Every child in Texas deserves to go to a good public school, and it is the legislature’s duty to provide funds for them all. Private schools are wonderful, I’m sure, but nothing in the Texas Constitution says that the taxpayers have to fund them.

If elected, I will fight to increase funding for public schools and to never allow our tax dollars to pay for private education. I would also argue for less standardized testing, and more classes that teach life skills and trades.

Texas’ abortion laws are endangering the lives of woman and girls in Texas right now. These laws need to be either fixed or repealed urgently.

To make matters worse, the Republicans’ abortion bans are also making it harder to find maternal care in rural areas as qualified ObGYNs leave the state. The laws are also bad for business as organizations decide to hold their conventions elsewhere and qualified workers decide not to make Texas their home.

I will not rest until Texas rejoins the list of states that trust women to do what’s best for themselves and their families.

As our population explodes, we need to manage our water resources more carefully so that we’ll all have enough in the future. Rural Texans who rely on well water are especially vulnerable to declining water tables.
Because water doesn’t care about political boundaries, if elected, I will argue in favor of reorganizing the various Conservation Districts so that our water resources can be better managed. I will also push for more funding to replace crumbling public infrastructure that currently allows obscene quantities of water to leak out.

Texas has begun to take steps to transition away from fossil fuels, but as the world’s 8th largest economy, we can and should do more to reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases. Our economy is big enough to let us be a world leader in both the booming renewable energy sector AND in the responsible extraction of fossil fuels. If elected, I will push to better incentivize private production of solar power and I will fight to fund proper plugging of abandoned oil wells.

Central Texas is growing by leaps and bounds: Hays and Comal are the 3rd and 7th fastest growing counties in America, respectively. All this growth is putting enormous strain on our water resources, our electricity supply, our schools, roads, and housing costs.

This all means that our state and local governments need to work smarter in order to maintain adequate services for old and new residents alike. Permitting processes should be updated to give local governments more control over what can be built where.

Recreational use of marijuana should be legalized because the millions of Texans who consume it should have the same rights and responsibilities as those who drink alcoholic beverages. Their freedom has been curtailed for too long, and it’s time to end this government intrusion into their private lives.

Legalizing marijuana would also save millions of tax dollars currently being wasted on completely ineffectual law enforcement efforts. Legalization would also provide a new source of tax revenue that could be used in any number of ways to help Texans.

We don’t need any more studies; we need action. 24 other states have legalized recreational use, and it’s time for Texas to join this movement.