On The Issues
Colorado Workers and Economy
1
This year, Colorado raised the state minimum wage to $12/per hour. However, no more than $3.02/per hour in tip income may be used to offset the minimum wage of tipped employees. Do you support or oppose action changing how tip income is treated for minimum wage purposes and why?
Support
Comment: We really need to begin uncoupling from tipping culture. I did the server and bartender life for many years, and I know firsthand that tipped income is notoriously unreliable and inflexible. It's also a very convenient way for businesses to extract even more from their employees, with consumers often being none the wiser for it and expecting that when they tip it goes to the person who serves them. It's not working well for workers, and especially right now with how much additional risk food service staff are taking on during the pandemic, we need to do more to support their wellbeing.
2
A 2018 NPR/Marist poll revealed 20 percent of all American workers are contract workers hired to work on a specific project or for a fixed period of time. Do you support or oppose action that would provide gig economy workers access in Colorado to unemployment benefits, workers compensation, etc., and why? Support
Comment: Absolutely. I can't imagine where else they're supposed to get it. Getting your income from a gig app doesn't make you, as a person, any less whole and complex than someone who gets their income from a more traditional job. Larger and broader risk pools for these kinds of safety nets tend to be more resilient anyway, which benefits all of us in the long run.
3
This summer, Governor Polis signed into law a bill that prevents an employer from discriminating, retaliating, or taking adverse action against any worker who raises a concern about workplace health and safety practices or hazards related to a public health emergency. Do you support or oppose enacting similar legislation to protect whistleblowers who sound the alarm about waste, fraud, abuse, corruption, or dangers to public health and safety from employer retaliation? Support
Comment: It's unfortunate that this has to be legislated at all. Of course employees should be protected from retaliation against them for doing the right thing.
Revenue/Taxes
4
The coronavirus pandemic has upended state budgets across the country, including Colorado’s. Do you support or oppose efforts to decouple state taxes from federal taxes and change how Colorado taxes corporations to responsibly raise revenue and why?Support
Comment: I think many of us would prefer more coherent and direct ways of generating revenue to fund our state government, but as long as we have barriers like TABOR, this is the kind of thing that needs to be done.
5
The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) prohibits Colorado from raising taxes without voters’ consent. TABOR also prohibits Colorado from establishing a rainy day fund to weather tough economic times. Colorado’s spending on essential services like education and transportation has lagged behind the state’s economic and population growth. Colorado ranks 47th in the nation in per pupil spending. The state also currently lacks funds to enforce labor and other laws in any meaningful way. Do you support or oppose efforts to revise or get rid of TABOR and why? Support
Comment: Yes I do! It was specifically crafted to restrain the growth of government, whether doing so makes sense for our current population and economy or not. And it says so right in the text. It's not working for Coloradans, and it takes the ability to levy taxes away from the legislature, even though the chamber is still required to come up with, say, per pupil funding increases every year. We're going to need to come together at some point and agree that our government should be functional and effective, and shouldn't be intentionally sabotaged.
Quality and Affordable Healthcare
6
This year, lawmakers introduced legislation to create a public health insurance option for our state. Do you support or oppose creating a public option in Colorado and why? Support
Comment: Leadership from a federal level would be even better, and free so many Americans from these exploitative, for-profit insurance schemes that are designed for profit, rather than for care. But if we don't get nationwide action, Colorado should proceed to lead the way on this issue.
7
One 2018 survey of Colorado adults found that more than half (53%) reported being either “worried” or “very worried” about affording the cost of prescription drugs. Do you support or oppose policies that would make prescription drugs more affordable and why? Support
Comment: I have to figure that that other 47% is either very rich, or have never been terribly ill, or both. Anything we can do to lower the cost of prescription drugs saves lives, because people are dying from skipping medications, rationing what they have, or not being able to fill them at all, at an alarming rate.
Keep Communities Safe during the COVID-19 Pandemic
8
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, some states and localities rushed to grant businesses immunity from civil lawsuits related to the coronavirus. Do you think businesses should be shielded from lawsuits related to COVID-19? Oppose
Comment: When you run a business that's open to the public, you assume a certain level of responsibility for health and safety.
Voting Access and Constitutional Reform
9
Do you think Colorado should take additional action to protect low-income and voters of color access to vote? Support
Comment: I think Sec. Griswold has done a great job of expanding access and protecting voting rights during her time as Sec. of State, but there is still a shortage of ballot boxes in low-income communities of color, right here in El Paso County even. So there's still more to do.
10
In past years, legislators have introduced legislation calling for an Article V constitutional convention to address a number of reforms. Do you support or oppose legislation calling for an Article V constitutional convention? Oppose
Comment: There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that restricts what can be called to the floor in an Article V convention. We've never even had one from which to draw precedent, and it's extremely risky. There are some radicalized authoritarian groups behind this push, and we'd be foolish to think that ALEC, or some other think tank, isn't waiting in the wings with a brand new set of laws that will obliterate many of the liberal reforms that have freed oppressed people since our nation's founding. It's just too big of a risk to take.
11
This year, lawmakers introduced legislation that would place for the first time campaign contribution limits on school board candidates. Do you support or oppose this legislation and why? Support
Comment: We have them for nearly every other race, and it seems reasonable to not allow the wealthiest Coloradans to "buy" themselves a school board.
