional distress and grief after the wrongful death of a spouse, parent or child.

July 12, 2021

Source: webserver.rilegislature.gov