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Delivering for Tax Payers

As a Perinton homeowner, Jen understands the enormous tax burden on our middle class families. That’s why she fought for tax relief in the budget.  But cutting taxes isn’t enough, we must find ways to make government more efficient as well.  That’s why Jen fights so hard for local governments, to reduce unfunded mandates, to ensure municipalities get the state aid they are entitled to, and to help facilitate shared services to keep costs down.  Jen also:

• Helped secure a $2.2 B property tax rebate for New York home owners;

• Worked to accelerate the middle class tax credit in this year’s budget to achieve the lowest tax rate middle class families have seen in 70 years;

• Jen was named MVP two years in a row by the New York Association of Counties for her sponsorship and passage the County-Wide Shared Services extender and other supportive legislation which helps local governments keep down costs;

• Helped reestablish the pre-2018 AIM formula to ensure our local governments would receive the state aid they were entitled to, which helps offset costs to tax payers;

• Passed an ultra-millionaires tax to place more of the tax burden on those who can afford it the most.

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Delivering for Our Planet

As the only member of the local delegation on the Environmental Conservation Committee, Jen has made environmental issues a top priority.  Jen focuses heavily on organic waste diversion and other waste reduction policy to help mitigate our state’s garbage crisis, an issue present in the mind of many families in the 135th District who live with the constant odors from High Acres Landfill.  Jen is also passionate about ensuring that our state can meet its renewable energy goals and keep up with the market demand for electric vehicles. Jen also:

• Helped secure a record investment in environmental priorities with the $4.2 Billion Environmental Bond Act which will help clean our water, mitigate flooding and make us more resilient to climate change;

• Co-sponsored and helped pass the Clean Air and Water constitutional amendment that gives residents of New York a right to clean air, water and a healthy environment;

• Provided a $250,000 grant direct from Jen’s office to the Penfield School District to purchase their first electric school bus and build out the charging infrastructure;

• Helped pass expanded wetlands protection and additional funding for Brownfield cleanup in the 2022 budget;

• Held two community forums, appeared several times in the media, and had numerous meetings with the DEC, at both regional and state levels, regarding High Acres Landfill and the ongoing odor issues it causes.

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Delivering for Our Safety

Gun violence and the opioid crisis have made public safety a top issue over the past several years.  Jen’s decade of experience in the legal field, and her deep understanding of constitutional law, give her the foundation she needs to understand the complexities of our criminal justice system.  That is why Jen was able to help guide changes to our bail reform law and push for stronger gun safety legislation.  It also why Jen has broken from the party line to vote against certain changes, like those recently made to the parole law. Jen also helped fund our community police through grants which allowed them to upgrade their equipment and technology. Jen also:

• Provided $60,000 in direct grants to Fairport and Webster Police departments to help fund equipment upgrades;

• Sponsored and passed two bills to help recruit and retain local volunteer firefighters and EMS;

• Made common sense amendments to the 2019 Bail Reform law to better address repeat offenders and those that bring illegal guns into our community;

• Voted yes on two gun safety packages which included bills to, among other things:

  • Create and enhance Red Flag laws so law enforcement can get guns out of the hands of people who are a threat to themselves or others;

  • Prohibit the possession of ghost guns;

  • Limit the sale of body armor to only those in specific professions;

  • Enhance the sharing of gun crime information across all levels of government;

  • Prohibit the alteration of a gun to look like a toy;

  • Raise the age for possession of semi-automatic weapons to 21 and require permitting of all semi-automatic rifles;

  • Study the causes of gun violence;

• Voted to create a task force in the Attorney General’s office to study social media and violent extremism, as well as to require social media platforms doing business in New York to have a policy for how to address hateful conduct on their platforms.

