State Representative Robyn A. Porter was first elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives on April 28, 2014 following a special election. Since winning the 94th Assembly District seat, Porter has championed legislation that has provided fair wages and supportive workspaces for Connecticut’s labor force, reformed the state’s criminal and juvenile justice systems, increased protections for domestic violence victims, advanced pay equity laws for women, and so much more.
Rep. Porter is a member of both the Appropriations and Judiciary committees and has authored and sponsored legislation that supports a fair judicial system in Connecticut. That legislation most recently, restores respect, dignity, and fairer treatment for incarcerated women, creates a Hate Crimes Investigation Unit within the State Police, limits solitary confinement, establishes an office on gun violence prevention, continues to advance the body cameras program, police accountability and our new clean slate laws. In her role as the co-chair of the Juvenile Justice Oversight and Policy Committee's (JJPOC's) Education Subcommittee, Porter continues to work tirelessly on legislation to ensure that the substandard education and disproportionate rates of suspension and expulsion amongst children of color are effectively addressed and eradicated. Porter also helped to enact the passage of an African-American and Latino studies elective in CT's public-school curriculum, with the goal of eventually making it a required course-study.
In 2017, Porter was named House chairwoman of the Labor and Public Employees Committee. Under her bold and fearless leadership, Connecticut workers have benefited from tremendous progress in the workplace. Below are some highlights from the 2021 & 2022 legislative sessions:
- Established by law the CROWN Act making CT the 8th state to prohibit discrimination based on ethnic hairstyles historically associated with race.
- Successfully debated legislation that strengthened gender pay equity laws for women, which had not been updated since 1963.
- Led on legislation that adopted higher department equipment standards, collecting better data on the prevalence of cancer among firefighters, and secured more local funding for firefighters who leave service with a cancer diagnosis.
- Created the Council on the Collateral Consequences of a Criminal Record.
- Passed legislation that limits the circumstances in which a felony disqualifies you from holding an occupational license and created a pre-approval process to check if a prior conviction disqualifies you before going through testing or training requirements
- Defended historic legislation that provides $300 million to children's mental health services and resources.
- Enacted a Disparity Study to analyze the discrepancies in funding for small businesses owned by ethnic minorities, women, and individuals with disabilities to ensure equity for all.
- Fought to expand access to special relief funding for specific front-line workers who had to work during COVID and got sick as a result.
- Delivered front-line, private sector workers access to pandemic pay, if they were certain essential employees who had to work through the pandemic.
- Championed legislation that establishes new reimbursement grant to assist schools in upgrading their HVAC systems, and ensured regular inspections and reporting on their operation to ensure standard air-quality conditions.
Porter graduated from Gateway Community College with an associate degree in General Studies, and later obtained her bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice from Charter Oak State College. She completed both programs with high honors and was inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa International and the Alpha Sigma Lambda National Honor Societies. She sits on the boards of Women Against Mass Incarceration (W.A.M.I.), Second Chance Reentry Initiative Program (SCRIP), CT Hall of Change (CHOC), and Stop Solitary CT (SSCT). She was employed by the Communication Workers of America from 2001 to 2017 and now delivers as a full-time lawmaker. She is a longtime community activist who served as co-chairwoman of the Steering Committee for the Newhallville Community Resilience Team (NCRT). During which time, the committee focused on increasing public safety by building social cohesion and demanding police legitimacy.
Porter is the proud parent of two thriving adult children, and the spirited grandmother of three gifted and talented grandchildren. She is a native New Yorker who has called New Haven her home since the summer of 2000 and serves Hamden and New Haven wholeheartedly.