Rodneyse Bichotte

Rodneyse Bichotte is the Assemblymember and State Committee Woman / District Leader for New York State’s 42^nd Assembly District representing Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood and Ditmas Park in Brooklyn.  Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte was born and raised in Brooklyn.  She is the first Haitian-American woman elected in New York City, the first Engineer elected to the New York State Legislature, and the first woman to chair the Brooklyn Democratic Party.

Assemblymember Bichotte is the Chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight of Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBEs), and serves on the following committees: Banks; Economic Development, Job Creation, Commerce & Industry; Governmental Operations; Health; Higher Education; and Housing.  She is also a member of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislative Caucus and the Legislative Women’s Caucus. She also sits on the Task Force on Women’s Issues.   In addition, Assemblymember Bichotte has been appointed to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Advisory Council on Domestic Violence, and appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio to NYC’s Advisory Council on Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise.

Since Assemblymember Bichotte became a legislator in 2015, she has introduced over 100 pieces of Legislation 10 of which became law, and she co-sponsored over 250 others.

Additionally, Assemblymember Bichotte introduced a number of international civil rights resolutions including Resolution K1447 which denounced the violent act of Boko Haram’s kidnapping of the Chibok Girls; Resolution K1362, condemning the slave auction of migrant and refugees in Libya; and Resolution K376, which exposed the denationalization of thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent having New York become the first to adopt this issue on a state level. The Assemblymember went on a four-day hunger strike to ensure the passage of Resolution K376. She has also introduced voting rights bills that would make it mandatory for New York State to include translators in poll sites for common foreign  languages spoken such as Haitian-Creole, Russian, Urdu, Korean, and Polish where there are a high percentage of residents who speak these languages, as well as mandate that voting materials be available in these languages. She co-sponsored the DREAM Act, a bill which gives undocumented students an opportunity to pursue higher education; the Child Victims Act which give survivors of child sex abuse the right to seek justice against their abusers or negligent institutions; and rent reform laws providing the strongest tenant protections ever since its passing.  Additionally, Assemblymember Bichotte introduced legislation on STEM and criminal justice; and was instrumental in the law she co-authored for the re-authorization of Article 15-A, which extends and provides a more robust NYS MWBE Program for Minority and Women Owned Business.

A crowning achievement of her first term and a dream come true has been the establishment of the Haitian Studies Institute, at Brooklyn College, making it a historic win for the state of New York.

In 2018, Assemblymember Bichotte debuted on CNN addressing the President’s disparaging remarks about Haitians and Africans. Working with community organizations and fellow elected officials, Assemblymember Bichotte co-hosted a Press Conference announcing a Little Haiti Cultural and Business District in Flatbush, Brooklyn and the unveiling of a street co-naming of Rogers Avenue to Jean-Jacques Dessalines Blvd and rededication of the co-naming of Nostrand Avenue at Newkirk Avenue to Toussaint L’Ouverture Blvd.

Public service is a lifelong commitment for Assemblymember Bichotte. One of the many ways she has served in the community was as a board member for Habitat for Humanity, where she joined hands with President Jimmy Carter in building over 300 homes in Leogane Haiti in 2011 after the devastating earthquake.

Professionally, Assemblymember Bichotte has worked in a number of different capacities such as a New York math teacher in the public school education system; an engineer in the telecommunications industry where she traveled to Japan and China on assignments; and an investment banker in the financial services industry structuring corporate finance deals.

Assemblymember Bichotte was an MIT Fellow: Mel King Co-Lab Project. She earned and holds an MBA from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management, an MS in Electrical Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology, a BS in Electrical Engineering from SUNY Buffalo, a BS in Mathematics in Secondary Education and a BT in Electrical Engineering both from Buffalo State College. She is also an Alum of LaGuardia High School of Music and Arts and Performing Arts as a vocal major.