Together, the House of Representatives and the Senate constitute the Connecticut General Assembly (CGA). The General Assembly enacts legislation dealing with state appropriations and finance, public welfare, the environment, public works, housing, education, civil and criminal laws, and other matters. The Senate tries all impeachments of executive and judicial branch officials. In Connecticut, members of the state’s legislative body, the General Assembly, must be at least eighteen years old and reside in the district they represent. Senate and House members serve two-year terms. Candidates were asked to respond to questions developed by local Leagues of Women Voters (LWV). Candidates enter their replies directly into Vote411, and replies are not edited by the LWV.This is the link to the CGA website: https://www.cga.ct.gov/This is the link to Sample Ballots for each Town found on the Secretary of State website: https://portal.ct.gov/sots/election-services/town-ballots
Candidate Name
Jason Doucette
Campaign Website
https://jasondoucettect.com/
Campaign Email
repdoucette@gmail.com
Campaign Phone
8604903490
Facebook
DoucetteforCT
Twitter
Doucette13th
It’s been an honor to serve as your State Rep for the last 8 years. I'm a lifelong Manchester resident where I live with my wife Heather and our 2 sons. My “day job” is as a real estate attorney and I have also spent lots of time as a volunteer in the community including with Boy Scouts and Little League, among others. I currently serve as Chair of the Banking Committee, and on the Finance and Judiciary Committees. Over last 8 years we’ve accomplished a lot together: we passed the largest income tax cuts in state history, passed landmark legislation for working families,expanded health coverage and protected reproductive rights,and brought historic state funding back home to Manchester and Glastonbury. I look forward to continuing the work!
Federal cuts from the Trump administration and GOP congress and the longest government shutdown in history put healthcare at risk for many of our vulnerable families. With no help coming from Washington, it was up to us to fix it. And we did, without raising taxes. We protected the people who need it the most: our neighbors, our seniors, and our children by funding additional Medicaid at the state level and an additional $115 million to help offset the expiration of federal subsidies for ACA plans. We need to continue to do this and expand state support for healthcare wherever possible. Ultimately, I believe the long-term solution to healthcare affordability is to have truly universal healthcare in the form of a robust public option.
We continue to be too reliant on local property taxes to fund local government and I think the state can ultimately afford to fund more of these costs, and thus reduce the property tax burden on local taxpayers. In order to do this, we will need to reform the state’s budgetary “fiscal guardrails.” We have the ability to provide more, but these funds are restricted within our massive and historic state surplus. I have consistently supported legislation to fully fund the ECS formula and the “foundation” grants to each town, which have not been updated in many years. The state provided a one-time infusion of funding this year, but we need to continue working on a long term systemic solution and shift the burden more from local to state.
I know there is growing concern over this issue and am monitoring it closely. Last session we passed (and I supported) PA 26-14 which places restrictions on the use of the Flock cameras. While I believe this new law will be helpful, concerns continue to be raised, so I fully expect we will revisit this legislation next year and further tighten things up or perhaps even consider a ban, which some have proposed. On the other hand, years ago I heard from many constituents, especially in Glastonbury, who thought using these cameras would help law enforcement when we were experiencing an uptick in car thefts. Like with many issues, finding the right balance is important.
Affordability–particularly on housing, healthcare, utilities and property taxes. On housing, I will continue my work on the Banking Committee to expand financing options and create more units of affordable housing. Regarding utilities, I think we need holistic reform to the way we regulate utilities and need to do more to hold Eversource accountable, and also to reform the "public benefits" portion of our electric bills, and diversify our energy sources. On healthcare (see above), we need to provide more state subsidies and continue working towards truly universal coverage. On taxes (see above) we will need to reform the“fiscal guardrails” in order to free up more revenue to send more money back to municipalities and local taxpayers.
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