State Rep. Jennifer Leeper is seeking a third term
Has represented the Southport section of Fairfield since 2021
FAIRFIELD — State Rep. Jennifer Leeper is running for a third consecutive term in the state General Assembly — and if she's reelected, her goals include a restructuring of the Connecticut Siting Council and expanded public benefits coverage.
Leeper, who has represented the Southport section of Fairfield in the state's 132nd house district since 2021, announced in February that she was seeking two more years in office.
A Republican candidate has not yet challenged Leeper, who defeated her Republican predecessor, former state Rep. and Fairfield selectman candidate Brian Farnen, in her past two bids for office after losing to him in a 2020 special election. Fairfield Republican Town Committee Chair Melissa Longo said the party is reviewing “a few very strong candidates” to enter the race.
During Leeper's more than three years in the state legislature, she said the pandemic has highlighted the need for continued investment in education, housing, accessible health care, and above all, community. She emphasized her push for ninefigure investment in Connecticut schools as the vice chair of the education committee as a key moment in the General Assembly's efforts to address those needs.
“I think we've learned we need to be investing in people,” Leeper said. “And I always used to say, through the pandemic, what I learned the most was that people need people. We are not designed to be so isolated from one another. And so investing in systems and structures that help support one another, I think, is a huge part of the work that we need to continue.”
In Leeper's home district, no issue has been more contentious than a United Illuminating proposal to build steel monopoles up to 195 feet tall throughout Fairfield and part of Bridgeport. A version of the project earned approval from the Siting Council, the state panel that oversees transmission line projects, earlier this month and will likely face an upcoming appeal from Fairfield.
Southport residents have rallied in opposition of the project, decrying its visual damage to the historic landscape and the acres of land access it would take on private properties.
Leeper was among the first to sound an alarm about the project before others, including a series of neighbors and businesses, intervened in the Siting Council process.
She said she plans to develop legislation restructuring the Siting Council to ensure that no more than one member has ties to utility companies, either through investment or past employment. She added that the council hasn't complied with the ecologists required to be on the council during the UI application process.
“What I have heard from my community loud and clear is that we actually want an electric future, we want a planet we can inhabit, we want clean air to breathe — our health actually depends on it — but we need to ensure we're making that transition in a way that's not destructive to our communities,” she said.
Leeper said she stepped into office three years ago with a “data-driven perspective” that she's used to support three profitable state budgets, criminal justice reform and a $240 million investment in the Education Cost Sharing grant, which doles out more than half of the state's education funding for local school districts.
“We have to look at education funding as an investment and ensuring that we're investing in every child and every community because we all benefit when, for example, kids in our neighboring community also graduate from high school prepared to be successful and meaningfully contribute to their life and to their communities and feel fulfilled,” she said.
Leeper serves as the vice chair of the General Assembly's education committee, is a member of
the environment and human services committees and was part of the legislature's Connecticut Main Street Working Group, which has worked to support economic development in vacant spaces of downtown corridors. She said a bill allowing the state and municipalities to impose stricter regulations on blighted properties was another key step in revitalizing downtown corridors.
“We want a more robust economy, we want more employers, we want more people moving to our state,” she said. “That also means we need places for people to live.”
If reelected, Leeper plans to push for higher Medicaid reimbursement rates for nonprofit health care providers and looser income brackets for government benefits.
She said organizations can't afford to treat Medicaid patients, which she said make up 30 percent of the state's population, because reimbursement rates for insurance-covered care is a fraction of the total cost. She said dentists may get reimbursed $20 for a cleaning that would typically cost $120.
“They're literally losing money by serving the Medicaid population, and that's not right,” Leeper said.
Leeper said the income brackets attached to public benefits like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs pressure beneficiaries to turn down employment opportunities that would disqualify them from the same welfare. She said state lawmakers should create a “sliding scale” for income eligibility to address the dilemma.
“They can't see the difference between how much money they're going to make and their promotion versus the benefit that they lose would make them worse off, so they're turning down opportunities for professional advancement because of these benefit clips,” she said.
Leeper also eyes clean energy as a top focus for another term with electric vehicles and emissions regulation taking a central role. She said phasing out the sale of newly produced combustion engines by 2035 and implementing clean air standards from California will be pivotal steps as the state hopes to continue enticing auto manufacturers to invest in charging stations and roadwork.
“That's a big shift both culturally and for our infrastructure, and we need to make sure we're prioritizing that work, we're investing in it and we're prepared for the moves we're trying to make,” she said.
“What I have heard from my community loud and clear is that we actually want an electric future, we want a planet we can inhabit, we want clean air to breathe — our health actually depends on it — but we need to ensure we’re making that transition in a way that’s not destructive to our communities.” State Rep. Jennifer Leeper