Jillian Gilchrest
{{short description|American politician from Connecticut}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Jillian Gilchrest
| state_house = Connecticut
| district = 18th
| term_start = January 9, 2019
| term_end =
| predecessor = Andy Fleischmann
| successor =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1982|3|21}}
| birth_place =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| party = Democratic
| education = University of Connecticut (BA, MSW)
}}
Jillian Marie Gilchrest (born March 21, 1982) is an American politician who is a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives from the 18th district in Hartford County.
Early life
Gilchrest earned a BA in Women's Studies from the University of Connecticut in 2004. She would later earn a Masters Degree in Social Work from the University of Connecticut School of Social Work.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/06/us/elections/results-connecticut-elections.html|title=Connecticut Election Results - Election Results 2018 - The New York Times|work=The New York Times |date=6 November 2018 |access-date=November 26, 2018}}
Career
Gilchrest served as the Director of Health Professional Outreach for the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Connecticut, and Director of Policy & Communications for the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence.{{cite web|url=https://www.housedems.ct.gov/Gilchrest/Biography|title=Jillian Gilchrest|website=CTHouseDems.org|access-date=June 15, 2022}}
Political career
Gilchrest was elected to the West Hartford Board of Education in 2013.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/06/us/elections/results-connecticut-elections.html|title=Connecticut Election Results - Election Results 2018 - The New York Times|work=The New York Times |date=6 November 2018 |access-date=November 26, 2018}}
=2018 Election=
{{Election box begin no change |title=Connecticut House: General Election 2018: 18th District{{cite web|url=https://ballotpedia.org/Jillian_Gilchrest|title=Jillian Gilchrest|website=|access-date=March 12, 2022}}}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change
|party = Democratic Party (United States)
|candidate = Jillian Gilchrest
|votes = 7,608
|percentage = 71.9
|change =
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link no change
|party = Republican Party (United States)
|candidate = Mary Fay
|votes = 2,977
|percentage = 28.1
}}
{{Election box end}}
{{Election box begin no change |title=Connecticut House: Democratic Primary 2018: 18th District{{cite web|url=https://ballotpedia.org/Jillian_Gilchrest|title=Jillian Gilchrest|website=|access-date=March 12, 2022}}}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change
|party = Democratic Party (United States)
|candidate = Jillian Gilchrest
|votes = 1,707
|percentage = 52.3
|change =
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link no change
|party = Democratic Party (United States)
|candidate = Andy Fleischmann (incumbent)
|votes = 1,558
|percentage = 47.7
}}
{{Election box end}}
=2020 Election=
{{Election box begin no change |title=Connecticut House: General Election 2020: 18th District{{cite web|url=https://ballotpedia.org/Jillian_Gilchrest|title=Jillian Gilchrest|website=|access-date=March 12, 2022}}}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change
|party = Democratic Party (United States)
|candidate = Jillian Gilchrest
|votes = 9,030
|percentage = 72.7
|change =
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link no change
|party = Republican Party (United States)
|candidate = Rick Bush
|votes = 3,387
|percentage = 27.3
}}
{{Election box end}}
=2022 Election=
{{Election box begin no change |title=Connecticut House: General Election 2022: 18th District{{cite web|url=https://electionhistory.ct.gov/eng/contests/view/34967|website=|access-date=January 14, 2023|title=State of Connecticut Elections Database » 2022 Nov 8 :: General Election :: State Representative :: District 18}}}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change
|party = Democratic Party (United States)
|candidate = Jillian Gilchrest
|votes = 7,676
|percentage = 100.0
|change =
}}
{{Election box end}}
Political views
=Connecticut family medical leave act (CFMLA)=
