Representative June Speakman
Second Vice Chair, House Municipal Government and Housing Committee
Member, House Oversight Committee
Member, House Environment and Natural Resources Committee
Member, House Health and Human Services Committee
Representative June S. Speakman was first elected to represent District 68 in
Warren and Bristol in March 2019. She is the second vice chair of the Municipal
Government and Housing Committee. She serves on the House Oversight Committee
and chairs its Aging and Senior Services Subcommittee. She is also a member of
the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee and the House Health and
Human Services Committee. Representative Speakman is also a delegate to the New
England Board of Higher Education.
In 2021, she championed an amendment to the state budget to establish Rhode
Island’s first permanent
funding stream for affordable housing, which will make an estimated
$4 million available annually to help address the state’s critical shortage of
affordable housing. Since 2021, she has been leading a special legislative
commission, created through legislation she sponsored, to study housing
affordability in Rhode Island. She was the sponsor of
two laws enacted in 2022 resulting from the commission’s work, both
aimed at making the development of process of affordable housing more efficient.
Representative Speakman is a strong advocate for environmental protection
and climate change resiliency, and has been pushing for laws to prevent
exposure to cancer-linked polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). In 2023, she
sponsored a new law reforming the state’s net metering and renewable energy
growth programs to
expand solar development while protecting forests, creating
well-paying jobs, and stabilizing costs for ratepayers. She was the sponsor
of the 2022 law requiring the Department of Health to set standards
for PFAS chemicals in drinking water and sponsored the 2021 law
establishing the Forest
Conservation Commission.
In 2023, Representative Speakman’s legislative work for the environment was
recognized by the Audubon Society of Rhode Island, which gave her its
Legislative Leadership Award, and by Clean Water Action, which honored her
with its Environmental Champion award. Her leadership on affordable housing
earned her the Housing Network of Rhode Island’s “Friend of the Network”
award in 2023. In 2022, Grow Smart RI honored her with its Smart Growth
Leadership Award for her work on housing and the environment.
A resident of Warren, Representative Speakman was a member of the Planning Board
prior to her election to the House. Before moving to Warren, she lived in
Barrington, where she served on the Barrington Town Council from 2002 through
2016, and was its president for the final eight of those years.
She has long been interested in housing policy and is a member of the advisory
board for HousingWorks RI, having also served on the State Housing Appeals Board
from 2010 to 2016.
Having previously taught at Rutgers University and the Claremont Colleges, in
1995 Representative Speakman joined the faculty of the Department of Politics
and International Relations at Roger Williams University, where she teaches
American politics, state and local government, and public policy. She has served
in numerous leadership positions at the university, including department chair,
Faculty Senate president, and president of the RWU Faculty Association (NEARI).
Representative Speakman holds a bachelor's degree in economics from University
of Massachusetts, Amherst; a master's degree in economics from the New School
for Social Research, and a Ph.D. in political science from City University of
New York. Born in Boston on January 21, 1954, she, her two brothers, and her
sister grew up in West Roxbury, MA. She graduated from Girls' Latin School in
Dorchester, MA.
She is the mother of two adult sons, Jason and Adam.