Health care is a human right. It is time our health care system reflects that.
We are in a climate crisis. We need bold, decisive action now.
Rehabilitation, equity, & accountability must guide our justice system, requiring major reforms.
Equity in education & career opportunities will grow our economy & give everyone a chance to thrive.
From housing to transportation, our state must work for all people.
The American Dream must be available for all people equally & equitably.
My father battled cancer for six years. In the last year of his life, we received a summary of care bill totaling $1 million. Without insurance, we would be bankrupt. But the reality is - even with insurance - people are going bankrupt. And because of the cost of care and unknown or surprise fees, people are not seeking medical attention. Health care has become a luxury for far too many of us. Health care is a human right and it’s time our healthcare system reflects that.
Treating health care as a human right begins with affordability & accessibility. I support affordable universal health care with broad coverage that includes mental health, vision, dental, and hearing. We must continue to work to drive down costs as we move toward that goal. As such, I support:
Price caps on lifesaving medications.
Expanded access to alternative markets for prescription medicines.
Protections against increasing premiums.
Programs to expand availability of services & care providers.
Profits & productivity should not come at the expense of your health or the health of your family. That is why I support paid sick day legislation & legislation that would create a public paid family & medical leave insurance program.
Health care coverage has, for too long, not covered aspects vital to a woman’s health & should be covered by all insurance plans. I will work on Reproductive Health issues from a lens of Reproductive Justice, fighting to ensure all women’s Reproductive Rights are recognized in legislation.
Investing in behavioral & mental health has taken a back seat for too long & should be included in ALL insurance plans. Access should be simple & meet the needs of all Coloradans especially adolescents, veterans, our neighbors experiencing homelessness, law enforcement & other critical populations.
Our public health has been traumatically impacted by gun violence. We must treat gun safety as the public health threat it truly is.
I also support treating substance abuse as a public health issue rather than a criminal issue. We must continue to see people as people and address their needs, not as problems to sweep aside & imprison.
While we think of health care as hospital-oriented, health care also relates to our living environment. We must measure & track our air and water quality to make sure we are all living in a healthy environment.
Similarly, we must look at community health as it connects to our built environment. I will support programs that support & encourage local governments to enhance walkability & community health.
Climate change is a crisis & we must treat it as such. Treating our climate crisis as a crisis requires bold & immediate action. I will support the strongest legislation addressing this crisis - that also accounts for a just transition of jobs - that we can get passed in Colorado. We must be willing to make sacrifices to mitigate the effects & push back the tide of climate change.
Our vulnerable & frontline communities are always the first to feel the effects of pollution & climate change. I will legislate from a perspective of Environmental Justice, looking for ways to protect those who are often overlooked.
I support increasing fines for air & water quality violations & strengthening our regulatory oversight of oil & gas operators. We cannot sacrifice our human & environmental health for the profits of multinational companies.
We must invest in building out the infrastructure needed to move us toward increased use of renewables in our corporate, governmental, & personal lives to meet our climate goals.
As we transition away from coal-based & other unsustainable forms of energy, we must commit to doing so in a way that supports those workers in finding new employment.
We must get serious about reducing the impact of single occupancy vehicles on our environment I support moving toward free public transit & incentivizing the use of public transit while we move that direction. However, TABOR, Gallagher, & Amendment 23 are hamstringing our state budget. If we want to increase investment in our public transit infrastructure, we must dismantle this constraining apparatus.
I support reducing the presence of hydraulic fracturing in our state as much as is needed to fully protect our communities and reduce the harm it creates in our natural environment. To that end, I support robust & thorough testing of the air & water quality around hydraulic fracturing sites.
While individual actions pale in comparison to the impact big polluters have on the environment, in the aggregate, our actions make an impact. We all have a role to play in this fight & that is why I support a ban on single-use plastics, support local governments making recycling more accessible & affordable, & support positive incentives for individual behavioral change.
While some find justice in our criminal justice system, for too many it unjustly ruins lives. Our justice system must be focused on rehabilitation, equity, & accountability.
To align our justice system with our values, we should reform our Penal Code with a focus on restorative justice, alternatives to incarceration, & reduction in felony sentences.
We need to fund & make diversion & probation programs fee-free. We must also remove the profit motive from our justice system by eliminating the use of private prisons in our state.
Additionally, as a legislator, I will support deploying mental health professionals & social workers as first responders where appropriate.
While local jurisdictions have control over the implementation & details of their use of force policies, the State sets broad parameters. I would like to examine the state's parameters for use of force & in an effort to see where we can raise the threshold for use of force.
We also need to increase accountability, transparency, and objectivity in excessive use of force cases. I would like to start by exploring an independent investigation unit in the Attorney General’s office with exclusive jurisdiction over use of force cases.
I would also like to investigate what opportunities there are for increasing cultural competency training around mental & behavioral health, disabilities, & diverse identities for law enforcement.
Too many of our kids are getting caught up in the justice system too early. They deserve our investment to help them create opportunities & options so they know they can make different choices in their lives.
To be truly focused on equity in justice, we must work toward reducing recidivism by investing in rehabilitation, re-entry, & transition programs.
It is not just for someone to carry a mark on their record for something that is no longer illegal. As such, I support expunging records of cannabis related misdemeanors.
The government has the power to shape society & the economy. With power comes responsibility. As such, I believe the government should take an active role in improving equity in our state.
