Candidate for California State Assembly - District 52 in 2024 California Primary Election.
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Get StartedFreedom is only legitimate if you have total autonomy over your body. Having the right to make health decisions for your body is fundamental. Therefore, I am a proud pro-choice candidate. To protect women’s rights, we must also discuss menstrual equity, workplace accommodations, maternal care, and the gender pay gap. I hear so many stories of how many women suffer from heavy, very painful, and sometimes intolerable menstrual cycles. As a feminist, I am in support of legislation that would protect menstrual leave in the workplace so that women have the opportunity to use sick time during their menstrual cycles without retaliation. Learn more
Our current criminal justice system is not built for the diversity we celebrate. It means the system must change along with the culture of accountability, or lack thereof. Our low-income minority communities have historically been overpoliced and underresourced. That is why I am proposing the hiring of more social workers to meet the needs of many emergencies that are related to mental health or domestic abuse. We must also expand the notion of community policing, officers assisting people on the street, connecting them with potential services, and contacting social workers rather than arresting them. Learn more
Candidate Sarah Parker will fight for strong neighborhood schools, higher incomes, and an economy that works for everyone. Learn more
However, we can raise our literacy and numeracy benchmarks by doing more for public schools- starting with fully funding our public school system. We can also support more after-school programs ranging from tutoring services to the arts and universal transitional kindergarten that would assist younger children and their parents. We can also incorporate critical core lessons such as financial and media literacy, empowering students for life after high school. Learn more
While states like Iowa and Florida are getting rid of child labor protections, California must do the opposite, not as a means of spite but because a child belongs in school, not in the workplace. However, current law states that children can legally work starting at age 12. While the state has set certain protections in place, such as being unable to work on school days and limiting the number of hours children can work, I don’t believe it goes far enough. I propose that we raise the minimum age for minors to be allowed to work from age 12 to 14 and emphasize the importance of education for the well-being of the child as well as severe punishment for those who seek to exploit children through labor, especially when it comes to children working in dangerous factories or field labor, where they are most likely to exhibit bodily injury. Learn more
Finally, I support increasing accountability for charter schools that receive public tax dollars. We have seen how easy it has been for charter schools, with no public budgeting process, to misuse public funds intended for our students’ education. By law, traditional public schools serve all students, regardless of their unique learning abilities, zip code, or performance; however, charter schools don’t always have the resources to do the same. As a big sister to a K-12 student on the autism spectrum, I want to make sure my brother and all students who need additional support can flourish academically. We cannot continue to fund new charter schools if their institutions cannot serve all students equally. Education is a human right; all students deserve access to a quality education that will prepare them academically and socially to pursue the career of their choice. Learn more
Opening our state to faster housing development and efficient transition to renewable energy sources would also create better job opportunities for all. But not just any job opportunities; well-paying jobs with great benefits and union jobs. Many people are leaving the state today due to the high cost of living and sub-standard wages. Learn more
The State of California has made numerous investments in green energy, but companies such as Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric have hampered efforts. Recently, the California Public Utilities Commission voted to reduce how much consumers can make when selling energy back to utility companies. Imagine allowing utility companies to raise the amount of money they can charge the public for power usage but only paying a low price for the power that the public sells to them, and then the very same company turning around to sell that energy back to the public at a high price – that is our current reality. That is unfair to the schools, churches, businesses, and individuals who bought into solar panels. Learn more
Furthermore, even with some of the strongest gun violence prevention laws in the country, California still falls short in securing the safety of our communities. We need to do better in getting firearms off the hands of those who pose a threat to public safety and cracking down on ghost guns and the interstate movement of firearms. As a Los Angeles School District legislative analyst, I ensured our district supported state bills such as SB 2 (Portantino) that helped establish sensitive zones in school areas where concealed weapons were not allowed. I will continue to be a fighter for commonsense gun reform policies and gun violence prevention efforts. Learn more
As long as healthcare costs remain exuberant, there will always be a group of people who cannot afford it. Studies show that a single-payer healthcare system would cut administrative costs, run more efficiently, and yield considerable long-term savings to the state. The best part is that everyone would have coverage without worrying about filing for bankruptcy or putting off much-needed medical treatment due to cost. Learn more
Even in California, with a majority Democratic legislature, our healthcare system is not serving all Californians. Starting in 2024, eligible undocumented adults can apply for Medi-Cal. However, despite this expansion, we are still far from enshrining health care as a human right for everyone. There are over 3.2 million Californians who don’t have any type of health coverage, of which there are over half a million undocumented individuals who will not be able to qualify for Medi-Cal nor make enough to have private insurance. As your State Assemblymember, I will be a staunch fighter for CalCare – a single-payer healthcare system that would secure affordable and accessible healthcare to all, regardless of employment or immigration status. Learn more
Furthermore, I strongly support Social Housing, a key solution to fixing the affordability crisis by creating publicly funded housing with mixed-income units, which ultimately help subsidize each other and keep rent affordable. Protecting individuals must also include cracking down hard on cities that refuse to build new, affordable housing. If the current laws are too relaxed, more critical laws need to be introduced to push for development and not wait for court cases that could set back the creation of housing for months or even years. Learn more
My plan for housing includes repealing the Costa Hawkins and Ellis Act, expanding renter protections, and fast-tracking affordable housing to meet our demand. However, the state must also make additional support available for first-time home buyers who want homeownership opportunities. To ensure housing availability for working families, we must stop corporate hedge funds from purchasing our single-family homes across California. I am calling for a ban on corporate-owned single-family homes that artificially reduce home availability and raise nearby rent. It is also essential to ensure that small mom-and-pop landlords have the support to keep their units on the market and contribute to our overall housing supply. Learn more
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