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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
| State Rep. Lawrence Curry |
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Curry announces retirement at end of term
HARRISBURG, Jan. 12 – Montgomery County state Rep. Lawrence Curry announced today that he plans to retire at the end of his current term and will not seek reelection to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2012.
"After much reflection and talking with my family over the holidays, I feel that it is time to step aside," Curry said.
"It has truly been a great privilege to serve the citizens of the 154th District in Harrisburg for the past 19 years. I want to thank my constituents for their trust and for the opportunity to be their voice in the state House.
"Together, we gave a voice to issues that make a real difference in people's lives. I am proud to stand with those in Harrisburg who fought to ensure a world-class education for our children, to protect our environment, improve the quality of life, reform the way Harrisburg does business, create jobs and get our economy moving again.
"I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish together, but the work of government continues and there is much more work to do," Curry said.
Curry currently serves as the Democratic chairman of the House Aging and Older Adult Services Committee. He also served as the chairman of the Education Subcommittee on Higher Education, where he fought for affordable education for students of all ages. During his tenure, he also fought for early education programs and led the fight for academic freedom against right-wing activists to target college professors who held political viewpoints different from their own.
He has a number of legislative accomplishments over the last two decades. Recent highlights include his bill to require hospitals and birthing centers to give new parents information about SIDS and SUDI, which is now law; passage of his bill to require all prospective school employees to submit to an FBI criminal background check; passage of his bill to authorize the Pennsylvania Department of Health to create license regulations for small residential hospices; and adoption of a House resolution calling on the federal government to support transition programs for returning U.S. veterans. He also has worked to remove the chemical BPA from infant and toddler products, as well as educating the public on this potential health threat.
Curry received the National Hemophilia of Excellence Advocate of the Year 2009 for his work on legislation to set standards of care for Pennsylvanians with hemophilia and other blood disorders.
Curry was initially drawn toward public service in 1965. During the most turbulent time of the civil rights movement, Curry responded to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s appeal to join him in the stand for equality and justice in Selma, Ala. This was a time when the call for civil rights was often met with violence, but Curry went to Selma to march for what he believed was right.
Prior to being elected to the state legislature in 1992, Curry served as a Jenkintown Borough councilman and two terms as Montgomery County commissioner. He is a lifetime resident of Jenkintown, where he and his wife, Shirley, raised three children. Curry earned bachelor and master's degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.