About Marilyn

State Representative Marilyn Giuliano is a hard-working legislator whose background in local government and record of involvement in her community make her a strong and effective voice in Hartford for Lyme, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook and Westbrook constituents. She has co-sponsored and supported legislation for healthcare, seniors and veterans.

Her record in the legislature includes increases in state aid to education and special grants for schools, transportation, recreation and the arts. Further, she has pushed for improved and expanded bus, rail and renewable energy resources. To protect important quality of life impacts in the Connecticut River Valley, she has obtained funding to preserve open space and protect farmlands.

For the 2009-2010 legislative term, she has been appointed to work on the Education, the Public Health and the Program Review and Investigations committees.

Environment
Representative Giuliano, who represents four shoreline communities, is committed to protecting the ecology of Long Island Sound. Her conservationist interests and goals directed her work in prior years on the legislature’s Environment Committee.

As a member of the Environment Committee, Representative Giuliano worked to protect the Eight Mile River watershed, and sponsored legislation to protect Long Island Sound as an irreplaceable recreational and commercial asset critical to the economy of the shore region.

She sponsored and obtained passage of sewer avoidance legislation to protect the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound, allowing alternative wastewater technologies to be used for the first time in Connecticut.

Seniors
Representative Giuliano believes that seniors deserve a secure retirement. With that in mind, she has introduced legislation to eliminate the state income tax on pension income. She also cosponsored legislation to allow the disabled and elderly to receive health care services in their homes rather than in nursing care facilities.

As a former member of the Select Committee on Aging, Representative Giuliano remains committed to providing essential services to address the needs of Connecticut’s elderly population.

Education
Representative Giuliano brings an expansive background and experience in public education to her leadership position as ranking member on the legislature’s Education Committee.

Appointed by Gov. M. Jodi Rell to the Commission on Education Finance, she worked for substantial increases during 2007 and 2008 in state aid to local public schools:

  • Old Saybrook, 20 percent increase
  • Old Lyme, 17 percent increase
  • Westbrook, 17 percent increase
  • Lyme, 10 percent increase

Representative Giuliano has been a school psychologist for 28 years, in both public and private school settings in Connecticut. Currently, she is employed by the Lyme-Old Lyme public schools as the school psychologist at Mile Creek School.

Representative Giuliano served on the Advisory Council for Special Education, a state panel, during her first year at the General Assembly.

The Advisory Council’s responsibilities include reviewing existing laws and regulations pertaining to special education and recommending changes to them and advising the state Department of Education about unmet needs in educating children with disabilities.

As both a parent and an educator, Representative Giuliano is committed to ensuring a quality education for every Connecticut student.

Committee Work
Representative Giuliano previously served as ranking member on the General Assembly’s Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee, as a member of the Select Committee on Children, and on the legislature’s Program Review and Investigations Committee. She previously served on the Education Committee, Environment Committee, Planning and Development Committee and the Select Committee on Aging.

As a former member of the Planning and Development Committee, Representative Giuliano continues to be concerned about the encroachment by state government on home rule and local control – traditional rights held dear by Connecticut communities.

Recent Grants for the District
Grants that Representative Giuliano has secured for the 23rd District include:

  • $750,000 for restoration of the Florence Griswold Home and Museum
  • $200,000 for historic restoration to the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center
  • $8,700 to the Tracy Art Center
  • $100,000 to the Old Saybrook Little League for ball field improvements
  • $650,000 to the Lyme-Old Lyme Town Woods complex for soccer fields
  • $20,000 to the Lyme-Old Lyme Town Woods complex for a handicapped accessible playground
  • $1.2 million for Old Saybrook Middle School
  • $3.6 million for Old Saybrook High School
  • $500,000 for Westbrook Library renovation
  • $1.5 million for Westbrook train station and town garage
  • $200,000 to Old Lyme for historic restoration of Memorial Town Hall
  • $45,000 for Westbrook’s Mulvey Senior Center
  • $1.5 million for environmental clean-up of DOT property and conveyance to Old Saybrook for housing and recreation
  • $425,000 to Old Lyme for road reconstruction in the Lyme Street Historic District
  • $500,000 to renovate the old town hall in Old Saybrook into the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center

Community Service
Prior to her legislative service, Representative Giuliano served as vice chair on the Old Saybrook Board of Finance and as Chair and Old Saybrook Town Representative to the Middlesex Mental Health Council. She is a former member of the Old Saybrook Public Health Nursing Board. She serves on the Old Saybrook Republican Town Committee and the Old Saybrook Women’s Republican Club.

Representative Giuliano graduated from Southern Connecticut State University in May 1976, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. In post-graduate work at S. C. S. U., she was granted a Master of Science degree in School Psychology in May 1980; and a Sixth Year Certificate in School Psychology in May 1981.

She is married to Joe Giuliano. They have two daughters, Sarah and Amy.