Issues

Water Resources

Nevada is the driest state in the nation, yet the focus on water resources only occurs in times of drought. Water issues should be the first thing discussed during every legislative session. Currently our water law unintentionally encourages the waste of our limited resource and only allows the State Engineer the ability to bring the ground water basins back into balance through curtailment by priority.

We should:

Build conservation into the water law to incentivize using less water.
Determine ways to fund perennial yield studies using the current best available science to gain a modern understanding of the limit of our resource.
Study various solutions to bring the over appropriated basins back into balance.
Develop a legislative framework to give the State Engineer direction on how to conjunctively manage the resource.

Land Management

Growing up in Dayton, I remember having four distinct seasons: spring, summer, fall and winter. Now the seasons are a little different. It is hotter and drier than ever before and I'm pretty sure that summer is being replaced by fire season.

We should be participating in better fuels reduction practices such as:

Expanding the targeted grazing program
Fund a continual statewide fire hazard risk assessment to develop and keep updated community specific plans to reduce their risk of fire

Nevada has the first and oldest national recreation area. In addition to the many parks, lakes and trail systems, there are 60 million acres of accessible public lands. We should be taking more steps to promote and enhance Nevada's outdoor recreation opportunities while protecting the resource from damage.

Education

Our public schools are facing an over 3 billion dollar shortfall. The legislature has continued to add more and more requirements but has yet to fund what it would take to meet those requirements.

We need to find ways to increase funding to:

Achieve Smaller Class Sizes
Increase Teacher and Faculty Pay

We need to evaluate what is required to find efficiencies and ways to streamline data collection and reporting to allow teachers more time to teach our children.

While I support school choice, it should not be funded out of public school funding.

Health

Access to quality affordable healthcare is an issue to Nevadans. I will work to find ways to increase that access.

I would also like to develop plans that address mental health and substance abuse. These plans include:

Evaluating Nevada's prescription drug donation program to increase the program's effectiveness
Develop programs that will incentivize mental healthcare professionals to work in our state
Putting a mental healthcare professional in each High School and Middle School

I support a woman's right to choose and will work to solidify Nevada's guarantee to the right of abortion. Abortion is healthcare. It is a woman's right to make their own reproductive health decisions in consultation with their physician and family.

Jobs

Having a vibrant and healthy economy includes a strong work force.

Small Business - We need to work on ways to reduce the barrier of entry by looking at ways to reduce/lower the cost of filing and starting a business in our state. We should be providing an equal foundation for small business to start, grow and be successful in Nevada.
State Employees - State Employees provide necessary public services to all citizens of Nevada, yet the states budget has been balanced on the backs of these hard working employees since the great recession of 2007 if not before. Their pay, benefits, pensions and over all office culture have been diminished for the past 15 years to the point where these hard working folks are having to perform the duties of two, three or more positions for salaries that are not keeping up with even standard inflation let alone the extreme inflation we are all currently experiencing. The state is no longer competitive and is struggling to recruit and/or retain talented staff. I believe that it is time to address these short falls and pay these hard working staff competitive salaries with benefits they disserve.

Veterans

Thank you to those who have served.

While Nevada, and the US, have made better strides at fulfilling the promise made to veterans, it is not enough. We can still do better.

Mental health issues, homelessness and healthcare issues are still prevalent, especially in the rural areas of Nevada. We need to be increasing access to mental health centers and healthcare facilities. We also need to have more rural access to transitional housing.