I support using every tool available to support small, local businesses, co-ops, & employee-owned businesses. Our state's economy & our individual economies are stronger when money is spent locally & we are our own bosses.
I support raising the minimum wage, strengthening the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act should it fail to increase equality of pay for work across intersections of gender & race, & strengthen oversight of state contracting processes to ensure fair consideration of POC-owned firms.
I support making Colorado a hub for the green economy with renewable energy companies that hire locally for good paying jobs that protect the right to form a union & meet licensing, labor, and safety standards.
I support efforts to study & strengthen protections for employees that meaningfully deter harassment in the workplace.
The ability to organize & collectively bargain is fundamental to preventing the exploitation of workers. I will view legislation through a lens of supporting our workers & supporting our unions.
I will also look to strengthen protections for employees by closing employee classification loopholes that exist in part-time v. full-time hiring practices and contractor v. employee status.
The future of our state is only as promising as our students’ future. From pre-k to post-graduate, our goal MUST be to guarantee high-quality education that meets the needs of EVERY student.
We have education gaps across Aurora & across our state. I support investment in public, neighborhood schools. Let’s make our schools hubs for the community, because we know a student’s success is determined by much more than what happens in the classroom. Our schools can be an asset to not just our students, but their families as well.
Part of equity is doing what’s needed to balance out inequality. As such, I support efforts to move us toward fully funded pre-k & enhancing opportunities for summer programming.
We must also overhaul SB 10-191 to disconnect testing & teacher evaluations from school funding, make evaluations of students & teachers more holistic & decrease class sizes. This will help us better understand our teachers’ & students’ successes & challenges thereby helping us better set them up for a successful & promising future.
In this same vein, I support efforts that enable teachers to live where they work which means raising teacher pay, looking into subsidized housing for teachers, loan repayment programs & recruitment programs that increase diversity & employ teachers from the school’s neighborhood. And of course this includes supporting teachers’ ability to organize & collectively bargain.
Part of equity in education is helping our grads who don’t have the same connections as others to get a foot in the door at good-paying jobs. So, I support incentivizing local businesses to hire Colorado grads, supporting the expansion of trade union apprenticeship programs & their coordination with our schools, supporting the State Board of Education in evaluating curriculum to ensure students are learning the skills & tools needed to thrive in our evolving economy, & expanding loan repayment programs so our grads can go into public service careers without being saddled with debt their whole lives.
TABOR, Gallagher, and Amendment 23 are hamstringing our state budget. If we want to properly fund education, we must dismantle this constraining infrastructure.
I believe education is important enough for individuals & society that it should be free for all students. Understanding the challenges to that, we can start with free community college first or with dramatically expanding income-based tuition, but we need to be moving in the direction of universal education. In the meantime, I also support extending free application day to free application week and further investing in community education about community colleges & concurrent enrollment so our high school students can set themselves up for success.
Learning cannot happen in a hostile environment. That’s why I support ensuring our curriculum, discipline models, teacher training, & teacher recruitment are imbued with cultural competency to reduce the school to prison pipeline & ensure our students' education instills dignity & pride in all our children. This should also include an increased investment in anti-bullying programs & initiatives.
From housing to transportation, our state must work for all people. But it’s no secret that wages have not kept up with the cost of living with the demand on our housing market & style of development driving up costs. Raising the minimum wage, reducing health care & education costs, & moving toward free public transit are some ways we can address the cost of living. Below are other avenues we can look at to make it easier to live in Colorado & realize the American Dream.
I support loosening the constraints on the options local governments have to address affordability.
The Telluride decision prohibits mandating affordability in new developments & has prevented our legislature from making massive affordability changes because of it. Let’s get serious about affordability & override the Telluride decision with legislative action.
Let’s improve & strengthen programs that protect our Seniors in keeping their homes & empower young professionals & young families toward home ownership.
I support protections against onerous fines, evictions without notice, dilatory maintenance, & surprise billing.
We have the most expensive public transit tickets in the country. As we move toward free public transit, I support efforts that would highly reduce the cost of a ticket across the board.
I am eager to speak more with residents in HD41 to hear more about what is affecting your household expenditures. We can find creative solutions & sometimes big help can come from small changes. Let’s work together to make sure you are not stuck in a downward spiral.
The American Dream must be available for all people equally & equitably.
Access to the American Dream depends on being able to procure housing without facing redlining & credit discrimination, work without facing discrimination, & utilizing public services & facilities without harassment & abuse. I am an ardent support of the Colorado Civil Rights Division & will continue to support its important work so all Coloradans can access the American Dream.
I am here because my parents found a home here, free from violence & oppression. People around the world still have that need. As such, I support legislation & policies that treat all people with dignity & maintain Colorado as a safe & welcoming place for refugees & immigrants. One element of creating that safe & welcoming place is to strengthen protections for data privacy so individual data is only accessible to those who should have access to it.
I take access to democracy seriously and support measures that increase access to voting & funding for voter education. I also support Ranked Choice Voting to increase just outcomes in our democratic process.
We have seen a dramatic rise in hate crimes since the 2016 election. I support our state’s efforts to improve reporting of hate crimes, training for community organizations to receive reports of & help victims of hate crimes, & increase support for victims. As a legislator, I will view all legislation through a lens of safety & non-discriminatory impact for our protected classes.