Issues

Housing

In Lancaster, we all agree that families belong together in safe, stable homes that they can afford. I will continue to fight for housing and development that benefits people and families in our community, rather than real estate corporations and out-of-town landlords.

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As the president of city council, I oversaw a $15 million investment in new investment in safe, affordable housing. But that’s not enough. We need to develop and secure affordable housing for thousands more of our residents. This crisis must be met with the same level of investment as other public health crises like opioid addiction and COVID – we need to hit the panic button on housing. As a state representative, I will fight to:

Increase tenant protections and support tenants’ right to organize
End the use of eviction records to deny tenants housing by sealing eviction records
Invest in good quality, affordable housing in communities like Lancaster
Ensure that public housing is regularly maintained and improved
Build Community Land Trusts that make our communities resilient to gentrification

I’ve also signed the No Backroom Deals pledge to not accept any money from real estate executives, corporations, or PACs.

Justice and Public Safety

Each and every one of us wants to live in a community where ourselves and our families are safe, our freedoms are defended, and people who put others in danger are held accountable, no matter where they live or how much money they make.

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In Lancaster, I have fought alongside activists and families to ensure that police officers and our community share a vision of safety that keeps families together and is accountable to the citizens. That’s why Xavier Garcia-Molina and I helped orchestrate the removal of a chief of police who deployed tear gas against children and replaced him with a new chief who shares our values.

I have also helped install two social workers onto the police force, and helped put officers back on bicycles at the request of community members. But more than just policing, the entire justice system favors the wealthy and well-connected, leaving working people, poor people, and non-white people at the mercy of a cruel cash bail system and an under-funded public defense system.

We must fight to deliver a justice system that works for all of us, no matter how much money we make, how we look, or where we live. Everyone is accountable to the law, and we must ensure that everyone receives due justice for their behavior. In Harrisburg, I will fight for:

Solutions to prevent crime, not just punish it
Community-based efforts to end the gun violence epidemic
Ending qualified immunity and life without parole
State funding for public defenders
Taking Philadelphia Councilmember Thomas’ policy limiting pretextual stops statewide.
Enacting Philadelphia’s driving equity law on a state scale
Stopping HB 2046 (and its senate equivalent), which would eliminate community bail funds
A non-discrimination policy for re-entrants
Elder parole to offer dignity to incarcerated seniors who pose no threat to the community

Healthcare For Everyone

As a proud lifelong Catholic, I believe that we are called to be stewards of every human life. That’s why I strongly believe that everybody deserves to see a doctor when they are sick, receive medications for their conditions, and paid time to receive care.

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I have worked arm-in-arm with the hospital and local nonprofits to deliver vaccines, treatments, and hygiene to everyone who needs it. Lancaster, like so many other rural and urban communities across the country, has seen our hospitals closed, our poor and working-class neighbors unable to access the medical care they need, including COVID-19 vaccinations. Lancaster City can only do so much on our own. I will:

Continue to demand a public health advocate at the state level
Support Medicare for All legislation at the state and federal level to make sure everyone has access to good quality healthcare
Fight for increased funding for Medicaid, CHIP, and other life-saving healthcare that the state provides.

LGBTQ Rights

No matter how we look or who we love, all of us deserve to live free of discrimination among a community that cares about who we are. In PA today, many queer young people find themselves without a stable home, and at additional risk of violence and illness.

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I came out as bisexual in high school, and was greeted with skepticism and confusion, and some ridicule, by many people that I cared about. It was not until I was in college that I found the courage to be public about this part of my identity. In many communities, that is the best that an LGBTQ+ young person could hope for.

Our young people should be thriving and growing at this time in their lives, not wondering where the next attack on their identity and wellbeing will come from. We have a collective duty to protect them as best we can. In Harrisburg I will fight to:

Ban conversion therapy across the Commonwealth.
Invest more in affordable housing and specifically, in housing accessible to LGBTQ+ youth.
Support doctors and healthcare facilities that offer gender-affirming care
Prohibit the use of gender identity or sexual orientation for housing or workplace discrimination

Cannabis decriminalization

As the president of city council, I was proud to vote in favor of decriminalizing cannabis possession. We all agree that the purpose of policing is to keep us safe. But laws that require police officers to arrest people for small amounts of cannabis puts both officers and the public in danger without keeping our community any safer.

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From medicinal to recreational purposes, cannabis decriminalization is a simple step towards freedom and safety for all. In Harrisburg, I look forward to working on this issue by

Fully decriminalizing cannabis possession and use at the state level
End the use of cannabis testing to discriminate in the hiring process
Increasing funding for medical research in the commonwealth
Expunging the records of anyone who was arrested on cannabis charges and releasing them from prison
Supporting small farms and local stores in entering the booming cannabis industry

Education

As the proud son of a union educator, I believe every child in our community should have access to a beautiful childhood surrounded by adults who care for them. I have been proud to show up to the fight alongside teachers’ unions and school board candidates who believe that every child deserves a fully-funded public school experience.

