PROVIDENCE — The East Providence General Assembly delegation welcomed four new members to its ranks last Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 3, when both chambers convened at the State House on Smith Hill for the start of the 2023 legislative session.

Matt Dawson and Jennifer Smith Boylan were among the 12 freshmen sworn into the House of Representatives while Bob Britto and Pam Lauria took their oaths of office as two of eight incoming members to the Senate.

More House notes
In the House, first-time candidate and East Providence native Dawson was last November chosen as the State Representative for District 65 while Smith Boylan, also a Dem, was likewise picked to be the latest State Rep from District 66 made up of predominantly Barrington residents, but some in East Providence’s southend Riverside section.

They join House Majority Whip Katherine Kazarian, the six-term incumbent Democrat from District 63, and Brianna Henries, the Dem re-elected to a second term from District 64, in the lower chamber.

Boylan, of Barrington, is the director of operations for PacketLogix and previously worked for many years as an environmental professional. She spent 10 years advocating for common sense gun laws and in 2018 served as member of the Working Group for Gun Safety.

Dawson, a Democrat and lawyer by profession, received the endorsement of his predecessor Gregg Amore, who was elected last fall as Rhode Island’s 30th Secretary of State. Amore, too, was inaugurated last Tuesday morning in a separate ceremony at the Rhode Island Convention Center for state officers.

Amore, who served five terms at a State Rep, returned to the hill in the afternoon to preside over the oath of engagement for the House.

Dawson is a graduate of East Providence High School, the University of Rhode Island and the New England School of Law in 1995. He is a practicing attorney at the firm Lynch & Pine and is a member of the R.I. Bar Association, the R.I. Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys and the R.I. Hospitality Association.

“So far I’m impressed with everything,” Dawson said when asked about his first impressions of the Assembly. “The House has 75 highly motivated members who each have bold ideas and things they want to accomplish.”

As for his immediate aims during his first term, he said, “While I have a host of objectives in the first year of my term, I remain mindful that I’m new and I here and initially I’ll have to get comfortable and figure out how this place works. I also think people would be surprised by the competence and professionalism of the staff. It’s remarkable.

“Initially, I intend to dedicate a good portion of my efforts to dealing with the needs of the people in District 65. There are host of bills related to the shoreline, and as my district has roughly four miles of shoreline, the environment and shore access are issues where I intend to be highly involved.

More Senate notes
Britto and Lauria, also a pair of Democrats, were sworn into office as the new State Senators from Districts 18 and 32, respectively.

Both are shared district. Britto’s majority East Providence location also includes a small portion of southeast Pawtucket. Lauria, a Barrington resident, represents mostly her hometown and Bristol with a carved out nook of Riverside in city.

A graduate of Stonehill College, Sen. Britto works as a design and construction specialist at Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corp. A Providence native, he has lived in the Rumford section of East Providence for more than 23 years.

Lauria is a primary care nurse practitioner at Coastal Medical, where she also serves as the first non-physician provider on the company’s Board of Trustees. A resident of Barrington, she served as chairwoman of the Barrington Democratic Town Committee from 2017 until her recent election, is a member of the Town Housing Board of Trustees and has served as a volunteer and advocate with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of Rhode Island, and is a graduate of St. Mary Academy-Bay View in East Providence.

Britto and Lauria join two-term Democratic incumbent Valerie Lawson, whose entire District 14 is made up of East Providence neighborhoods.

Of note as well recently for Lawson, a long-time teacher in the city and high-ranking member of its union the East Providence Education Association, she was elevated to the position of interim National Education Association Rhode Island (NEARI) president, replacing retired predecessor Larry Purtill. The latter stepped away from the post last month.

Lawson, then the sitting vice president, assumed the role until the next election of the body this coming June. Lawson faced charges of and was cleared of any conflict of interest concerns over her NEARI position during her first term after being elected to the upper chamber in 2018.