Description of office: The General Assembly is the legislative branch of government in Pennsylvania. It is composed of two houses: the Senate is the upper house, and the House of Representatives is the lower house. A majority vote in both houses is necessary to pass a law. The PA House of Representatives consists of 203 members representing one district each, with an equal number of constituents. Representatives must be at least 21 years old, have been a citizen and a resident of the state four years and a resident of their respective districts one year before their election, and shall reside in their respective districts during their terms of service. The House develops budget packages, makes taxation decisions, allocates spending, and passes laws (including redistricting in collaboration with the Senate). The House also has the exclusive authority to impeach public officials. Representatives also serve on various policy committees that may propose legislation. Term: 2 years Salary: $106,422 Vote for ONE.
County
Erie
Occupation
Legislator
Education
BA, Education, Mercyhurst University; MS, Educational Development and Strategies, Wilkes University
Qualifications
Seven years of local government experience as a member of Erie City Council; State Representative for the 2nd Legislative District for three terms. Community outreach, engagement, and constituent services are hallmarks of my time in office.
One of the most pressing issues facing Pennsylvanians is local property taxes. We have to fully fund our public schools so that local school districts don't have to put the cost of our local schools on the backs of local property owners.
I see child care and early childhood education as big issues for parents. Too many working parents are having a hard time finding quality child care and quality pre-K programs. I voted to expand the PA child tax credit to give working families more money back to help pay for child care. I also support expanding funding for pre-K so that every child has the opportunity to a great start to learning.
Pennsylvania is an aging state, and we have an obligation to help our seniors.
Our local election officials are our neighbors. I would increase access to the ballot through increased mail in voting and automatic voter registration when you access any state program or service. Our elections are secure and safe. We need to fund our elections to pay poll workers to staff each polling location.
I support fully funding public education, as mandated by our state constitution and relieving local property owners of the lion's share of the burden of funding public education. If we are to compete with China, India, and other countries, we can't have an education systems that leaves some children behind just for where they live.
I would not make any changes to the current laws.
County
Erie
Occupation
Second Lieutenant - Army National Guard
Education
B.A. - Political Science, B.S. Marketing, minor in Military Studies, almost done with MBA as well.
Pennsylvania is falling behind in too many areas. We need to enact change if we want to correct our course. PA ranks 49th nationally in per-student support for higher education. We rank 47th in fiscal stability, 46th in infrastructure, and plenty of other statistics we could list, but it is more than important to note we have a decreasing population. People are leaving PA because they are not seeing a positive change. They don't see a future here that they want to continue in, raise a family in, and live the rest of their days in. We need to start listening to constituent wants and needs and adjust accordingly. What we are doing clearly is not working, so let's address that.
First of all, expanding access, the first thing we would need to do is declare election day a federal holiday. So many of our voters are strong working-class families that need to go to work to pay the bills. This would be the first step in ensuring they have the time/ availability to go out and vote.
Given I am running out of characters I will move on to a point that hits access and security in one. Often we hear opposition to mandated voter ID at polling stations. This is essential to improving security, but concerns are raised about access to ID's. Nowadays, most of us have one as we need it for just about everything. For those who don't, we should set up ID drives to help get id's for those who can't afford it, or don't have access.
Every student deserves to have a quality, safe education. I personally saw what it was like to go to a school where the funding was far below par. Over a third of the building we were in was condemned/ closed off due to the unsafe conditions including collapsing walkways, ceilings, asbestos, and much more. They would even have buckets in the middle of the hallways to catch water dripping from the ceiling. Anyways, while this was going on, we saw surrounding districts have far less issues, and massively higher funding per student ratios. One of the best ways to address this would be by calculating what the cost of education should be per student, and providing flat, equal funding accordingly based on current fiscal year enrollments.
Candidate has not yet responded.
