State Senator Derek Slap was elected in the special election on February 26, 2019, to represent the 98,000 residents of the 5th State Senate District towns of West Hartford, Farmington, Burlington, and the western portion of Bloomfield.
Meet Derek
Derek is Vice President of Advancement at The Village for Families and Children, one of the largest providers of mental health services in Connecticut. Derek has been a lecturer in political science at Yale University and an adjunct communications professor at Quinnipiac University, Sacred Heart, Central Connecticut State, Southern Connecticut State and Eastern Connecticut State universities. In 2017 he won an “ARC Angel Award” from ARC Connecticut, an organization committed to protecting the rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, for his advocacy work.
Derek makes his home in West Hartford with his wife, Alex, daughters Maggie and Zoe, and son, Charlie.
My Priorities
As Chair of the Higher Education & Employment Advancement Committee, Senator Slap is committed to ensuring institutions of higher education meet the state’s workforce needs and that we are striving to improve accessibility and affordability for all of Connecticut. Derek believes there is no larger economic engine in Connecticut than higher education, and that having appropriate funding is essential for maintaining quality and improving access.
One of Derek’s highest priorities is enacting a balanced and sustainable biennial budget that meets the disparate needs and inequities in Connecticut while working to make our state more affordable for us all. He understands that it is the property tax that puts the biggest burden on residents, so he wants to increase state support for public education which will help to stabilize property taxes as well as strengthen our schools. He also supports a child tax credit, and reform to our electric and utility systems so ratepayers’ interests, not shareholders’, come first.
Senator Slap is also co-chair of the Government Administration and Elections (GAE) Committee and helped to lead passage of an initiative creating early voting in Connecticut. Derek supports voting through no-excuse absentee ballots, and, if the measure is adopted by referenda this November, help looks forward to crafting the legislation to finally bring no excuse absentee voting to Connecticut.
Other legislative priorities include supporting our non-profits, increasing transparency in government, and protecting access to birth control, abortion, and IVF. Reproductive healthcare is under attack fromsome national politicians and Derek understands we must stand strong in Connecticut.
Working for You
In his role as Chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee, Senator Slap has successfully advocated for increased funding for public higher education--including support for scholarships. He also led passage of bills to expand debt-free community college to returning and part-time students
As a State Representative, Derek Slap authored and introduced a landmark pay equity bill to make Connecticut a national leader in the fight to end the gender wage gap. The bill, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, protects all job applicants from being low-balled with a salary offer by prohibiting employers from asking about their salary history. Connecticut became the 2nd state in the country to enact such a law and since then dozens of municipalities and states have followed our lead.
Derek Slap knows passing legislation supporting workers needs to be a priority, and also got signed in to law a bill to help protect workers against age discrimination. His bill made it illegal for employers to ask job applicants for their date-of-birth or graduation dates during the screening process. Derek was honored by the AARP for his leadership on the issue of age discrimination--which disproportionately impacts women and people of color.
Derek has also been a leader in the effort to improve governance and transparency at The Metropolitan District (MDC). He co-authored the bill to create the MDC Independent Consumer Advocate—which was supported unanimously by both legislative chambers and has collectively saved consumers hundreds of thousands of dollars and improved governance at the MDC.
