| Jennifer L. Veiga | |
| State Senate: | Colorado |
| District: | 31st |
| Term Start: | July 28, 2003[1] |
| Term End: | May 15, 2009 |
| Preceded: | Doug Linkhart |
| Succeeded: | Pat Steadman |
| State House2: | Colorado |
| District2: | 3rd |
| Term Start2: | January 1997 |
| Term End2: | July 21,2003[2] |
| Successor2: | Anne McGihon |
| Birth Date.: | 10 October 1962 |
| Birth Place: | Long Beach, California[3] |
| Partner: | Bronwyn Russell |
| Occupation: | Attorney, politician |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Residence: | Australia |
Jennifer L. Veiga (born October 10, 1962)[4] is a former American attorney and politician from Colorado. Veiga is a former Democrat member of Colorado House of Representatives and member of Colorado's 31st Senate district, covering downtown and north-central Denver.
She announced on April 7, 2009 that she would be resigning her seat to move to Australia where her partner's mother was ill.[5] Her resignation became effective on May 15 and, on May 29, Pat Steadman was sworn-in as her successor.[6]
Graduating from Irvine High School in 1980, she went on to the University of Colorado at Boulder where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1983. She then received a Juris Doctor from the George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C. in 1987.
A practicing lawyer with the Denver law firm Hall & Evans, LLC specializing in civil ligitagation, Veiga was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1996 and re-elected three times, in 1998, 2000, and 2002. In 2003, she served as House Minority Leader, as well as a member of the Executive Committee and the Legislative Council.
In July 2003, she was named by a Vacancy Committee to the 31st District seat in the Colorado Senate following the resignation of Doug Linkhart.[7] She ran unopposed for election to the Senate seat in November 2004 and won re-election in 2008. She served as Chairman of the Senate Business, Labor and Technology Committee, Vice-Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
A lesbian, she came out publicly in August 2002 and is the first ever openly gay person to serve in the Colorado legislature.[8] As a representative and then as a senator, Veiga introduced legislation every year to ban employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, at first with little success.[9] In 2005 and then in 2006, Veiga's non-discrimination bill was passed by the legislature, but vetoed by Gov. Bill Owens;[10] in 2007, however, the bill was signed into law by Gov. Bill Ritter.[11] At the time of her retirement, she was one of three openly gay members of the legislature, serving alongside representatives Mark Ferrandino (D-Denver) and Sue Schafer (D-Wheat Ridge).