Lisa Brown

Sen. Lisa Brown

Sen. Lisa Brown, PhD, is the state Senate Majority Leader and an Associate Professor in the Master's of Organizational Leadership program at Gonzaga University.

After serving two terms in the House, she successfully took on a long-time incumbent in the Senate, where she was quickly appointed to serve as chairwoman of the Ways and Means Committee in her very 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. 

Some of her most important 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.

These are some of the reasons why Fuse recognized her with a ‘Sizzle’ award in 2008 “for being a progressive rock star as the Senate Majority Leader.” She also received the 2009 'Champion for Children' award from the Children's Alliance.

Sen. Brown is currently serving her fourth term in the Senate.