I know that Florida’s children are our greatest resource, and as your legislator, I will invest in the health of our families. As a working parent and with a child with disabilities, I understand how challenging it can be to find quality childcare, pay the mortgage, and still make it to every basketball game. 

• Invest in the tens of thousands of social workers who are overloaded with massive caseloads and underpaid for the challenging work they do each and every day. Florida’s social workers make almost 10% less than the national average – it’s time that we commit to adequately compensating our state’s social work professionals. 
• In Florida, almost every family has to have two stable incomes to make ends meet. I support subsidizing early childcare for low-income families to remove a major source of financial instability and allow families to achieve the American dream. 

Increased parental leave allows parents to spend time with their kids in those critical first months, building stable families and happier communities. In lieu of national policy changes, the state legislature must mandate increased paternal and maternal leave.

Education is Seminole County’s key economic driver – folks move to our community to send their kids to our public schools. But Florida’s public schools are being left behind – we lag behind the rest of the country in countless key metrics. 

• It’s critical that our schools attract and retain qualified classroom professionals. Paying our teachers well will attract additional teachers and help keep class sizes manageable.
• As a product of public schools and universities, I understand how valuable our public higher education system is. I support full funding of the Bright Futures scholarship program. 

Public dollars should serve the full public. Instead, Florida’s charter school voucher program is acting as a coupon code for wealthy families to opt into private education. Our district’s charter system must operate under real, transparent accountability.

Florida’s families and workforce are more stable when we all have access to quality, affordable healthcare. Our medical services should have the tools they need to provide the informed care we all need.

• As the parent of a child who died of a rare disease after being forced to travel out of state to find treatment, I support increased research funding for rare genetic diseases, which are on the rise in Florida. Our state has numerous high-quality hospitals – it’s time to give those doctors and researchers what they need to advance infant safety.

Mental health services have been neglected for far too long – Florida ranks 50th among states in mental health spending. I will fight for increased funding to existing programs, especially the expansion of multidisciplinary response teams that include law enforcement officers, social workers, and mental health professionals.

As climate change worsens and hurricane season becomes more dramatic each year, we cannot afford to be ill-prepared. 

Hurricane shelters in District 36 are woefully understaffed, leaving residents without critical services. The state must act to ensure safe staffing, additional protections for vulnerable populations in times of crisis, and available generators for use in medical institutions.

Seminole County is “Florida’s Natural Choice,” and as a legislator, I will maintain the beauty that lives up to our nickname. District 36 is home to one of only two rivers in Florida designated as a National Wild and Scenic River! 

• I support the work of local solar co-ops here in the district who are seeking to make safe, solar energy more affordable for Florida’s families. 
• The Florida Forever program is a responsible use of state funds to increase state acquisition of conservation land. We must keep our air, water, and fragile aquifer preserved for generations to come. 

In Tallahassee, I will fight to protect our rural boundary and maintain the natural beauty that brought so many of us to District 36.

People move to Seminole County to take advantage of our small-town communities, and maintaining a strong sense of public safety is critical to protect what makes our neighborhoods so welcoming. 

• The time for sensible gun legislation must be now. In Tallahassee, I will fight to reinstate the responsible protections put in place after the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas – there is no reason an 18 year old needs an assault weapon. 

Florida’s prisons should be focused primarily on rehabilitation, allowing offenders to develop new professional skills and reintegrate successfully after their sentences. Focusing on rehabilitation also reduces the rate of recidivism and saves the state significant costs in continued incarceration.

It has become unaffordable to live in central Florida, even in families with strong employment. These cost increases across the board aren’t sustainable, and I am dedicated to fighting for relief for each of us in District 36. 

• In Tallahassee, I will encourage the development of affordable housing – and cap increases to keep it actually affordable! It’s time to explore unique options for safe housing, including multi-family developments, accessory dwelling units, and mixed-use zoning.

Massive conglomerates are getting rich at our expenses. I will work to close the existing loopholes and push for a tax code that will provide necessary relief to hardworking families across Florida, not the massive conglomerates making money on the backs of our collective labor.

Our veterans have fought and risked their lives for our country. We have a responsibility to look after them when they return from their service, and I will be a relentless advocate for enhanced veteran services. 

In Tallahassee, I will fight for increases to the funding and services provided by the Veterans Administration and explore opportunities for state-federal partnerships. Our veterans need strong suicide prevention services and comprehensive medical care.

Each and every Floridian deserves to live in a state where they are safe, respected, and free. 

• Access to the vote is the most foundational American right, and citizens who have completed their prison sentences are entitled to that same right. While Amendment 4 passed, access to the vote has continued to be restricted based on functional poll taxes and other burdensome restrictions. I will be fully committed to expanding access to the vote through all legal and legislative measures. 
• In Seminole County, our LGBT+ neighbors can still be fired and denied housing purely for how they were born. I will work with statewide community leadership to close these gaps and add teeth to enforcement of anti-discrimination legislation. 

All politics are local, which is why it’s critical that our towns and counties have the ability to govern themselves as they see fit. That’s why I will be a champion for expanded home rule, working to ensure that Florida rolls-back its current and ineffective “one-size-fits-all” approach.

Local services, from education to public safety, are funded by the existing property tax system. As rising costs and property insurance pricing drives financial instability, it’s important to balance cost relief for our neighbors with addressing our real and immediate needs. 

• I support a graduated approach to property tax relief, where each property’s homestead exemption would be a percentage of the home’s values, not a flat rate. 

The day to day work of government is directly funded by property taxes – like the new nets at the baseball fields or filled potholes in Sanford. Eliminating all property taxes will mean an immediate removal of these small fixes that happen without each of us having to think about it. It’s a shortsighted approach to a structural problem.