The ideas below reflect my legislative priorities. While the executive branch governs and attempts to makes promises, legislators work collaboratively to shape, debate, and pass laws. These are not guarantees, but clear statements of what I will work toward.
Labor
Worker productivity is ever-increasing while wages remain stagnant. Empowering workers with increased rights on the job, including the right to organize, will allow Arizonans to thrive and live a life of dignity. All workers deserve the right to collectively bargain, to access affordable and accessible childcare, to be protected by statewide heat safety standards, to utilize paid maternity & paternity leave, and to never work for a sub-minimum wage.
Education
Arizona’s education system must work to serve all students, and funding should to go the public schools that are required to do so. Our state’s constitution explicitly states that university instruction should be “as nearly free as possible”, yet decades of state budgets and tuition rates would suggest otherwise. It’s time the state makes investments in our future. This includes free school lunches for all students, repealing the arbitrary Aggregate Expenditure Limit (AEL) that prevents schools from spending money they already have, ending universal school vouchers, creating stipends for student teachers, and providing quality outdoor educational opportunities for all children.
Environment
We have the power to improve our environment for all. Not just the natural environment, but where we live, work, and communicate. We must test our farmland statewide for PFAS (forever chemicals) contamination, create climate resilience grants for organizations and individuals, expand rural food access, smooth the “benefit cliff”, increase the use of community response teams, invest in public housing, and constitutionalize tribal consultation.
Democracy
The power belongs to The People, and our elections must provide them the greatest voice possible in government. Arizona should be a shining example of election access and integrity, banning dark money in our elections, implementing ranked choice voting, and allowing same day voter registration.
Privacy
Arizonans, like Americans nationwide, are rapidly losing their rights to privacy. The state must act now to implement protections for data collection and use. I believe we need sweeping legislation giving people rights and ownership over their information and data, anti-surveillance laws, right-to-repair legislation, implied warranties for products, and so much more.