Jake Ashby, elected to the New York State Senate in 2022, represents the 43rd District, covering Rensselaer County and parts of Washington and Albany Counties. As Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Veterans, Homeland Security, and Military Affairs, he advocates for veterans’ services, housing development, healthcare workforce expansion, and AI regulation, securing bipartisan support and state aid for infrastructure projects.
Ashby previously served in the State Assembly (2018-2022) and was instrumental in elevating the Division of Veterans’ Services to a cabinet-level agency. A former Army Reserves Captain with combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, he also worked as an occupational therapist and taught healthcare at Maria College. Ashby holds degrees in healthcare management and occupational therapy.
He resides in Castleton with his wife, Kristy, and their two children and is involved with Sacred Heart Church and the local VFW.
Property Taxes and Cost of Living
• What specific policies would you advocate to balance the need for essential public services with keeping property taxes affordable?
• How do you plan to address the rising cost of living in your district?
Property taxes are sky-high in New York State because of unfunded mandates, a wonky term that just means when state government tells a locality they have to do or buy something without providing them the money. By far the largest one is the municipal share of the Medicaid program, a $2.4 billion albatross Upstate. I sponsor legislation that would align New York with nearly the entire rest of the nation and require the state to pay for the municipal share outside of New York City. It would be the largest property tax cut in state history, incentivize the state to eliminate hundreds of millions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse and force Albany to be truly accountable for one of the most significant parts of our state budget.
I also sponsor bills to provide tax credits for families to offset utility and childcare costs, expand the child tax credit and increase it for the parents of newborns, and increase Enhanced Star to provide seniors with a break on their property taxes. I also think we need to streamline state government and restore fiscal discipline. Fewer and fewer people can’t pay for more and more government. If we want to reverse our status as the national leader in population loss, we have to spend less and tax less. We can’t spend billions on handouts for Hollywood film studios, and we can’t waste $2.4 billion on failed migrant programs.
Affordable Housing
• How do you propose to expand access to affordable housing in your area?
• What is your stance on rent control or other measures to ensure that housing remains attainable for low- and middle-income families?
I sponsor bipartisan legislation to provide game-changing, flexible infrastructure grants to municipalities that preauthorize parcels for housing development. Builders want to build, and they’ll choose communities that cut through costly, burdensome red tape for them. I think it’s important that the subsidy goes to critical public investments like broadband, clean water and transportation infrastructure instead of the developer. I truly believe that this is largely a supply crisis, and that solving it will drive down costs across the housing market.
Public Safety and Policing
• What is your vision for public safety?
• Bail Reform and Raise the Age are “dinner table” talking points for your constituents. Is this recent legislation working or do you see room for improvement?
Public safety is my top priority. It’s foundational to everything else we do. I am the candidate endorsed by the state’s largest law enforcement organization, as well as the New York State Police.
I envision a system that empowers police officers to do their jobs and engage their communities. We need a system where prosecutors are given more resources instead of more paperwork. We deserve a system where judges have the discretion to treat first-time offender struggling with mental health and substance use issues very differently from a career criminal who continually victimizes innocent people. Because of the disastrous implementation of policies like bail reform and raise the age, we don’t have anything close to a system like the one I described.
I sponsor legislation to fix bail reform. I sponsor legislation to crack down on organized retail crime. I sponsor legislation to strengthen penalties against fentanyl traffickers, and I’m proud to have voted for record funding to support our State Police.
Education and School Funding
• What are your priorities for K-12 education?
• What plans do you have for addressing mental health services and school safety?
The administration is considering changes to the state’s school aid formula. This winter, the governor’s executive budget proposal was a disaster for our district and would’ve cut millions from our local schools if not for our bipartisan pushback in the Legislature. My message will be the same one I delivered then: we can’t shortchange our rural and suburban schools, especially as they continue to face complex transportation issues and are working to reverse pandemic learning loss.
In the Senate, I sponsor legislation to expand mental health services in schools and provide districts with School Safety Specialists certified by DCJS to implement emergency plans, coordinate with law enforcement and support vulnerable students.
Job Creation and Economic Development
• How do you plan to stimulate job creation, particularly in high-growth sectors like technology and green energy?
• What role should local government play in attracting new businesses and supporting small businesses?
