State Rep. Laura Devlin (R-134) received the unanimous endorsement of Fairfield and Trumbull Republicans at Stratfield Elementary School as their candidate to represent the 134th Assembly District this November in the General Assembly.
Devlin was nominated by longtime leader in local and state Republican party politics, Paul Hiller who during his nomination speech said, “Fairfield and Trumbull have benefited from Laura's commitment and advocacy. While a new name in the political scene when she won this seat in 2014, she has distinguished herself in Fairfield, Trumbull and importantly, in Hartford as a strong advocate for our communities and our state.”
In her acceptance speech Rep. Devlin said, “I am proud to have your nomination to represent the citizens of the 134th Assembly District. I am honored by your confidence in my ability to represent you to send me back to Hartford again. I pledge to continue to do my best to continue to work hard for the district and to make Connecticut once again a great place to live, work, raise a family and retire.”
Devlin is a member of the legislature's Transportation Committee as well as a member of the powerful tax-writing Finance, Revenue and Bonding committee and also a member of the Government Administration and Elections committee.
Devlin, in her first-term, developed a strong reputation among House members as a common-sense speaking advocate for the over-burdened taxpayers of Connecticut. She was particularly strident in her opposition to the 2015 tax hikes, which were a “last straw” in General Electric’s (GE) decision to move out of Fairfield.
Devlin was one of the legislative leaders in Fairfield and Trumbull on the issue of combating the growing opioid epidemic in our state and helped pass legislation, which limits the access to opiate painkillers and other makes the drug NARCAN more available to help with those who overdose from lethal opiate/heroin type drugs.
Additionally, Devlin supported significant environmental legislation, which establishes a Long Island Sound Blue Plan to determine the full extent of the Long Island Sound’s resources and a State Constitutional Amendment to protect state-owned open space lands both proposals meant to maintain Fairfield’s unique quality of life.
Devlin also worked to pass bi-partisan legislation: 1) a co-introducer of a bill proposal passed this session which provides firefighters who contract certain cancers on the job with insurance coverage 2) protecting college students and parents by creating a ‘Student Loan Bill of Rights’ and 2) providing students with dyslexia the additional support and help needed.
Rep. Devlin, who ran in 2014 on improving and maintaining existing Connecticut transportation infrastructure, proposed a constitutional amendment for transportation fund aka a ‘lockbox’ in 2015. She supports the concept of the lockbox as long as the proposal is full proof and does not have loopholes that would permit the diverting of transportation funds.
Devlin, a former member of Fairfield’s RTM, is a small business owner and former Metro North commuter.
Laura has lived in Fairfield for more than 20 years with her husband and two grown children.