Monica R. Martinez (born August 13, 1977) is a Salvadoran-American, civil servant, educator and politician from the state of New York. A Democrat, she is a member of the New York State Senate representing the 4th district. Martinez has also served in the Suffolk County Legislature, representing the 9th district. She is a former Assistant Principal at East Middle School in Brentwood, NY.
Martinez was born in El Salvador and moved to the United States at the age of 3.[1][2] She received her bachelor's degree from Binghamton University, and subsequently a masters and administrative degree from New York University and Stony Brook University respectively.[3] Martinez worked as a social studies teacher at Brentwood High School for 10 years before becoming the assistant principal of Brentwood's East Middle School.[4]
In 2013, Martinez defeated incumbent Suffolk County Legislator Ricardo Montano in the Democratic primary and was subsequently elected to represent Suffolk County's 9th Legislative District.[5][6] As a legislator, Martinez was known for taking legislative action on the issues of woman's equality and animal rights.[7][8] Martinez was appointed chairwoman to the Public Safety Committee and pledged to help eradicate the Long Island gang violence epidemic through collaboration with local law enforcement officials.[9]
Martinez was named chair for the Committee on Domestic Animal Welfare.[14]
Martinez opposed the Driver's License Access and Privacy Act, a law that authorized undocumented immigrants to obtain New York driver licenses. Of all Senators voting against the bill, Senator Martinez faced the most criticism; she changed her position on the issue after becoming a New York State Senator.[15] Martinez faced protest[16] and has been accused of flip-flopping on the issue and of betraying her own community of origin.[17][18]
Bills introduced by Martinez that were signed into law include:
S3852A in the 2019-2020 session, also known as "Shannon's Law", expanding coverage for mammograms under health insurance[20][21]
S8138 in the 2020-2021 session, a bill to allow municipalities to defer tax payments during a state of emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic occurring at the time.[22]
In November 2020, Martinez lost her re-election bid to Republican Alexis Weik.[23] However, on February 14, 2022, Martinez announced her candidacy to once again represent New York's 3rd Senate District in the 2022 general election.[24] Due to redistricting, Martinez later switched to run in the newly drawn 4th Senate District.[25] She was elected on November 8, 2022, defeating businesswoman Wendy Rodriguez with 49.18% of the vote, compared to Rodriguez's 46.85%.[26]
