Dysfunction in Washington has made many of our neighbors cynical, but there is nothing wrong with our country that can’t be fixed with more of what is right with it. In our district, I engage young people to develop a new generation of problem solvers. We backed that up in Harrisburg with historic investments in education. Across our suburbs, cost of living creates challenges providing state services, leading to historic vacancy rates at PennDOT, DCNR, and other agencies. We can’t maintain our roads and canals without workers who can afford to live here. I started a task force of legislators to address this, used my influence on the Appropriations Committee, and introduced a bill to fairly compensate local governments filling this void.

The goal of a fully functioning democracy is to have as many people participate as possible. The first bill I co-sponsored aimed to promote civics in our schools and to permit 16 and 17 year olds to pre-register to vote and receive information on candidates in advance. We must recommit to the practice of active informed citizenship. I support providing Independents, which includes 17% of Bucks County voters and many of our veterans, the opportunity to vote in our primaries. We can improve mail-in voting by allowing pre-canvassing, permanent mail-in status, and by providing notice and an opportunity to cure technical defects. Finally, gerrymandering must be addressed to have the quality of representation we deserve.

I was one of the legislators who refused salary during the budget impasse. I understand the frustration. I spent many late nights talking to local administrators and making calls to free up funds for struggling nonprofits. Ultimately, we made huge investments in many of these programs. On the Appropriations Committee, I was proud we crafted budgets providing seven tax reductions for the middle class, historic state investment in education, relief for seniors and targeted investments in specific growing Pennsylvania industries. Despite a slow process and federal chaos and disinvestment, Pennsylvania remains in a strong fiscal position while increasing its investment in the lives of residents who actually make this place exceptional.

Government must protect the health, safety, and welfare of our residents, as well as protect them from increased costs due to these private developments. I voted for legislation in the House to end sales tax exemptions for data centers, allow temporary moratoriums, require base levels of renewable energy, prohibit passing on infrastructure costs to residents, require transparency, and ban NDAs. After continued inaction by our State Senate, Governor Shapiro issued an executive order to unilaterally establish many of these goals. This will slow down the process and provide guard rails so there is adequate consideration of public interests, governing rules on a new technology and an understanding of the costs.

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