Taking a Stand

Putting Arizona's Budget Back on the Right Track

When it comes to the state budget the Republican leadership at the capitol has really taken us down the wrong track. They rushed bills through the process, eight months too late, to finally finish this year's budget. The budget that has been approved by the legislature is an attack on our children and our future. It has eliminated Kids Care, which is health care for needy children. The Department of Juvenile Corrections will be eliminated next year, which will force counties and tribes to take over the incarceration of minors and force our local communities to pay for it. The budget also decimates an already under funded education system. The cuts they have approved will take funding levels well below what it costs to educate our kids. It also makes a bad problem worse, since Arizona is already 50th in the nation for what we spend per student.

So what do we need to do to balance the budget? I believe that we should not be drastically cutting public spending nor should we overburden our citizens with taxes. To ensure that we don’t do either, we need to know what our public spending needs are and where Arizona taxes stand relative to other states. In looking at closing the budget gap, the legislature must take steps with full and honest awareness of their total and long-term economic impact to the state.

As your State Senator, I will fight to make our education system one of the best in the country. I will fight to protect our future and to stop the legislature from pushing financial burden on to our community.

Making Clean Energy a Priority

The state has an important role in promoting alternative energy. Arizona's sunshine can provide 100 times more electricity than is needed by the entire state. The state ranks No. 1 in the nation for concentrating solar thermal power potential, and with today's technology, Arizona's geothermal resources can power more than 600,000 homes. Additionally, the Navajo Nation must also join in this role. The 26,000 square miles of our homeland span three states that are rich in clean, abundant and renewable resources like wind and solar. New Mexico's solar resources could be harnessed to produce three times the state's current electric power production; its wind resources could produce more than three times the state's current electricity generation and is enough to power 11 million U.S. homes. It only makes sense to harness this potential to power our homes with clean energy, but even more so for the economic opportunities borne from clean energy.

Bringing Equal Access to All Arizonans

Our state can only flourish when the needs of all Arizonans are met at the most basic levels. All Arizonans deserve the right to have access to roads, electricity and water. We also must expand access to telephone and internet services to allow for economic development and education in rural Arizona. It is the role of state government to provide equal access to all the citizens of our state. I'll be a leader in that fight at the State Capitol.