State Senator Andrea Stillman

Andrea L. Stillman (D-Waterford) is serving her third term representing residents of the 20th Senatorial District (East Lyme, Montville, New London, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Salem and Waterford). She is the Senate Chair of the legislature’s Public Safety and Security Committee and serves on the Public Health, Education, Regulations Review, and Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committees as well.

Prior to her Senate tenure she served six terms in the House of Representatives, representing the 38th District communities of Montville and Waterford. She was the House Chair of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee and served on the Transportation and Environment Committees. She previously served six years on the budget-writing Appropriations Committee.

Senator Stillman became co-chair of Governor Rell’s Long Island Sound LNG Task Force upon its formation in 2005, when the proposal to construct a floating liquid natural gas terminal on Long Island Sound was pending. The application for this project was rejected in 2008.

That year she was also honored with a legislative award from the Connecticut State Firefighters Association (CSFA) for her stewardship over public safety issues in general and for her commitment to sound public policy in the specific area of fire safety. In 2007, Senator Stillman was appointed to the Senate’s six-member Bipartisan Committee of Review, to try and determine whether a fellow senator should be expelled, censured, or reprimanded for admittedly criminal activity.

In 2006, Senator Stillman was appointed by the governor to serve on a special Commission on Judicial Reform; she was also chosen Legislator of the Year by the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association.

Improving the quality of public education has long been one of Senator Stillman’s major priorities. She has also concentrated on issues affecting urban areas, critical issues involving the environment, higher education, job training, substance abuse and compulsive gambling.

In 2002, she was selected by the Center for Women Policy Studies in Washington D.C. to attend their Foreign Policy Institute. Attendees included 11 women state legislators from throughout the country. They met with high-ranking officials from the State Department, United Nations, human rights organizations, Doctors Without Borders and other international agencies. The Institute explored the impact of the United States foreign police and development assistance on the health, education, economic development and well being of women worldwide.

This experience motivated her to fight for new legislation that addresses the issue of sexual trafficking. This work further established Stillman as a champion for women and children and earned her recognition from the U Thant Institute, which honored her with an Award of Appreciation.

The American Heart Association honored her in 2002 with the Legislator of the Year award. She also received the Legislative Leadership Award from the Connecticut Community Providers Association in 2002. In 1999, the Connecticut Council of Family Service Agencies selected her as the “Family Legislator of the Year’ award.

In 1996, she received the “Citizen of the Year” award from the Citizen’s Task Force on Substance Abuse in New London County Inc. for her work on issues related to compulsive gambling. She remains active in efforts to limit pathological gambling.

Senator Stillman has repeatedly been recognized for her leadership efforts in the General Assembly and the community. For example, she was honored by the Connecticut Alliance for Basic Human Needs and the statewide Opportunities Industrialization Centers for her work surrounding job-training issues.

She has served as a member of numerous organizations, including the League of Women Voters, the American Association of University Women, the Lawrence and Memorial Benefactors Society, the National Abortion Rights Action League, the National Women’s Political Caucus, the Waterford Lions Club and the Waterford Democratic Town Committee. She has also served on the board of directors of the Waterford Country School, the Southeastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board, the Citizen’s Task Force on Addictions in New London County, and the Healthy New London Advisory Board.

She was a long-time member of the Waterford Board of Finance and served on the Waterford Representative Town Meeting; she was assistant director of the Southeastern Connecticut Chapter of the American Red Cross, Blood Services and chaired the Connecticut Solid Waste Management Advisory Council and the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Advisory Council in the early 1990s.

Stillman also has extensive experience running a small business. Together with her husband, she owns J. Solomon Office Supply; the company has been located in New London since 1902.

Senator Stillman was born in New York City and graduated in 1971 from the University of California at Northridge with a degree in Speech. She and her husband Howard are the parents of two grown children and have 4 grandchildren. She resides at 5 Coolidge Court in Waterford.