The Policy
1. Advocating for a competitive salary increase for teachers and safe, modern, and well- resourced schools, including supporting gun control laws.
• Competitive salary, allowing teachers to live more comfortably.
• Upgrading aging school buildings with modern technologies and infrastructure
• Smaller class sizes allow students to receive more individualized care and attention.
• Listening to educators and their unions to shape education policy and support teachers’ mental health and work-life balance.
• Supporting and advocating for gun control laws and reviewing current training for teachers and administrators during school shootings
2. Expanding access to mental health care statewide; advocating for Medicare for All; creating early intervention programs for children who experienced traumatic events.
• Addressing youth and community mental health needs.
• Strengthening and stabilizing the mental health workforce.
• Expanding early intervention programs for children exposed to trauma and violence.
• Creating loan repayment and scholarship programs for mental health professionals who are serving in high-need areas in Maryland.
3. Advocating for increased housing affordability by working to increase the amount of moderate-income housing units (MIHU); advocating to lower rental property yearly increase.
• Working with the Howard County Council and County Executive to increase the moderate-income housing units (MIHU).
• Introducing legislation to set the rental property yearly increase to 2% instead of 3% or higher per year.
4. Supporting Marylanders with tax relief for paying student loans; advocating for no cuts in programs assisting Marylanders living below the poverty line and no general tax increase.
· Introducing a bill in the Maryland General Assembly for providing tax relief to anyone paying student loans, up to 10% every year of their state taxes, and working with Bipartisan teams to get the legislation passed in the General Assembly.
· Introducing a bill in the Maryland General Assembly to add scholarships for currently enrolled students in the middle class and below the poverty line.
5. Collaborating with nonprofit organizations to expand access to state and federal benefits through local resource centers.
• Building collaboration with nonprofit organizations to establish resource centers to help constituents apply for state and federal benefits in Howard County District 9-B.
• Working with the County Council, County Executive, and Maryland General Assembly to add additional grants to tackle food insecurity.
6. Supporting small business growth through streamlining business registration process and increasing funding for business education programs.
• Right now, it takes months for small businesses to get the appropriate licenses. We will work with house delegates to cut down on that time to support the development of small businesses.
• Working with other legislators to add additional funding for increasing small business owner education programs to help them with registration.
• Introducing a bill to start a small business education program, which will specifically work on outreach and business education classes.
7. Supporting renewable energy efforts and legislation throughout Howard County and Maryland, including shifting from fossil fuel reliance to sustainable energy sources.
- Promote rooftop solar on government, commercial, and residential buildings through subsidies and net metering.
- Develop utility-scale solar parks and wind farms in high-potential zones.
- Upgrade grid infrastructure and energy storage systems to manage renewable energy variability.
- Support skill development and local employment in the renewable energy sector.
8. Advocate for the reallocation of state-managed funds away from companies linked to human rights violations or environmental harm, directing those resources to school improvements and small businesses in Howard County and across Maryland.
• Requiring state-managed funds to be moved from entities complicit in violation of human rights or environmental destruction and moving the funds to bolster the local economy, supporting infrastructure improvement, upgrading schools, supporting teachers, and helping small businesses.
• State funds should be used to support people living in the state, not international actions that have nothing to do with taxpayers’ day-to-day lives.
• Funds should be reallocated to small businesses in Howard County and throughout Maryland to bolster local economies.
9. Supporting legislation protecting all immigrant communities’ rights to live and work safely without fear of deportation.
- Maryland has a responsibility to protect all immigrant communities from criminalization, exploitation, and deportation, and to ensure full access to education, healthcare, housing, and worker protections regardless of immigration status.
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