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I am strongly committed to reducing the burden of public education on taxpayers in cities like Lancaster, where our residents pay more than their fair share. In Harrisburg I will:

Fight for every Lancaster school by advocating for fair funding. Fair funding doesn’t just improve the quality of our public schools and level the playing field across the state, it also reduces burden on homeowners and makes housing more affordable for all Lancastrians.
Oppose the construction and expansion of charter schools
Support educators as they fight for better wages, safe classrooms, and the freedom to do their jobs

Workers' Rights

I’m proudly union made. When my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, her union made sure that even when cut after cut came to education funding in PA, my mother’s insurance was protected. It protected her salary, which got our family through some of our hardest times and helped us keep our house more than once.

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I’m always going to stick with the team that believed that ten years with my mother was more than a line in a budget, was more than a tax cut for the wealthy, was something sacred and worth protecting. I have been a proud supporter of BCTGM Local 743 as they were on strike for better wages, Hawk Faculty United, an effort to unionize the faculty of Harrisburg Area Community College, and Nurses of Lancaster. I will fight for:

Raising the minimum wage to at least $15/hr across PA
The right of every worker to unionize and exercise their collective rights
Safe staffing ratios for our healthcare workers
Ending wage theft and workplace discrimination
Demanding equal pay for equal work
Investments in good union jobs for long term projects such as rebuilding our roads and bridges and transforming our infrastructure under a Green New Deal.
Obstructing and ending the PASSHE consolidation effort in support of APSCUF.

Climate Action

Every person who lives in Pennsylvania has the constitutional right to a clean environment, and I intend to fight for that right. I believe that it will take bold action from all levels of our government to combat the great threat that climate change poses to all of us.

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Those most responsible for this catastrophe must do their part. We must hold corporations accountable for the damage they cause to our environment and our communities. Many elected leaders in our Commonwealth think of the fossil fuel industry as a necessary evil. But I believe that we can do better for our state.

In the face of climate catastrophe, we must invest in our communities, rural and urban, black white and brown, to both mitigate the impacts of this crisis and create millions of good-paying, union jobs in the process. In Harrisburg, I will:

Support a statewide ban on fracking.
Work to decouple our economy from natural gas extraction.
Fight for good-paying, union jobs that transition our state to renewable energy, restore and preserve our farmland, waterways and other natural resources, and make our communities resilient in the face of climate change.
Fight to invest in retrofitting and building the infrastructure necessary to combat the climate crisis and provide for our communities, such as housing, public transportation, and public schools.

Returning Power to Local Governments

In Harrisburg, Lancaster is considered a “third-class city,” meaning that the state government prevents us from enacting the kinds of legislation that would put power to our values. This city has tried to raise the minimum wage, tried to secure new tenant protections – tenant right of refusal – and we’ve tried to give tax breaks to low income families and to seniors who worked their entire lives to own their homes. Yet, we have not been able to achieve these goals, because they are preempted by state law. Harrisburg reserves the right to tell us what we can do here at home.

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There are 53 other “third-class cities where over one and a half million Pennsylvanians live. That’s 53 cities that can’t raise the minimum wage, that are hamstrung in how we are allowed to raise revenue.

By returning power to Lancaster City and other third-class cities, our city could:

Diversify our revenue streams and decrease our reliance on property taxes, which disproportionately burden low-income families and Black and Brown homeowners. We could do this by increasing the Local Services Tax and earned income tax and adding a minimal business tax.
Institute a progressive property tax, so that we’re not forced to raise taxes on our most vulnerable residents at the same rate as our wealthiest ones.
Raise the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour.
Institute tenant protections, including tenant right of refusal and sealing eviction records.

A core part of realizing an equitable tax system and fighting for our working families in Lancaster will be taking the power to govern our community back from Harrisburg and bringing it here. I’m committed to fighting for third-class cities like ours.

Reproductive Rights and Healthcare

Women and pregnant people deserve to see doctors regularly and get the care and treatment they need to live the lives they desire. I have fought alongside Planned Parenthood, LGH, Union Community Care, and other healthcare providers to ensure that people get the quality reproductive care they need at a price they can afford.

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For some, that means prenatal care that keeps both the parent and child healthy up to and after birth. And for others, that means getting an abortion at their discretion. The federal right to end a pregnancy is hanging by a thread, meaning that it will be up to Harrisburg to decide who can get an abortion and when. That’s why, when I get to Harrisburg, I’ll be a fearless advocate for both the right to abortion, as well as the right to affordable prenatal care for all. As your representative, I will

Oppose any and all efforts to curb access to abortion on demand without apology
Support legislation that will make prenatal and postnatal care more affordable to all