Gail Finney (August 16, 1959 – August 20, 2022) was an American businesswoman and politician who was a Democratic member of the

Kansas House of Representatives The Kansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. Composed of 125 state representatives from districts with roughly equal populations of at least 19,000, its members are responsible for craftin ...

, who represented the 84th house district from 2009 until her death in 2022.

Background

Finney was born in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...

. She was a graduate of Southeast High School, had a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

and an MBA from

Friends University Friends University is a private nondenominational Christian university in Wichita, Kansas. It was founded in 1898. The main building was originally built in 1886 for Garfield University but was donated in 1898 to the Religious Society of Friends ...

.Rep. Gail Finney ''Meet Gail''
Retrieved June 29, 2009. She was a business owner.

Political career

Finney served on the Wichita Chamber of Commerce's Visioneering Racial, Diversity, Opportunities, and Harmony Board; the District 1 Advisory Board, Precinct Committee Woman, and the Governor's Kansas African American Advisory Commission.

Issue positions

On her website, Finney listed her legislative priorities as: *Ensuring a quality education for all Kansas children, *Bringing the cost of health care and prescription drugs down, *Working with all levels of government and the private sector to grow our economy and expand our job base.

2016 committee memberships

Her assignments for the 2015–2016 Session Committees were: *House Appropriations *House Corrections and Juvenile Justice *House Transportation and Public Safety Budgets, Ranking Democrat

Major donors

The top 5 donors to Finney's 2008 campaign were mostly individual donors: *1. Finney, Gail $4,991 *2. Kansas Contractors Assoc $750 *3. Kansans for Lifesaving Cures $750 *4. Finney Jr, Jerrold $500 *5. Finney Sr, Jerrold $500

Death

After a series of health problems, Finney died on August 20, 2022, aged 63. She had undergone a kidney transplant earlier in the year. She was posthumously given the

key to the city The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...

of Wichita.

References

External links

*
Kansas Legislature – Gail Finney

Project Vote Smart profile

Kansas Votes profile
* Campaign contributions
19982008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finney, Gail 1959 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American businesswomen 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians African-American women in business African-American state legislators in Kansas African-American women in politics Businesspeople from Kansas Friends University alumni Democratic Party members of the Kansas House of Representatives Place of death missing Politicians from Wichita, Kansas Wichita Southeast High School alumni Wichita State University alumni Women state legislators in Kansas