Glichrest voted in favor of the Connecticut family medical leave act signed into law one June 25, 2019 by Governor Ned Lamont. The bill passed the house on May 31, 2019, by a 79–69 vote. Connecticut will join California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Washington and the District of Columbia in implementing a paid-family-leave insurance program. The bill provides employees with up to 12 weeks of paid leave in a 12-month period to care for themselves, family members—including a spouse, parents, in-laws, children, siblings, grandparents, and grandchildren—and anyone else whose close association, whether by blood or affinity, is the equivalent of a family member. Employees will fund the paid-family-leave program by contributing 0.5 percent of their income via a mandatory payroll tax, with contributions commencing in January 2021. Employers make no contributions toward the program. State government employees who belong to unions are exempt, a fact that did not go unnoticed by private business opponents to the bill.{{cite web|url=https://portal.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/News/Press-Releases/2019/06-2019/Governor-Lamont-Signs-Historic-Law-Enacting-Family-and-Medical-Leave-in-Connecticut|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190716203356/https://portal.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/News/Press-Releases/2019/06-2019/Governor-Lamont-Signs-Historic-Law-Enacting-Family-and-Medical-Leave-in-Connecticut|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 16, 2019|title=Governor Lamont Signs Historic Law Enacting Family and Medical Leave in Connecticut|publisher=ct.gov|access-date=October 18, 2020}}
=Gun control=
In 2020 Gilchrest proposed a bill H.B. 5040, which would require gun owners to pay a 35 percent ammunition tax. In the previous legislative session she proposed a 50 percent ammunition tax, that ended up being unsuccessful. The bill would use money raised from the ammunition tax to fund statewide gun violence prevention and intervention efforts.{{cite web |url=https://ctmirror.org/2020/02/28/gun-owners-protest-ammunition-tax-proposal/|title=Gun owners protest ammunition tax proposal|date=28 February 2020 |publisher=ctmirror.org|access-date=March 4, 2020}}
= Police accountability movement 2020=
In July 2020 all three West Hartford representatives, Tammy Exum, Joe Verrengia and Gilchrest, voted in favor of the police accountability act passed by the Connecticut house of representatives. The bill includes a provision that would allow citizens to file civil lawsuits against police, eliminating the qualified immunity which protects officers from being sued in states courts.{{cite web |url=https://we-ha.com/house-passes-robust-police-accountability-bill/|title=House Passes 'Robust' Police Accountability Bill|date=24 July 2020 |publisher=weha.com|access-date=September 13, 2020}}
=Reproductive Freedom Defense Act=
In 2022, Gilchrest cosponsored House Bill 5414,{{cite news|last=Pazniokas|first=Mark|title=Abortion rights bill passes CT House, with Lamont in support|url=https://ctmirror.org/2022/04/19/lamont-pledges-to-sign-abortion-rights-bill/|newspaper=Connecticut Mirror|date=April 19, 2022|access-date=July 2, 2022}} along with Rep. Matt Blumenthal, with whom she had cofounded the General Assembly's Reproductive Freedom Caucus that year. The bill, signed into law by Governor Ned Lamont shortly after passage as the Reproductive Freedom Defense Act, was a response to the Texas Heartbeat Act and similar legislation passed in other states to restrict abortion access in anticipation of the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, which overruled Roe v. Wade, and held that there is no constitutional right to abortion, allowing states to ban it outright, as several did in its immediate aftermath. It allows those who provide or facilitate the provision of abortions in Connecticut and are sued under laws like that in Texas to countersue in Connecticut for equivalent damages, prevents the state and its courts from assisting in the investigation or prosecutions of any abortions in other states that would be legal in Connecticut, or extraditing Connecticut residents charged in other states for such acts. It also expands abortion services available in Connecticut by allowing certain non-physicians to perform suction and medication abortions.{{cite news|last=Keating|first=Christopher|title=Connecticut's new abortion law offers protections for patients, providers: How does it work?|url=https://www.courant.com/politics/hc-pol-abortion-clarifying-breakdown-20220503-qcndqq4m4bcu5fjrhc34udos5q-story.html|newspaper=Hartford Courantdate=June 3, 2022|access-date=July 2, 2022}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{Connecticut House of Representatives}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilchrest, Jillian}}
Category:Connecticut Democrats
Category:Members of the Connecticut House of Representatives
Category:21st-century American women politicians
Category:Women state legislators in Connecticut
Category:University of Connecticut alumni
Category:21st-century members of the Connecticut General Assembly