| Lisa J. Brown | |
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| Member of the Washington Senate from the 3rd district |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 1997 |
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| Preceded by | John Moyer |
| Member of the Washington House of Representatives from the 3rd district |
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| In office January 1993 – January 1997 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | October 9, 1956 Robinson, Illinois |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | single |
| Residence | Spokane, Washington |
| Alma mater | University of Illinois (B.A.), University of Colorado (M.A.), University of Colorado (Ph.D.) |
| Profession | university professor, economics |
Lisa J. Brown is an American politician from Spokane, Washington. A Democrat, she has represented the Spokane-based 3rd district since 1993.
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After serving two terms in the House, Sen. Brown was appointed to serve as chairwoman of the Ways and Means Committee in her first term. She was charged with creating a budget in the wake of the September 11th attack and closing the largest deficit in state history. She rose to the challenge, and passed a bi-partisan budget by closing tax loop holes, while protecting the fundamental services for the needy and vulnerable.
In 2002, she was elected by her colleagues as the leader of the Democratic Caucus. In 2005, she became the first woman Democratic Senate Majority Leader in state history. She is currently serving her fourth term in the Senate.
Some of her legislative accomplishments as Senate Majority Leader include championing legislation to establish a life sciences discovery fund, to insure all kids with health care by 2010, to cover mental illnesses in health insurance plans at parity with physical illnesses, establish a nonprofit foundation to assist uninsured people with low incomes obtain free or low-cost prescription drugs, to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, to create domestic partnerships for same-sex couples, to allow school levies to pass with a simple majority rather than supermajority vote, to provide a sales tax credit for working Washington families, and to create a Rainy Day Fund in the state budget.
Sen. Brown, who holds a PhD and MA in Economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder, in addition to a BA from the University of Illinois, is also Associate Professor in the Master's of Organizational Leadership program at Gonzaga University.
She is a native of Robinson, Illinois,and has a son, Lucas.
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