Legislation

---

By enshrining the right to bodily autonomy in the Constitution we can guarantee access to safe abortions for all women in America.  It is a moral obligation to not only provide safe access to healthcare, but also the personal freedom of choice over ones body.

Mandatory waiting periods, background checks, closing the gun show loophole, and allowing manufacturers to be sued for the destruction and loss of life resulting from mass shootings are all ways we can create laws against the uncontrolled outbreak of mass shootings in America.

Guaranteeing healthcare for all citizens, while allowing the government to negotiate prices to keep costs under control and limit the greed of Big Pharma & corporatized hospitals.  Eliminate copays and save money, while decoupling healthcare from employment, allowing people more ease to explore opportunities and entrepreneurship. 

Our country has more homes than homeless people.  The issue is not supply and demand, but uncheck greed allowing for market manipulation and price distortion.  We can combat this with laws limiting corporate, venture capital, and wealth fund ownership of single family homes.  This will help everyday people afford homes, but will not end the issue of mental health homelessness.  We must invest in a national infrastructure of mental health facilities and qualified healthcare providers who can help those who are in need..

The federal minimum wage has not been raised since 2009 while the cost of living has skyrocketed and purchasing power has decreased.  We must pass legislation that not only raises the minimum wage to a true living wage, but we must include automatic increases tied to inflation and the cost of living.  

Education is key to a successful democracy and social and economic mobility.  Over 100 years ago when we created the public school system, a high school education was all that was needed to get a job and raise a family.  Now that is not the case, and we must expand our free public education to include all forms of secondary education, including trade schools.

We must get money out of politics and end the legalized bribery created by the decision "Citizen's United", which allowed unlimited dark money political donations via 501c-4 organizations and Super PACs.  Support Congressman Adam Schiff's proposed amendment to the Constitution overturning Citizen's United.

The Federal prohibition on Marijuana has been an abject failure.  Much like the prohibition on alcohol, it created a massive black market and empowered criminal organizations, while harming everyday people.  Legalization has been proven to be safe and even reduce use among teens.

We can not punish our way out of a disease that is gripping our country and many others around the world.  Overdoses caused by opioids like fentanyl continue to rank among the top causes of death every year.  This problem effects people of all groups and we must unite to fight it like we do other national problems.  Expanded access to life saving medicine like Narcan which can reverse an overdose, building a compassion based rehabilitation infrastructure instead of a revenge based prison system, and expanding access to mental healthcare to combat attempted self medication through drug abuse.

Allowing someone's income rather than the seriousness of the crime to determine whether a person awaits trial in jail is immoral and illogical.  If a person is charged with a petty crime, they should not sit in jail because they cannot afford to pay the bail.  And, if a person commits a serious or violent crime, no amount of wealth should allow them to roam free and potentially harass or harm witnesses or victims.

We cannot allow continued systematic violence to be committed against minorities at the hands of law enforcement.  We appreciate the good work done by honest, hard working first responders, but the one's who use their power to terrorize and abuse citizen's must be legally held accountable.

The ability for police to seize your property without any evidence of a crime, just a suspicion, then charge that property with a crime in order to legally steal it from you is just wrong and must be outlawed.  

As a world leader of democracy and self proclaimed land of opportunity, the United States was built by immigrants and people searching for a better life.  We must not turn our backs on immigrants or refugees, but instead invest in a humane and streamlined process to make it easy.

A lifetime appointment for an position in a democracy is an oxymoron.  We should never have leaders, especially those with the power of the Supreme Court, to have their position for life, with little ways to remove or hold them accountable.  We must institute term limits for Justices on the Supreme Court.

It is outrageous that someone making millions a year contributes the same to social security as someone making $160K.  We must lift the cap to ensure social security is fully funded as the Baby Boomer Generations retires and relies on this income for survival. 

The private prison industry is a disgrace to our democracy and must be shut down and outlawed.  There must never be motivation for profit involved in the justice system!  

The 14th Amendment ended slavery in the United States, except as punishment for a crime.  This exception led to the largest per capita prison population in the world.   We must remove the line "except as punishment for a crime" and consider slavery to be banned in all forms for any and all reasons!

Prisons make money not only from the government paying for the service of incarcerating inmates, they turn around and make even more money by leasing the prisoners to corporations to work at rates well below legal minimum wage.  This is an atrocious violations of civil rights as our system disproportionately incarcerates minorities.