If we want the jobs of the future, we have to invest in our workforce right now. That’s why I’ve been so supportive of Hudson Valley Community College’s focus on preparing students for careers in green energy, automotive repair, heating and cooling, and all kinds of electrical work. That’s why I sponsor bipartisan legislation to invest in our healthcare workforce, and that’s why my votes to deliver record funding for our transportation infrastructure are so important- these are the things that attract job creators. My balanced, bipartisan approach has earned me the endorsement of major labor unions and the Business Council.
It’s imperative that we solve our ongoing crisis of affordability in New York State. If we’re going to continue to have the highest taxes in the country and tie up our economy in red tape, we’re going to lose ideas, we’re going to lose jobs, and we’re going to lose opportunities.
Health Care Access
• What initiatives would you support to improve access to quality health care, particularly in underserved areas?
• How would you address the mental health crisis and ensure that services are accessible and affordable?
As a former operator of a healthcare practice, as a former college healthcare instructor, as a former union clinician and as a sitting member of the Senate Health Committee, I can tell you that our healthcare system is fundamentally broken. The administration seems to believe that everyone can be on Medicaid, that Medicaid can cover everything, and that it’s ok for them to refuse to pay providers what it costs to actually provide treatment, reimbursing pennies on the dollar for lifesaving care. The administration is addicted to the revenue it generates from taxing private health insurance plans and making coverage more
expensive for hardworking people. Staffing shortages drive up costs, burn out clinicians and compromise quality of care across the state.
I sponsor bipartisan legislation providing stipends to clinicians who mentor students and help them complete the clinical work required for them to enter the workforce. I sponsor legislation requiring insurance companies to pay for drug treatment, and I want to repeal the taxes making insurance coverage so expensive.
I support utilizing vacant state-owned properties to expand our mental health and substance use treatment capacity, and I sponsor legislation to expand innovative mental health programming in schools.
Transportation and Infrastructure
• How do you plan to address transportation issues, including public transit options, road maintenance, and infrastructure upgrades?
• What is your stance on building sustainable transportation options, such as bike lanes or electric vehicle infrastructure?
My record speaks for itself. I’ve supported record funding for local infrastructure repair and maintenance, and will continue to do so. I voted for bills expand access to EV charging stations and improve clean fuel standards. I’m a strong supporter of the CDTA. I drafted a bill providing grants for municipalities to de-ice roads with salt brine spray, a cheaper, safer, and more environmentally friendly solution than rock salt.
Environmental Concerns
• What actions will you take to combat climate change at the local level?
• How do you plan to promote clean energy projects and ensure environmental justice in communities disproportionately affected by pollution or climate change?
I voted for bills to expand access to EV charging stations and improve clean fuel standards. I voted for over $500 million to revitalize our clean water infrastructure. I sponsor legislation to keep our hydropower plants online by providing them with tax credits to cover their state-mandated recertification costs. 70% of our clean energy is reliable, affordable hydropower. I also wrote a bill to study the feasibility of modular nuclear, by far the driving force in France boasting some of the lowest emission rates in the world.
When it comes to environmental justice, I think it’s pretty absurd that Upstate taxpayers are subsidizing New York City’s clean energy transition. 90% of Upstate energy is emission-free. New York City Democrats took Indian Point offline, replaced it with fossil fuels and somehow think they can lecture us about gas stoves.
Opioid Crisis and Addiction Services
• What policies would you implement to combat the opioid crisis?
• How would you improve access to addiction treatment and support services for affected individuals and their families?
I wrote bipartisan legislation to increase penalties against fentanyl traffickers and expand pretrial addiction services for low-level offenders. I also sponsor bills to crack down on drug dealers who prey on addicts at recovery meetings, improve hospital intake for those in recovery and require physicians to notify patients about the risks associated with opioids. In my first budget as a State Senator, I helped deliver over $1 billion in funding for local recovery providers across the state.
Equity and Social Justice
• How do you plan to promote equity and inclusion?
• What specific policies would you advocate for to address systemic inequalities in areas such as housing, education, and criminal justice?
My legislation to fix bail reform would combat bias by providing judges with data-driven, algorithmic guidance on pretrial detention decisions. It would eliminate the cash component of bail entirely so that detaining defendants is all about protecting our communities and not at all about economics.
My bill to provide all parents of newborns with a fully refundable, $1,000 income tax credit (even those who are out of work) is backed by study after study showing it would reduce incarceration rates and enhance educational outcomes for low-income kids.
