Candidate for Michigan House of Representatives - District 89 in 2020 Michigan Primary Election.
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Get StartedI support replacing Michigan’s flat tax with a well-designed progressive income tax and instituting an estate tax on the wealthiest households. I support repealing Healthy Michigan Plan’s work requirements for Medicaid. There is a strong correlation between health, air quality, race, and poverty. I support policies that tackle environmental injustice. Learn more
I support policies that promote economic resilience. At scales from individual to national, we want the economic conditions to bounce back from a shock quickly. Policies that promote economic resilience encourage lifelong learning, provide affordable and accessible health care and child care, and enable non-car transportation options, for example. Michigan, and the nation, has a pandemic-induced employment crisis. Every Michigander who wants a job should be able to get a job. I support state-led investments that enable people to find employment, such as large, labor-intensive public health and infrastructure projects. Learn more
Public funding should support the public education system. The per-pupil School Aid Fund has been flat at about $8,500 since 2009. If it had kept up with inflation, it would be $10,300. That’s a 20% effective cut. The fund is also diverted to higher education and charter schools, further diminishing the funding available for public schools. I support increasing the per-pupil funding going to local districts to at least at the inflation-adjusted level from 2009. I support repealing policies, like the 3rd grade reading law, that punish students without addressing the core problems facing the entire educational system. Learn more
Regarding energy policy, I suggested that Michigan join the northeastern states in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. I also support a well-designed, revenue neutral carbon “fee and dividend.” These would boost Michigan’s economy while reducing pollution and would be good successors to the current 15% by 2021 renewable energy standard. Learn more
I support efforts to reduce the partisan influence on district boundary-making, such as Voters Not Politicians. A single day of in-person voting is an anachronism in the 21st century. I support policies that enable broad voter participation. Voters should not have to choose between voting and working or worrying about finding child-care. No-excuse absentee ballots are effectively a vote-by-mail system that enables voters to control when they vote. I support the mailing of absentee ballot applications to all eligible voters, as is being done this year, as well as mailing the actual ballots to all eligible voters. Learn more
In 2017, 1,138 Michigan residents died from gun-related violence. Nationally, about two-thirds of gun deaths are by suicide. This suggests that Michigan has a gun violence problem. Waiting periods can reduce by 17% the number of gun-related deaths by suicide. Michigan has no waiting period to purchase a firearm. A waiting period of a few days could save the lives of more than 100 Michiganders each year. I support reasonable waiting periods for purchasing firearms. I support closing the concealed pistol license loophole to make schools truly “weapons free zones.” I support prohibiting firearms in the State Capitol. Learn more
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