School Safety

School safety may be out of the news, but it isn't out of our thoughts. The other month  I attended the Senate Select Committee's public hearing on Violence in Schools & School Security. I wanted to witness what school officials, parents, students, law enforcement and other interested parties had to say on this issue. The thought of having my child go through a metal detector just to go to school breaks my heart.

It is a frightening reminder of what might happen while our kids are in school. We shouldn’t have to worry for a moment whether they will come home ok. But, that’s the world we live in today.

I want to make two things very clear in my campaign. First, I will never take guns away from law-abiding citizens when I get into office. Second, I will never stand by and do nothing about this issue. 

I want to hear your ideas, and will share mine with you, too. I believe three things will help: 1) banning devices that turn guns into rapid-firing machines; 2) closing loopholes in our background check system and requiring universal background checks, and 3) allowing universities to decide whether or not to allow guns on campus. I look forward to your feedback.

We Need an Independent Redistricting Committee

When I’m out in the community knocking on doors and talking to voters it often seems like I’m giving a civics quiz. When I tell voters I’m running to represent State House District 47 they often say “I’m not in your district, I’m in 25” or “Oh no, I’m in 21.” They are thinking of Congressional districts, and within my state district, there are four! The 47th district encompasses a portion of congressional districts 10, 21, 25 and 35.

When voters talk about government they often jump right to Congress, helped in part by a media that tends to focus on Congress and big glitzy national issues. What happens here, in Austin has as great an impact on voter’s lives-even if it gets less attention.

One issue getting a lot of attention is gerrymandering.  It’s at the state level where our representatives decide on congressional district boundaries and if we’re going to have boundaries that make sense and keep communities together we need to focus on the Legislature where the redistricting takes place.  When I’m elected to the Texas house, I will work with my colleagues, in both parties, to ensure the process is done fairly by pushing for an independent redistricting commission.

Bottom line, we the people should be choosing our Congressional representatives, not the other way around. In the legislature I will always fight for fairness in political representation we deserve."

IMMIGRATION ISSUES

I recently met with three women who work for Refugee Services of Texas (RST) who updated me on the refugee situation in Texas. They said the number of refugees being allowed into the U.S. has fallen dramatically since Trump took office, and as a result, the number of refugees coming into Texas dropped by 70 percent in 2018.

I told a neighbor about this and she shared a friend’s Facebook post.  

“This infant car seat sits in my house because I am a volunteer with Refugee Services of Texas. Part of what we do is go to the Austin airport to welcome refugee families to this country. This chair has been unused for a long time; there are rarely any refugees to welcome. Trump and the Republicans turned their back on Syrian refugees long ago.”

Most of these refugees are coming from Iraq and Afghanistan and are people who worked with the U.S. military or our government and whose safety is at risk if they stay in their home countries. They are allowed in through a “Special Immigrant Visa” or SIV.

RST also helps survivors of human trafficking, Central American minors, refugees and asylees, and Cuban-Haitian entrants. The goal is to integrate them into their new communities as quickly as possible. “Fresh starts, open hearts” is their guiding slogan.

But now funding for RST is in jeopardy due to the decreased number of refugees caused in no small part by negative sentiments toward refugees from both the President and Governor Abbott. From the Refugee Council USA, “During the worst refugee crisis in world history, the United States is failing in its very limited commitment to admit refugees.”

While it might seem that refugees put a strain on our resources, they actually often integrate quickly and work hard, paying “an average $21,000 more in taxes than they receive in benefits during their first 20 years in the United States

As I heard on the radio the other day, people are not “illegal,” they are human. Let’s all be human and welcome refugees here, allow them to escape war or persecution in their home countries. We need to stop the fear-mongering and understand that we have much to offer, and much to gain, by welcoming refugees.

Are we Next? Will our school districts have to cut teachers?

School financing should be an uncomplicated formula. Article 7 of the Texas Constitution says,

“SUPPORT AND MAINTENANCE OF SYSTEM OF PUBLIC FREE SCHOOLS. A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the liberties and rights of the people, it shall be the duty of the Legislature of the State to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools.”

This does NOT mean dumping the responsibility off on local governments.

And now a San Antonio school district is eliminating 100 teaching positions because they don’t have the money. https://bit.ly/2Gl0TwV Some Oklahoma school districts have already cut their instruction week back to only four days a week!

Here’s the formula for failure that happened to San Antonio’s second largest school district and is in danger of happening in our school districts:

·       Rising property values = more $$ going to the state for other school districts

·       Charter schools decrease public school enrollment

·       Schools turn to increasing local taxes to compensate for less $$ from the state

·       Vouchers, if passed, would subtract $$ from public schools

The youngest of my five children graduated from high school last year, so I have watched and anguished for almost 30 years as the majority in our legislature found a myriad of ways to violate our state constitution. They have ducked their responsibility and dumped excess costs on local governments, at the same time jeopardizing education quality.

As your Representative, I pledge to use my budgeting expertise to stop sucking funds from our FREE public schools and increase the per student funding from the state. 

My Stance on Guns

My Stance on Guns

I've received questions about my stand on gun legislation, so I want to be clear about where I stand. The many mass shootings weigh very heavily in my heart and mind. I agree with everyone who says we can't just keep offering up thoughts and prayers. It's time for real change.

Gun violence became an issue with me back in 1990, when my father was shot and killed in the home in which I grew up in Dallas. I had recently returned from a summer in Seoul, Korea, expecting to write my Professional Report, required for my master's degree, on international trade. Instead, after losing my dad, I could only focus on one issue. How do we reduce gun violence in our society? That's what I ended up writing my thesis on all those years ago. Today we are still grappling with this issue.

As a candidate, I pledge to take no NRA money.

There are many steps we can and must take, starting with those that a majority of people agree on: ban bump stocks, have universal background checks on all gun sales and close the loopholes, set a minimum age for purchasing guns at 21, ban assault-style weapons. We also need to address mental health issues by treating brain health the same as heart health or any other organ health.

I was proud to be part of the March for Our Lives rally on Saturday — where some of the most inspirational speakers were the students — and I promise to continue fighting for the safety of all our children through sensible gun legislation.

Thank You, Supporters!

Thank You, Supporters!

Your support made me the number one vote getter in Tuesday's Democratic Primary, and I’m one step closer to becoming the Democrat who will challenge Republican State Rep. Paul Workman in November. But that’s not the only good news.
 
While Republicans cast more primary ballots than Democrats statewide: 1.5 million to 1 million, that wasn’t the case in District 47. Democrats here cast 15,919 votes versus 15,266 in Workman’s contested primary. We have a bigger Democratic base to build upon.
 
To win in November, we have to do more than turn out our base. We have to convince a majority of voters who skipped the primaries that they need to send Workman packing.
 
I came out on top of a crowded field of five worthy candidates because we knocked on more doors, sent out more mail, made more phone calls, and raised more money than anyone else. We’ll have to do it again in the May 22 runoff, and we will.
 
Your support made my first-place finish possible in round one, but there are two more rounds to go. I’ll continue to work hard for the next ten weeks and the next eight months. With you in my corner, I know we’ll win in November.