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09/16/2020 08:35 AMDemocrat Robin Comey is running for reelection as Branford’s 102nd District State Representative on Nov. 3 against GOP challenger Marc Riccio. The following information has been shared by Comey’s campaign. Look for The Sound’s in-depth interview with Comey coming in October.
Comey won her first term to the 102nd District office in 2018. Comey serves as House vice chair of the Committee on Children and as a member of the Education and Public Health Committees. Comey was also selected to serve as a member of the State Advisory Council for Special Education, as well as co-chair of the CT Kids Report Card Leadership Committee, which analyzes data and recommends policy changes to ensure “all Connecticut children grow up in a stable living environment, safe, healthy, and prepared to lead successful lives.”
Additionally, Comey is member of the bipartisan Coastal Caucus, BioScience Caucus and Fire/EMS Caucus.
For Comey, major advocacy issues include preserving the environment, improving access to health care, growing tourism and economic development, improving education, and children’s issues including social-emotional learning.
During her first term, Comey supported legislation to increase access to epinephrine in public places. She advocated for affordable and accessible early care and education. Her efforts led to the passage of a bill that promotes early identification of developmental delays in Connecticut’s youngest learners. Additionally, Comey supported efforts for paid family medical leave, increased funding for Care4kids, school readiness, state-licensed child care centers, birth to 3 care, and restoring Husky coverage to 4,000 parents.
Comey led the passage of legislation to expand licensing to nail technicians, aestheticians, and eyelash technicians to allow for increased education, help deter labor trafficking, and increase consumer health and safety. Comey also sponsored initiatives that support students interested in manufacturing careers, eliminate red tape to increase the clean-up of contaminated real estate, and expand the Angel Investor Tax Credit Program for small business and start-ups.
She helped pass legislation that will help to continue deployment of solar energy and extend renewable energy programs. Comey sponsored several laws that support the technology and bioscience industry, including a phasing-out of the capital base tax. She successfully advocated for state fire code changes that, once adopted, would allow towns to place into their building codes identification standards for truss-built buildings as a way to warn first responders of structure collapse dangers.
Her campaign website www.robincomey.com notes additional laws Comey supported as a legislator including Tobacco 21, $15 minimum wage, Ethan’s Law, and mental health parity. Comey’s campaign can also be followed at Facebook at www.facebook.com/RepComey.
Prior to serving as a state representative, Comey worked alongside other advocates in Hartford to make Branford the first school district in Connecticut to effectively institute food allergies policy and management, which became the model for state-wide legislation passed in spring 2017.
In November 2017, Comey was elected to Branford’s Representative Town Meeting (RTM) representing District 3 and served on the RTM Education Committee.
Comey is also executive director of non-profit Branford Early Education Collaborative and serves on numerous health, education, and civic organizations. Comey is also a small business owner (Starprompt LLC, providing teleprompter services) with her husband, David Steinman. They live in the Short Beach section of Branford and have two children, who both attend Branford Public Schools.
If re-elected in November, Comey’s legislative goals will include: proposing a voluntary firearm self-restriction law to help reduce self-harm by guns; increasing epinephrine affordability; increasing food safety, allergen cross-contamination, and management; increasing access to quality and affordable early care and education; growing the bioscience footprint in Branford and the region; expanding composting, anaerobic digesters, bottle refunds, and other initiatives to help solve the solid waste management issues in the state; ensuring residents, especially the elderly, have access to resources and information during times of crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic; and holding utility companies accountable to ratepayers.
At her campaign website, Comey notes, “Our state has an important opportunity ahead of us. We are being called upon, now more than ever, to tackle a complicated set of challenges. Whether it’s protecting access to reliable, affordable health care; fostering economic growth to create more well-paying jobs; supporting high-quality accessible public education; and protecting the environment we all cherish, you can depend on me to work hard each and every day. I am running for re-election because given my prior experiences as a business owner, a nonprofit leader and an experienced advocate, I am equipped to tackle Connecticut’s challenges head-on. I care about and act upon issues that you, my constituents, care about and that is what drives me to be successful.”