Healthcare is a human right, not a right for the privileged. This is why I support a single-payer healthcare option. It is the only way we can provide true quality and affordable healthcare. Insurance companies negotiate with healthcare providers by pools. Pools in this case refer to groups of people who are insured by an insurance company. The larger the pool, the better rates they can settle on. Single-payer healthcare would put all Minnesotans in one pool, thus, giving us power to negotiate the best rates.

We need to significantly increase the state per pupil funding formula and tie it to inflation while also decreasing the limit by which school districts can go out for a referendum. This way, the legislature would not always have to pass formula increases every two years and it will normalize education funding throughout the state, making education funding more equitable.

We need to create referendum equalization. Currently, it costs Robbinsdale School District residents’ more in property taxes than it does the Hopkins School District to raise the same amount of money. This is because Hopkins has more commercial property that contributes to school district revenue than Robbinsdale. Equalizing referendums would help subsidize it from the state, making it fairer throughout the state.

We need to significantly increase funding to our intermediate school districts. They do not get the same funding as independent school districts get from the state because they rely on member districts for revenue. They are educating our most high trauma, sensitive students.

Our schools are becoming more and more diverse, and school staff needs to reflect that. Research shows better outcomes for students of color who see themselves in their teachers. I support recruiting and retaining more teachers of color.

Our children face many challenges before coming to school: poverty, homelessness, mental health crisis, drug addiction, etc. To alleviate these problems, our districts should have “community schools,” where the state can provide assistance in these types of situations. This concept consists of having social workers, housing assistance, and mental health workers in schools for immediate assistance to children and their families.

Too many people of color are in prison for victimless drug crimes. They deserve to have their rights reinstated and given a second chance at life.

Criminals need to be rehabilitated and not institutionalized. This would save taxpayers millions of dollars. The US leads the world in incarcerated citizens. According to the US Department of Justice, of the 650,000 prisoners who are released every year, 66.67% will return to prison within three years. If prisoners are rehabilitated, it will lead to more positive outcomes in their lives, thus reducing the rate of repeat offenses.

I support increasing the state minimum wage to $20/hour for corporations with 50 or more employees. These hardworking employees need to be paid a livable wage, otherwise, allowing them to get paid poverty wages is subsidizing corporate profits. This happens when an employee cannot live on their earnings, they apply for government benefits to help them and their families live.

Unions have always been at the forefront in the battle for the middle class. It needs to be easier for workers to collaborate to unionize.

Minority and female business owners are under-represented in the Minnesotan economy. There is huge risk in starting one’s own business. We need to offer more grants & assistance for minority and female business owners.

Home ownership is getting more and more out of reach, especially for people of color. In 1950, 51% of people of color were homeowners. In 2019, the home ownership rate decreased to 43%. We need to expand grant opportunities for down payment assistance to encourage home ownership and offer rate buy-downs given high interest rates for mortgages.

Public housing needs to be spread out throughout our state and not just confined to a few cities. This idea will help families in poverty move up to middle class.

Extreme weather conditions are becoming more and more frequent. Ways we can improve the environment:

We need to create a state tax credit for the purchase of vehicles that reduce carbon emissions.

The state can incentivize the purchase of solar panels by allowing counties to finance the purchase for homeowners over 20 years.

Schools are perfect buildings to house solar panels. The state can allow school districts to use long-term facility maintenance to cover the costs of installation.

We also cannot just recycle our way out of climate change, that is why I would advocate to reduce our reliance on single-use plastics.

I support a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion. No government entity should impose that decision on her. It is utterly despicable that the US Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade.

According to research, woman are paid 18% less than men. Also, black women are paid 30% less and Latina woman are paid 35% less than white men. We need to offer grants to women who go into male dominated fields as well as enforce equitable pay laws on employers who are not in compliance.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, women are 72% more likely to get injured and 17% more likely to die in the same car accident as men. This is from a lack of proper crash testing and use of crash dummies that represent women. There are plenty of examples like this throughout our society where women’s rights aren’t prioritized.

We cannot control who we love, nor should we be discriminated against for doing so. Minnesota needs to protect the LGBTQ community; whether it is from bigotry actions, what public bathroom to use, and to ban conversion therapy.

I support a progressive tax structure where the richest, wealthiest Minnesotans pay their fair share. If the federal government is going to give tax breaks to the wealthiest individuals, then we need to tax them at the state level to make up for the lost federal revenue. Minnesotans who earn $250,000 or more for individuals, and $400,000 or more for married couples, should pay a tax rate of 12%. Tax rates for income below these thresholds would remain at their current tax rates.

As a corporate tax auditor, I have seen how corporations take advantage of many loopholes in the Minnesota tax code. These tax breaks need to end in order to fund Minnesota.

The individual tax forms have become very complicated over the years. We can streamline them by eliminating the rarely used addbacks and subtractions.

Currently, college debt has reached $29 billion in Minnesota because of rising tuition rates and lack of adequate funding from the state. This debt is hindering many young Minnesotans from buying a house, a car, getting married, or having children. We can eliminate some of this debt by offering loan forgiveness to people who choose to work for the state, the University of Minnesota, or Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.

Too many black and brown people have been harassed and killed at the hands of police. This costs our cities millions of dollars in wrongful death claims. There needs to be major reform to reinsure trust in our police departments.

I support:

(1) Demilitarize the police

(2) Require officers to have extensive mental health exams

(3) Require officers to pay for their own hazard insurance

There are instances where citizens call 9-1-1 for services police officers cannot provide. For that, we should create a new system of peace officers who would be trained in mental health crises, de-escalating tactics, and restorative practices.

We have experienced too many mass shootings in society. In most of these cases, the perpetrator used assault weapons. In my first term on the Robbinsdale school board, I have experienced instances of children bringing guns to and around school property. For these reasons I support:

(1) Assault weapon ban

(1) Universal background checks

(3) Ghost-gun ban