Representative Stephen M. Casey
Chair, House Municipal Government and Housing Committee
Member, House Corporations Committee
Member, House Labor Committee
Member, House Special Legislation Committee
Member, House Veterans' Affairs Committee
Stephen M. Casey (D) has served the residents of Woonsocket in District
50 since his first election in November 2012. He is the chairman of the
House Municipal Government and Housing Committee and is a member of
the House Corporations Committee, the House Labor Committee, the House
Special Legislation Committee, and the House Veterans’ Affairs
Committee.
During the 2021 session, he introduced a new law that expands Rhode
Islanders’ access to telemedicine coverage by requiring all Rhode Island
Medicaid programs to
cover telemedicine visits. He also sponsored a law that requires the
office of the attorney general to issue a report containing the total
number of cases with respect to
charges involving a firearm in all Rhode Island courts.
Casey co-sponsored successful legislation in the 2018 session urging
Gov. Gina Raimondo to designate several communities in the Blackstone
Valley as Qualified Opportunity Zones, taking advantage of the federal
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to encourage long-term investments in
low-income urban and rural communities nationwide. That designation
became official early in June.
In 2016, he introduced legislation to make several updates to the state
fire code and its reference to the term and adoption of portions of
the national fire codes. He also submitted legislation authorizing the
Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and
Hospitals to certify recovery housing facilities.
Representative Casey has been at the forefront of legislation aiming to
improve the City of Woonsocket and the economic landscape of the state.
Several items benefitting the people of Woonsocket, for which
Representative Casey advocated, were included in the 2015 state budget,
including includes appropriations for the maintenance of World War II
Memorial Park, development of the Stadium Theatre, improvements to the
athletic facilities of Woonsocket High School, and funding for the music
programs at Woonsocket high and middle schools.
Statutes he sponsored in 2014 led to a homestead tax exemption for
elderly residents of Woonsocket during a period of financial strife and
the allowance of city and town councilors to serve on their
municipality’s budget commission.
In 2013, the governor signed his bill directing the Board of Education
to – at the request of the commissioner of elementary and secondary
education – hold a hearing on whether to withhold state aid from a
school district for failure to meet district accounting compliance
rules.
Representative Casey was born on September 12, 1968. He attended Melrose
High School in Massachusetts before receiving a bachelor’s degree in
communications from Boston College in 1990.
In addition to his duties as a legislator, Representative Casey is a
full-time Professional Firefighter in the City of Woonsocket. He serves
as the secretary of the Paul Deziel Memorial Scholarship Fund and is a
member of the Rhode Island Freemasons, Rhode Island Shriners, and
Woonsocket Firefighters Union Local 732. He is also an Eagle Scout from
Troop 725 of Wakefield, Mass.
He has assisted in endeavors such as the Woonsocket 125th Anniversary
Celebration in 2013, Autumnfest, the Milk Fund and the World War II
Honor Flight.
Representative Casey resides in Woonsocket with his wife, Debra
(Deziel-Hunt) Casey.