WORKING TOWARD A HEALTHIER MICHIGAN
Living in a “healthy” society means more than just providing access to health care. It means thinking about the social, mental, physical, and economic needs of the people in our communities. To be a competitive and growth-minded state, first, we need a healthy population.
MICHIGAN FAMILIES
I’m excited to be a member of a bipartisan task force tackling the issue of child care access and affordability in Michigan in conjunction with our Governor’s office. More and more Michiganders need two incomes to get by, but finding–and affording–high-quality childcare is tougher than ever. Our childcare situation is unsustainable, and our task force is striving to make a difference for hardworking Michigan families. I introduced HB 5043 to make the process for becoming a home daycare provider more efficient and co-sponsored HB 5044 to make childcare more affordable and incentivize quality improvements for providers.
As childcare concerns affect a growing number of residents in our district and state, I’m here to provide solutions that increase quality, access, and affordability for families across Michigan.
HEALTH CARE
Increasing access to health care and mental health care must be more than just a talking point—it’s necessary if we want to strengthen our communities.
Many of our neighbors are just one serious illness or accident away from a mountain of medical debt, even when they have insurance. Senior citizens are struggling to afford prescriptions and are foregoing treatments and surgery because of cost. Our citizens need affordable, comprehensive health care now, and I support a statewide public option to all of our residents so that health care is no longer a privilege—it is a right.
The number of people struggling with mental illness increased dramatically during the pandemic, straining our limited resources even further. Last year, I participated in a mental health listening tour with my fellow representatives and saw firsthand how difficult circumstances were taking a mental toll. Students isolated from school and social support were significantly affected as well. Any discussion of health care must realize the inseparable role of mental health in maintaining overall health. As a member of the School Safety Task Force, I’m also working to boost resources for students to ensure that caring for our mental health is a habit that starts early.
Total health care reform will not be an easy task, but, by working collaboratively, we can make changes that will improve access to preventative care and decrease our community’s overall health costs—including for lifesaving prescriptions.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
If we want our families to have fresh air to breathe, safe water to drink, and clean lakes to play in, we need to make sustainable practices a priority. It’s worth repeating: We only have one environment, and we need systems in place to protect it. Michigan is home to 21% of the world’s freshwater yet experts warn us that we are underfunding our water systems by as much as $284 million each year.
So far, I’ve voted to support a $4.7B supplement to our budget that includes critical funding to shore up aging dams, improve our wastewater collection and treatment infrastructure, replace lead service lines, and secure our drinking water. I’m also holding town hall meetings to hear directly from residents about the water issues impacting them. Preventing contamination of our most vital resource, and treating it when pollution happens, is an essential part of maintaining our district’s “lake life.”
Conservation and sustainability efforts will also be key to dampening the effects of climate change across our state and nation. Electric vehicles can play an important role in helping us reduce pollution, and as a member of the Electric Vehicle Commission, I’m eager to explore the future of sustainable electric transportation in Michigan for commercial and personal use. I will also back efforts to increase the amount of green space in our communities, protect our water and land from PFAS contamination, and pursue preventive measures and remedies to the ongoing impacts of climate change in Michigan.
GUN VIOLENCE
In the wake of the devastating Oxford school shooting, the conversation on gun violence–especially in our schools–has a renewed sense of urgency. Additionally, reducing violence is tough because there’s never one single cause, which means we can’t expect to find one universal solution. Today, I’m a member of the School Safety Task Force working on recommendations to protect our students from gun violence at school. We are taking a fresh look at recommendations from the prior School Safety Task Force and proposing bipartisan solutions that schools can implement, from improving building security to increasing mental health support. As a member of anti-violence groups including the Sandy Hook Promise and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, I’ve also brought programs to local schools to increase respect and compassion and decrease the types of mindsets and behaviors that lead to violence, and I’ve proudly started conversations within my local community about violence prevention. With a multifaceted approach that increases the support available to our students, we can reduce violence and mitigate its consequences throughout Michigan schools.
A critical factor in gun violence will always be the widespread availability of guns in our country, and the reality is that Americans will always own guns. The good news is, there are a lot of us—including gun owners—who support common-sense measures that have the potential to make us all safer.
Tactics like weapons restrictions for people with a history of domestic violence or child or animal abuse; adopting “Red Flag” laws that allow firearms to be temporarily removed from someone if their family or friends are concerned about their mental state; and comprehensive background checks that are effective and consistently enforced, even if you’re buying a gun at a retailer or at a gun show are widely supported and have a demonstrated effect on gun violence where they are implemented.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, I’m working hard to ensure that “justice” is central to our criminal justice system and applied equally to every citizen. Right now, nonviolent and minor offenses can derail people’s plans to get and keep a good job, support a family, and move ahead in society. This committee has been working to reclassify certain non-violent misdemeanors as civil infractions so we can devote our limited public safety resources to actions that truly make our communities safer. Holding offenders accountable is critical, but we must also ensure people who commit nonviolent offenses have the chance to become productive citizens again and avoid reoffending.
In addition, I’m proud to stand up for survivors of sexual assault as a co-sponsor of bipartisan House Bills 5962-5964 expanding the civil statute of limitations for sexual assaults. Our willingness to hold abusers accountable for heinous crimes should never expire, and this legislation will give survivors the chance to pursue justice on their terms and timelines.
