Rep. Heffernan is the former President of the Brandywine School Board and an environmental toxicologist with more than 30 years of experience. She has served on the state’s Hazardous Substances Cleanup Act (HSCA) Advisory Committee (originally named the Brownfields Advisory Committee), which works to protect Delawareans from pollutants while making the state greener and more economically viable.
Rep. Heffernan is a member of the Bellefonte Lions Club and volunteers with local nonprofits and Special Olympics of Delaware. She has been a resident of Edgewood Hills for more than 30 years, where she lives with her husband, Pat and has three children in their 20’s that all graduated from Brandywine School District schools.
Rep. Heffernan is proud to have been selected by Parenting magazine as Delaware’s 2010 Outstanding Mom Advocate for Education and represented Delaware at the inaugural Mom Congress held in Washington, D.C. She is a multi-year recipient of the Legislative Service Award from the Delaware State Council for Persons with Disabilities and was inducted into the Delaware Women’s Hall of Fame in 2017.
Throughout her career, Rep. Heffernan has championed legislation for teachers, families, people with disabilities and caregivers. She was the author of Delaware’s parental leave law for state employees and teachers, and a lead sponsor of the Healthy Delaware Families Act, which provided paid family and medical leave for all workers in Delaware.
Family
Spouse: Patrick; Children: Margaret, Jake and Charlotte
Education
Caesar Rodney High School; University of Delaware, B.A. in Biology; Duke University, M.S. Environmental Toxicology
Occupation
Environmental Toxicologist, Former President of Brandywine School Board
Legislative Service:
House, 2010 - Present
Committees:
Capital Infrastructure, Co-Chair
Agriculture, Member
Health & Human Development, Member
Natural Resources & Energy, Chair
Veterans Affairs, Member
Transportation, Member
Legislative Highlights
House Bill 364
This Act provides a registration system for American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters. At the present time, individuals and organizations who are not certified to provide interpreting services are presenting themselves as acceptable/qualified interpreters without consequence. This is extremely problematic for […]
House Bill 454
This Act revises the Code to be consistent with federal law. The Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA) requires states to make a free appropriate public education (FAPE) available to all children with disabilities “between the ages of 3 […]
House Bill 467
This bill requires a school district, charter school, or the Department of Education to update a former student’s records to include the student’s updated legal name or gender if the former student’s government-issued documentation is received demonstrating the former student’s […]