Many families in Maryland face—as my family did—impossible choices that seem like no choice at all. Do you care for your loved one or work more hours / work at all? Do you speak out or protest at the risk of losing the job and health care your family relies on? Electricity or rent?

These impossible choices that people face are the result of choices made in Annapolis. I think we all deserve better choices — and so need different legislators.

My campaign focuses on creating policy that enables better choices and provides access to the basics that allow for a dignified life. This means investing in our social infrastructure for caregivers and those who need care—with policies like a caregiver stipend and public pre-K and school nutrition for every family that want them. This means meaningful employment, affordable housing and more green, affordable energy.

I have great admiration for Brooke Lierman, Maryland state comptroller. She is incredibly hard-working, relentlessly positive and knows how to use / be creative with the power of her office. She has used her office as a bully pulpit for the earned income tax credit. And, with the comptroller’s ‘State of the State’ reports on issues like child care, immigrant workers and the environment, she has single-handedly changed the conversation on these critical social issues by demonstrating their impacts on the state’s economy. This has led to real changes in policy. It has strengthened my policy positions. Her report on child care, for example, was the seed that led to a caregiver stipend feasibility study bill (HB1280 / SB1209). This is a bill that I proposed in my role as Public Policy Chair for the Montgomery County Commission on Aging. I then found sponsors, formed a coalition, recruited witnesses and testified.

I think this is an example of a false choice and the kind of bad policy that produces impossible choices for families and negative fiscal impacts for the state. I do not support service cuts, and while I do support taxes, I support a range of different taxes.

Here’s why. Service cuts would require reducing the government workforce refusing to back fill vacancies or eliminating vacant positions. Many of the positions eliminated will be ones that manage and run critical social programs like child care scholarships and care support for those with disabilities. Service cute exacerbate long-standing inequalities and lower labor force participation—particularly for women—which increases use of essential services while decreasing taxable income and household spending.

At the same time, third of the largest businesses pay no state taxes, while relying on our social and physical infrastructure. We should increase tax revenue through combined reporting, add luxury or VAT taxes and legislate a surcharge on all capital gains excluding the sale of a primary residence or family farm.

We can best stabilize the state budget by investing in social services, enforcing taxes on businesses through combined reporting, wealth taxes AND growing the tax base through investments in our economy and education. Maryland should be a leader in green manufacturing, biotech, solar and wind, etc. We get there by investing in skilled trade programs and encouraging small businesses and innovation. Increasing family stability through social infrastructure creates an environment where people can innovate because they have fewer terrible choices.

The first thing we need to do is to acknowledge is that PJM is broken. PJM was established to be unaccountable to any individual state, but the result is that PJM is accountable to none. They run the market, decide what energy gets built and order the queue. They have planned poorly. We need to remove as much power from their hands as possible. The state should be able to directly contract with energy generators.

Data centers built in Maryland are preferable to data centers built in Virginia. If they are built in Maryland, we can mandate their construction in industrial zones and mandate their generation of power. If we say no to data centers, they will continue to be built in northern Virginia. This will continue to drive up our energy prices, but without bringing the jobs that data center construction will bring to Maryland; Virginia is on the same grid. We need to make sure that data centers built in Maryland generate their own power.

We need to continue to work with Pennsylvania, New Jersey and other states served by PJM to create a more sustainable energy infrastructure. We should consider setting up a new multi-state energy generation system and market. Merely the threat of this might be enough to wrest concessions from PJM.

We need to invest in green energy like wind and solar—staying mindful of the importance of a just transition that retrains workers and prioritizes the creation of energy generation facilities in underserved communities.

The current wisdom is that the best way to lower housing cost is to build more housing. Lack of housing contributes to a lack of affordability, but it is not the only cause. If we simply remove zoning regulations to enable additional development, we will get more houses, but they are extremely unlikely to be affordable. Instead, we need to start truly prioritizing the kinds of development we want. Simply removing zoning regulations may get us more houses, but it will not get us more houses that working people can afford. We need to encourage municipalities to fast track smaller and multifamily housing. The state should be providing incentives to developers who do this.

Even middle market and multifamily housing is unaffordable for many working families. That’s because we can “see” the affordable housing crisis more easily than we can see the terrible choices forced on families by stagnant wages, the high cost of minimal medical insurance and basic care and the lack of social infrastructure. To address the housing affordability crisis, we also need to do more to lower energy prices (as discussed above) and raise income across the state. We need to raise the minimum wage and index it to the consumer price index. And, again, we need to make sure that families—including immigrant families—have access to essential social infrastructure like public pre-K, school nutrition, community college and universities, health care and affordable child and elder care.

Lighthouses are the things that warn boats away. We would do better to call them beacons.

Investment in only a few specific sectors will lead to Maryland’s overreliance on a few industries. Our over reliance on federal jobs and federal money is part of the state’s current fiscal crisis. In addition to industries like quantum computing and biotech—which are not labor-intensive—we need to diversify our economic investments much more broadly and in fields that are essential, employ many people and produce things that make people want to live here. In other words, we should also invest in green manufacturing—the fabrication of solar panels, wind turbines and other energy infrastructure—and the school and college programs that prepare individuals for careers in the skilled trades. We need people who can build satellites, not just design them. We also need electricians and plumbers, health technicians and early care and education teachers, wetland reclamation and environment abatement.

In addition, I think that what will enable job creation are the things that enable innovation. To encourage the establishment and growth of businesses and jobs we need to invest in the social infrastructure. This will increase labor force participation and provide a safety net for those willing to take a risk, create and innovate. The state should provide access to health insurance at discounted rates to individuals and their families who participate in state incubators. I would encourage state health insurance subsidies for small businesses that provide benefits to their workers.

I support the ban on 287g agreements. Everyone should feel safe talking to law enforcement. Cooperative agreements between local law enforcement and ICE may increase immigrants’ fear of any law enforcement. Fear increases reluctance to engage with police and report criminal activity. All of us are safer when everyone can report violations of our community laws and norms--whether the violation is wage theft, property damage or domestic violence.

I also support anti-masking legislation, legislation that prevents the use of state collected data in immigration enforcement and legislation that prohibits the housing of human beings in building not designed for human habitation.

I believe the state needs to use more of its power to protect Marylanders. During apartheid, the state divested from South African companies. Later, the state divested from companies that did business with Sudan. Our time calls for analogous legislation. I support –and if elected, would introduce – legislation requiring the state pension system to divest from all companies that participate in mass surveillance or are undermining our democracy in other ways.

Workers need more protections. The gig economy is not a good thing. The gig economy replaces benefitted jobs with without benefits. It's nearly impossible to sustain a family on shift work, no matter how well paid, because it is unpredictable. In Maryland, all private sector employees not covered by a union and some unionized workers can be fired for any reason or no reason—including political speech and/or off duty civic activities. This must change. The Maryland Employee Civic Activity and Lawful Expression Protection Act (HB1356/SB857) would prohibit employers from firing employees for lawful activities--including speech and protest--conducted in their private lives. This year, I proposed the bill draft, found sponsors, recruited witnesses, and testified in both the house of delegates in the state Senate. I continue to advocate for this bill–which has no fiscal note–but is nonetheless opposed by the Maryland Chamber of Commerce and so sits dying in the house Government Labor and Elections committee and the Senate Finance committee. I am continuing to advocate.