As a legislator, I will only support policy that protects all people, especially those who are a part of a marginalized group. This means making sure everyone has access to services, education, healthcare and safety.

In regards to public safety:

• I support our law enforcement officers, but want to see more accountability within law enforcement agencies to ensure people are being treated justly.

• I’d also like to see an increase in community policing policies so that those closest to their community are taking personal responsibility for the safety of their neighbors.

I want to champion legislation that provides equal, increased investment into our infrastructure. This includes our transit systems, roads, sidewalks, cycling and pedestrian networks.

• With an emphasis on accessibility for all, so that everyone’s quality of life improves equally and substantially, no matter what mode of transportation is used.

As a Latino myself, I want to personally make sure that every resident, including immigrants and undocumented workers have access to the necessary resources that are needed for a professional standard of living. No one should be left behind based on citizenship or immigrant status.

As someone who has reaped the benefits of continued education, I want to see an increased investment into our education systems so that everyone has the same opportunities as I did.

My mother was a 7th and 8th grade teacher. As your State Representative, I will work to make sure educators, bus drivers, food-service workers, school staff, paraeducators and all those involved in the education of our students have access to professional living standards.

Given the current state of our public school system, declining enrollment, and school closures, we need systemic changes to address continuing budget shortfalls. In the event that the next Governor wants to see the office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction incorporated into their cabinet, it would take a two-thirds vote in the state legislature -- and I would support it! We need additional oversight at the executive level.

Additionally, I'd like to support bipartisan legislation that would add two graduation requirements, focused on financial literacy and digital safety.

• Financial literacy is absolutely necessary, especially in a state where someone can so easily fall through the cracks of our bustling economy.

• Likewise, in the information era, it is critical that students know the proper tenants of digital safety.

Our population is growing at a faster rate than our housing supply. I believe advocates for policy like rent control are often misguided. Economists across the spectrum have shown that this only provides short-term relief for those who are already renting, and the long-term effects result in an increase in housing demand, and decrease in housing supply. We need better solutions that fix the housing crisis at its core!

I support policies that would not only speed up the process for which developers obtain building permits, but also carefully ease restrictions where we can, so that there are additional incentives to build denser, affordable housing quickly. That said, by no means should we ease restrictions regarding safety or environmental regulations.

• Housing will not be affordable until we have enough units relative to our rapidly increasing population. I do not want short-term fixes. I want to legalize the construction of more housing.

As with most of my policy positions, I take my advice from those working closest to the issues, and would collaborate with the necessary associations involved in affordable housing policy to ensure that whatever solutions the legislature can provide, are equitable, attainable and effective.

Our regressive tax system - one of the worst in the nation - disproportionately affects lower-income taxpayers, as they pay higher rates of their income on tax. While I support progressive income taxes, the issue is repeatedly brought up and it fails each time, due to Washington’s constitutional ban on it -- so there needs to be other avenues where our state can lift the tax burden on low-income earners.

I support fair taxes that would increase the state’s revenue from high-income residents and exempt those who cannot afford to pay more into our regressive tax system.

• While we continue the fight for a raise on the property tax cap, I want to protect homeowners from being “priced-out” of their own homes, by including a property tax circuit-breaker to provide a refund if a homeowner’s tax liability is a significant share of their income.

  • This will help to reduce the negative impacts of gentrification.

  • I also support additional relief for seniors and veterans.

We need to reshape our sales tax system so that it includes more sales that are common in the modern economy and exempt those sales which disproportionately affect low-income consumers.

Our environment is profoundly important and the policies I support will ensure that we protect our lands, habitats and resources so that we can mitigate the negative effects of climate change and the adverse human impact on our environment.

One of my top priorities is a Recycling Incentive Program. The legislature failed to pass a bottle deposit initiative last year, but I will champion a passable version. Many states and countries already have working versions that have been incredibly successful.

One of the biggest pain points for people is the lack of incentives for them to recycle -- and recycling is already a complex process. My solution is two-fold:

• We need to make it easier, more accessible and rewarding to maintain our environment and reduce pollution.

• Bottle deposit stations in various high-trafficked locations also allow for a small source of income for the unsheltered, as they can return the bottles they've collected for actual monetary value.

Washington passed a commendable data privacy law last year, but it was narrow in scope -- only regarding health data. Our state usually sets the course when it comes to technology policy in the nation, but other states already have more comprehensive data privacy laws. I find that unacceptable in a state that houses so many technology conglomerates.

I will introduce new legislation that puts us (at least!) on par with other states that have enacted comprehensive data privacy, as data is the new gold in modern society. Individuals should have a right to access, share, manage, correct and delete their personal data -- regardless of its application.

The rapid advancement of AI innovations and its growing prevalence in society results in a need for thoughtful regulation. As someone who has studied information management at the postgraduate-level, worked in the industry, and understands the technology landscape, I will be a champion of AI-related policy.

AI can bring several dangers such as:

• Bias and Discrimination inherited from limited data repositories.

  • This can create inequities in law enforcement, hiring, financial lending etc.

• Privacy Violations

  • Surveillance, biometric data misuse, data breaches

• Economic Displacement

  • Wage suppression, skill gaps, weakened employee bargaining power, erosion of labor standards

• Misinformation and Ethical Implications

  • Fake images, videos, audio; autonomous systems, deployment in areas such as healthcare, law enforcement, criminal justice systems etc.

I plan to work with industry leaders and technology experts to craft legislation that will still promote innovation, and will also:

• Increase Transparency/Accountability in AI systems

• Ensure Ethical Deployment of AI

• Regulate the various AI use cases using a tiered system based on risk-level