Letter: Lucia Jansen on Tina Courpas

To the Editor:

I am writing to express my enthusiastic support for Tina Courpas and her re-election to represent the 149th District in the Connecticut House of Representatives. What stands out to me is her willingness to listen, ask tough questions, and make difficult decisions with an eye toward Connecticut's long-term affordability.

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During her first term she demonstrated her leadership on fiscal responsibility by defending the state's budget controls known as the fiscal guardrails that help pay down pension obligations and making sure new spending is backed by clear results and accountability.

In 2017 Connecticut enacted the fiscal guardrails that limited state spending and require unexpected, volatile tax revenues to be used to pay down Connecticut's massive unfunded state employee pension debt. Since then, Connecticut has reduced its unfunded pension debt by $2 billion, but as of 2024 the state still had the second-highest pension debt per resident in the country at $10,151 per person and had only funded 59.5% of its pension liability (only 4 states had funded less).

Despite the size of its 2024 pension debt the legislature during the 2025-2026 legislative session repeatedly violated the fiscal guardrails and directed $2.814 billion into other programs, money which could have instead gone to pay down the pension debt that future generations will now have to pay.

And what's more, during this term the legislature approved state employee pay increases that will result in 60% pay increases for state employees since 2019, making Connecticut state employees the highest-paid state employees in the country – pay increases that will in turn give them larger pensions that Connecticut taxpayers, few of whom have received such massive pay increases, will have to pay for in the future.

Tina voted against the diversion of this $2.814 billion and against the latest pay increases for state employees, demonstrating that she understands that keeping Connecticut affordable requires making difficult choices today rather than passing greater costs on to future generations.

Please join me in supporting Tina Courpas on November 4 and giving her the opportunity to continue representing our Greenwich and Stamford district in Hartford.

Sincerely,

Lucia D. Jansen

Greenwich, CT