Rep. McEntee receives Audubon 2025 Legislative Leadership Award

Hagan McEntee honored for hard work for the environment

From the left: David Caldwell, chair of Audubon Society of RI,
Rep. June S. Speakman, Rep. Carol Hagan McEntee and
Meg Kerr, board member of Audubon Society of RI.

Rep. Carol Hagan McEntee was honored with the Audubon Society of Rhode Island 2025 Legislative Leadership Award at the Society’s 128^th Annual Meeting on October 19, 2025, in Bristol, RI.  

Audubon recognized Representative McEntee for her dedication to Rhode Island’s environment and the protection of birds, wildlife, and the people of Rhode Island.

Representative McEntee (D-Dist. 33, South Kingstown, Narragansett) was first elected in June 2015. She is the chair of the House Small Business Committee and is the first vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee. Representative McEntee is also a member of the House Labor Committee and the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee.

Throughout her legislative career she has worked closely with Audubon, prioritizing legislation to benefit the environment. Her hallmark accomplishment is the Plastic Waste Reduction Act, which passed in 2022 and became effective on January 1, 2024. 

This bill was sponsored by Representative McEntee and former Senate President Dominic Ruggerio and bans Rhode Island retail establishments from providing single-use plastic bags to customers at the point of sale. Plastic waste is a tremendous problem world-wide and negatively affects the health of birds, other wildlife, and people. Representative McEntee’s successful work on this act will begin to reduce plastic pollution in the Ocean State.

Although the legislation has not yet passed, Representative McEntee has worked tirelessly on a state bottle bill. She has introduced bottle bills for several years and co-chaired with Senator Mark McKenney (D-Dist. 30, Warwick) the Special Joint Legislative Commission to Study and Provide Recommendations to Protect our Environment and Natural Resources from Plastic Bottle Waste that convened from 2023 to 2024. 

The Commission’s final report, issued in April of 2025, recommended legislative action including extended producer responsibility (EPR) and a bottle bill. She then sponsored the legislation that would implement an EPR program for statewide recycling of packaging and printed paper and a bottle bill program for beverage containers. 

At the end of the 2025 session, legislation was passed that directs state agencies to complete an implementation analysis for a beverage container redemption, packaging, and recycling plan.  Representative McEntee will continue to work with Audubon and the environmental community as a key player in creating successful bottle bill legislation – an issue Audubon has championed since the 1970s.

“It’s a true honor to be recognized by the Audubon Society of Rhode Island and I thank them for being tremendous partners over the years in the fight to protect and preserve our state’s precious natural resources,” said Representative McEntee.  

“We have had some significant wins such as the Plastic Waste Reduction Act and I look forward to continue working with them in order to get the much-needed bottle bill passed and become law.”

“Audubon Society of Rhode Island is honored to recognize Representative McEntee for her dedication and support of critical environmental legislation,” said Audubon Executive Director Jeffrey C. Hall. “We look forward to working with her and other members of the Rhode Island House of Representatives to support future legislation that protects our state’s natural resources.”