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Delivering for Our Seniors  

Protecting our seniors is one of government’s most sacred duties. Jen has worked tirelessly to ensure that our elder population, especially those in long term care facilities, are treated with dignity and respect.  When nursing homes were denying families access to their loved ones, Jen fought to restore visitation rights and codify them into the law.  Jen also:

• Sponsored and passed a bill to require nursing homes to create a cohorting plan, as part of their pandemic plan, and to require notification of the family within 12 hours of the discovery of pandemic infection;

• Provided $100,000 in grant funding to St. Ann’s Cherry Ridge to support training for healthcare workers to feed into the nursing hotline;

• Voted to support safe staffing laws that keep our seniors and those that care for them safe;

• Voted to support the creation of a designated caregiver so no nursing home resident will ever be denied access to a loved one during a pandemic ever again;

• Authored a sign-on letter to advocate for financial and regulatory support from the Governor’s office to help alleviate pandemic-related burdens on our area nursing homes;

• Advocated for increased funding for naturally-occurring retirement communities in the budget;

• Helped secure additional funding in the budget for Lifespan, which provides assistance to seniors across our county;

• Hosted a virtual elder fraud seminar with Attorney General Tish James to help keep our seniors safe from scams.

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Delivering For Our Children

Childcare and education are critical issues for families in the 135th District.  When Jen ran in 2020, she promised to help make childcare more affordable and to make sure our schools got every dime they were entitled to—and Jen delivered! Jen also:

• Helped pass a budget that fully funded Foundation Aid (the formula used to calculate state aid for schools) over three years;

• Helped secure a historic investment of over $5 Billion in childcare across the 2021 and 2022 budget cycles;

• Sponsored and passed legislation to extend eligibility for childcare subsidies, lower co-payments for families, and ensured childcare providers get paid in full for every subsidized slot;

• Sponsors a bill to expand and increase Career and Technical Education Aid;

• Co-sponsored a bill to better fund early intervention services and fought for additional funding for early intervention in the budget;

• Sponsors a bill to expand the child and dependent care tax credit.

 

Delivering for Our Communities

Jen promised to give this district a seat at the table so we could get our fair share, and that’s exactly what she’s done.  In just two years, Jen has secured millions of dollars for capital improvements in the 135th District, in addition to over $500,000 in grants to governments and non-profits.  Jen has secured funding for:

• Improvements to Lift Bridge Lane West in Fairport

• A new salt storage facility in Penfield

• A new generator for East Rochester

• Technology upgrades at the Webster, Fairport and East Rochester libraries

• A community kitchen for Penfield library

• Sewer renovations on Filburt Street in East Rochester

• Webster Park shelter and lodge improvements

• Investment in after school programs and daycare at the Bay View and Eastside YMCAs

• Career training for healthcare professionals at St. Ann’s Community

• And millions more which we will be announcing in the coming months!

 

Delivering for Our Health

Jen graduated from Boston University School of Law where she had a concentration in health law. She spent her legal career representing injured workers and people with disabilities in both litigation and administrative hearings.  That experience inspired her to run for office to ensure that our healthcare systems were accessible to everyone.  That is why Jen is a co-sponsor of the New York Health Act. Jen also:

• Voted to add the Equal Rights Amendment to our state constitution, which includes equal protection under the law for reproductive health choices, as well as provides protections for members of the LGBTQI community, people with disabilities, and other protected classes;

• Helped pass the covered lives amendment which helps fund early intervention services for children with disabilities under age 3;

• Co-sponsored Lian’s law to expand education and access to testing for preeclampsia.

• Voted to create parity in payment for telehealth services so people can continue accessing healthcare remotely when that best suits their needs;

• Voted to create a safe staffing requirement for our hospital and nursing homes to ensure there were sufficient nurses to provide the care patients’ need;

• Passed a budget to increase Medicaid rates, provide bonuses to healthcare workers, and give cost of living increases to our mental hygiene workers.

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Delivering for Our Economy

Jen took office in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic-- a time when our state unemployment rate was 8.6%, many businesses were still closed and our future was clouded in uncertainty.  Today, businesses are back open and our unemployment rate is back to 2017 levels.  But now are problems are different-- businesses are struggling to find staff and many are still trying to dig themselves out of COVID-related debt. That's why Jen has used her position on the Economic Development committee to support our small businesses and fund workforce development--to that end, Jen: 

• Voted for $800 million in funding for the small business recovery grant program;

• Passed $25 Million for NY restaurant resiliency grant program and $35M in tax credits for restaurants impacted by COVID restrictions;

• Sponsored and passed a bill to ensure parents could collect unemployment if they suddenly lost childcare;

• Provided $100,000 to St. Ann's Community to fund healthcare worker training;

• Helped secure $50 million for COVID Recovery workforce initiative