Allison Campolo

Immigration We must protect the Texas Dream Act, also known as the Noriega bill, which gives immigrants who have been living in Texas the ability to pay in-state tuition rates to attend our universities. Healthcare Publicly funded healthcare. Healthcare Until we as a country are ready to move towards a single-payer system, Texas needs to accept Medicaid expansions made available by the federal government. We must also support preventative medicine (as it is repeatedly proven to be cheaper than emergency medicine), paid maternity and paternity leave, and quality, affordable childcare services. Education The push for "school choice" is as deceptive as it is dangerous, as it funnels public tax dollars into privately-run schools which aren’t held accountable for the quality of their instruction, nor obliged to provide services for our most vulnerable students. Education Publicly funded education. Taxes / Budget Lastly, the only way to decrease our property taxes is to properly fund our schools, plain and simple. Criminal Justice / Public Safety I am proud to be an advocate for gender equality, and a strong voice against harassment, discrimination, and domestic violence. Criminal Justice / Public Safety Private for-profit prisons keep prisoners in appallingly inhumane conditions, doing nothing to “rehabilitate” them and affording them no access to housing or employment upon their release – virtually guaranteeing that they will be reincarcerated, and that we will continue to pay for their loss of liberty with our tax dollars. This is an indefensible violation of the rights of our fellow Texans, and we absolutely must reform this broken system. Drug Policy We must work with our healthcare providers to come up with common sense solutions for pain management, encourage rehabilitation programs for our citizens which have become dependent on opioids, and start encouraging pain management alternatives - like medical marijuana - to help our Texans get back to their normal lives. Drug Policy Safe combinations of THC and CBD oil have been repeatedly found over the last several decades to assist patients with a wide variety of physical ailments. Texas presently only allows medical marijuana to be used for exactly one condition, for intractable epilepsy. And while that is a good first step, it's time to start taking the next one: legalizing medical marijuana for a much wider range of prescribed treatment options and diagnoses. Abortion / Contraception I firmly believe in a woman's right to choose. Abortion / Contraception The path to fewer abortions is through accessible women's healthcare, birth control, and screenings. The more available we make these family planning avenues, the fewer abortions we'll have. This is not an opinion, it's a fact. Environment / Energy Texas already produces more wind energy than any other state – and if we can get the lobbyists out of government, we can offer good jobs and sustainable technologies which can support all Texans. I support state-funded retraining programs to help carbon-based energy production workers transition to cleaner, healthier, more sustainable energy employment. Texas is nothing but innovative - we can change the way we energize the world. Civil Rights The 2016 election was the first time the Voting Rights Act was not fully enforced in Texas since its conception. Moreover, federal courts have recently ruled that the Republican-drawn gerrymandered districts are in direct violation of the VRA’s protection. Every eligible voter deserves an equal voice – but we must fight to ensure that their voice is heard. Guns The research has repeatedly shown that there are some simple steps the states can take to help reduce gun deaths. Let's work together to make the world a safer place - without infringing on anyone's rights as an American. Guns We can start with closing the private sale loophole, and by increasing compliance with the background check systems we already have in place. We can also work towards a handgun permit systems such as the ones in Iowa and Nebraska. Wages / Job Benefits For many cities in Texas, including Dallas and Fort Worth, the minimum wage falls below the estimated cost of living by about 3 per hour. We must increase the minimum wage so that every employed person can support themselves. Wages / Job Benefits To improve the quality of our education, we must attract and retain highly-qualified teachers. We can do that by increasing teacher salaries to meet or beat the national average, improving their health insurance coverage, and removing test-based performance pay. Government Reform We deserve free elections and fair legislation. With your help, we can move Texas towards public campaign and election financing, leveling the playing field for everyone. Government Reform We need to work together to find non-partisan panels to draw our lines, or work towards these panels identifying credible algorithms which could draw them for us, based on population centers and communities. It's time that each vote counts. Social Services Continuing to work towards home- and community-based services which are both more often preferred by people with disabilities and their families, but are also significantly cheaper in cost to the state. For those that decide a state supported living center is the best option, our centers require drastic overhauling to ensure their patients are being cared for adequately and with compassion.