Platform

Raise Idaho’s minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, which has not been increased since 2009. An Idaho worker needs to earn at least $11.75 per hour to cover basic needs, such as food, housing and transportation.
Fund child care. Last session, Idaho’s GOP turned away millions in federal childcare grants – paid for with your tax dollars – putting local childcare centers in financial jeopardy and further limiting care options for parents. Idaho’s childcare shortage cost the state $525 million last year as parents dropped out of the workforce due to childcare challenges, and contributed to the state’s historic labor shortage. If legislators provided a tax incentive to build new childcare centers, gave childcare tax credits and expanded the child tax credit – which is now only $205, not enough to pay for even a week – we could reduce the labor shortage and the burden on parents.
Bring back the index to the homeowners exemption so that property taxes are more fairly distributed among different types of properties. This beats the Band-Aid approach of taking money from various pots of state revenue, primarily school taxes, to offset local property taxes.

Ensure that everyone regardless of income has access to high-quality healthcare. Extremely restrictive laws treat women as second-class citizens and pose a threat to their health and safety should they become pregnant. Many of our best doctors have fled the state for locations where they can focus on medicine without the cloud of criminalization hanging over their heads. And recruiting physicians to take their place has proven difficult to impossible.
Reform Medicaid for children and pregnant women by updating income cutoffs not changed in decades and extending postpartum coverage for one year after birth as other states have done. Last year, the mortality rate rose 121.5% for Idaho moms, and 18% for children.
Bolster reimbursement for Medicaid services, especially direct care workers, so elderly and disabled Idahoans can live as independently as possible for as long as possible. This workforce faces a 3,000-person shortage as workers can earn much higher wages in other industries.
Reject attempts to dismantle Medicaid expansion. Idaho voters support a strong Medicaid program so that no Idahoan goes without health care due to an ability to pay.

Make more state funds available for repairs and new buildings – not over 10 years, but now, as there are decades of neglect to make up for.
Create a revolving loan fund available to school districts.
Lower the two-thirds majority bar needed to pass bonds. Idaho spends less, per student, on schools than any other state. Restrictive policies created the current funding crisis that’s left rural schools with collapsing roofs, crumbling foundations, and freezing classrooms.
Reject voucher tax credits for private education, which would syphon millions of dollars away from public schools with almost no accountablility.

If elected, I will work to fix these and other issues of concern to my constituents,
and to represent everyone in my district, whether they vote for me or not.