Standing Up For Women’s & LGBTQ+ Rights
Over the last few years, we’ve seen an all-out assault on women’s rights both nationally and right here at home. Women living in North Carolina right now have less ability to access abortion than our mothers did and less safety in our ability to access basic health care as a result. That’s why I voted against the abortion ban and why I filed bills to exempt menstrual products from the “pink tax”, to make it easier for women to leave abusive marriages, and to finally pass the Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution. I’ve also been proud to stand up for LGBTQ+ rights—I’ve proudly voted against attacks on our transgender community and filed bills to fully repeal HB2 and end the “gay/trans panic” defense in North Carolina.
FIGHTING CORPORATE GREED
In the General Assembly, I’ve made it my mission to stand up for working people and against illegal pollution, greedy hospital profiteers, and anyone who thinks they can take advantage of North Carolina’s families. I’ve filed bills to prevent healthcare mergers that would negatively impact the cost, quality, availability, and accessibility of care and was proud to vote to expand Medicaid to more than 600,000 uninsured North Carolinians. Additionally, I’ve proposed legislation that would ensure that when big corporations illegally pollute our air and water, they’ll be on the hook for the costs of cleanup, not our state’s taxpayers. And I was proud to sponsor a bill to institute a living wage and end the subminimum “tipped” wage, because no one who works a full time job should be struggling to make ends meet.
Protecting Our Environment
I played a leading role in the Senate in the adoption of H951, a bi-partisan bill that will lead North Carolina to a clean energy future. We are one of only a few states—and the only one in the South—with a legislatively mandated goal to reach 70% carbon reduction by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. Additionally, I was instrumental in securing funding to help improve water quality in the French Broad River and have filed bills to incentivize investments in renewable energy, reduce plastic pollution, better control sediment-laden runoff, and ban “forever chemicals”. We still have a ways to go in protecting our environment and securing a livable future, and I will always keep fighting for our environment.
Giving Working Families A Fair Shot
There is nowhere in North Carolina where a person working forty hours a week at a minimum wage job can support a family of four—and that didn’t always used to be the case. I’ve made it my mission to always stand up for giving working people a fair shot, whether that’s filing a bill to institute a minimum wage of $15/hour, to make sure that landlords can’t discriminate against renters based on the source of their income, or to expand housing options and protect against displacement. I have also championed “second chance” legislation for people coming out of prison who want to get ahead. I was also proud to file bipartisan legislation that would have extended eligibility for in-state tuition to Dreamers and make it easier for high school graduates to access the higher education they need to succeed.
RESPECTING LOCAL AUTHORITY
The General Assembly has been an obstacle to local progress for far too long. That’s why I’ve voted for and introduced multiple bills to unchain local governments from what legislative leaders in Raleigh think is best, whether that’s filing a bill to allow local governments to enact tree ordinances and inclusionary zoning to allowing cities to enact a dedicated local sales tax for transit to changing the way Buncombe County occupancy taxes are allocated. Communities should be able to better respond to the needs and concerns of their residents rather than being held hostage by the legislature’s conservative ideology.
