Issues

A Policy Outline for a Brighter Future

If there is one failure of Legislatures across the nation (regardless of party), it is their failure to present a clear outline for how they would achieve a better quality of life for citizens.  We know smart, passionate people won’t always agree on how to achieve greatness, but it is essential that all leaders have the ability to clearly articulate their vision for a better tomorrow.  Here is mine:

 

Education

• Fully fund basic education now that the Courts have clearly told us we are not;

• Give local school boards real authority to set levies within inflation and population growth.  Resources beyond that should go to a vote of the citizens;

• Develop a robust on-line learning system that provides access to the best courses no matter where you live, no matter how poor your school district;

• Fully fund at least one-year of access to higher education, technical education, or industry recognized certificates and credentials.  The demand for global talent compels us to raise the bar!

 

Environment

• Uphold the core values of the Growth Management Act – focus on urban density to avoid rural sprawl;

• Do not yield on our commitment to Puget Sound cleanup, storm water mitigation, and groundwater preservation;

• Embrace the reality that Green House gasses are harmful to human health and manage our regulatory environment to achieve a reduction in greenhouse gases while we build a clean energy economy;

• Maintain access to our state parks, waterways, and natural areas.  Multiuse strategies reinforce conservation, promote environmental appreciation, and enhance our economy.

 

Healthcare

• Stay focused on universal health-care coverage for all Washingtonians by establishing our health care exchange, supporting small businesses that want to provide coverage for their employees, and ensuring that doctors and hospitals receive adequate reimbursement rates for quality care;

• Take every step necessary to ensure that women have total control over their bodies and their healthcare choices, including all forms of contraception and access to safe, legal abortions.

 

Transportation

• Adopt constitutional and statutory changes that permit gasoline taxes to be used more flexibly to reduce congestion and enhance freight mobility.  We need to focus on our future interests not our deeply entrenched inflexible positions of the past;

• Develop a statewide strategy to move more people more efficiently, utilizing multi-modal transportation options.  Our vision should build upon the great progress that has been made by Sound Transit.

 

State Budget and Taxation

• Admit that we have a structural revenue problem and build long-term strategies that provide adequate funding for schools and programs for vulnerable individuals;

• Establish a more aggressive savings plan during good times to sustain us during bad times -- protect those savings from radical initiative writers;

• Build a coalition to reform our state’s tax structure

• Focus on tax fairness, tax stability, and revenue adequacy;

• Eliminate our State’s Business and Occupation Tax and shift to taxing profits instead of gross sales;

• Shift the sale tax burden from low- and middle-income families to the wealthy by offering an annual sales tax credit to working families or a constitutionally protected flat income tax.

 

Election reform

• Modernize the initiative process to discourage corporate ownership of the law-making process;

• Expand opportunities for youth to register to vote;

• Pass legislation clearly stating that corporations are not people for the purposes of campaigning!