Wednesday, October 4, 2023

Texas House of Representatives District 45

Carrie Isaac

Carrie Isaac is the Republican candidate. A fourth-generation Texan, Isaac is the Executive Director of a local non-profit organization, Digital Education and Work Initiative of Texas (DEWIT), a community activist, and a mother to two sons. Isaac’s top priorities are fully funding local police departments, keeping our local schools and communities safe by increasing Texas’ border security, reducing property taxes, and investing more state funds in education.

Carrie Isaac Campaign Website

Criminal Justice & Public Safety

  • “I’m committed to fully funding local police departments.”
  • “I’ll institute mandatory jail time for human and sex trafficking and increase border security technology to keep drugs, cartels, and international gangs out of our schools and community.”

Education Funding & Teacher Pay

  • “We need to direct more money into the classroom so that teachers and students have the best chance to excel.”
  • “I’ll also pass school safety laws including suicide prevention measures, increasing the number of security personnel, and building renovations to make schools more secure.”

Texas Economy & Taxes

  • “Frivolous regulations and lawsuits hurt our economy and kill local jobs.”
  • “I will work to clear the way for local businesses to thrive and grow our economy.”
  • “Soaring property taxes are out of control and have created a burden on working families, small businesses, and seniors. I’ll fight to reform our property tax system and cut taxes for seniors and families.”

Government Transparency & Ethics

  • Nothing listed on Campaign website for this issue

Healthcare

  • “I’ll keep patients from being blindsided by unexpected bills for medical care they believed was covered by their health insurance.”

Immigration

  • “I am fighting to secure our border and have always supported legislation that adds more protection and law enforcement along the border to protect our families from violent criminals and drug cartels. “
  • We will continue the war on human traffickers, while at the same time provide support and care for the women and children who are victims.

Reproductive Health

  • “I am proudly pro-life and will unapologetically defend the right of unborn children to life.”

Infrastructure & Environment

  • “I believe we are called to be responsible stewards of all the resources we’re blessed with, including the natural beauty of the Texas Hill Country.”

Social Services

  • Nothing listed on Campaign website for this issue

Erin Zwiener

Erin Zwiener is the current Representative for State House District 45, and the Democratic Candidate. A founding member of the Texas Legislature’s LGBTQ Caucus, Zwiener is an author, educator, conservationist, community activist and a mother to one son. Zwiener’s top priorities are investing more state funds in public education, reducing property taxes for Texas homeowners, resolving inequality in our legal and justice systems, and expanding Medicaid to provide ALL Texans with access to affordable, high-quality healthcare services.

Erin Zwiener Campaign Website

Criminal Justice & Public Safety

  • “The age of criminal responsibility should be raised from 17 to 18. That would mean that 17-year-olds who commit crimes would be under the jurisdiction of the juvenile justice system, while still giving the ability to a judge to decide on a case-by-case basis if the crime warrants the 17-year-old being sent to the adult system.”
  • “There should be no profit motive in our criminal justice system. The for-profit prison model creates perverse incentives to lock up as many people as possible, all on the taxpayers’ dime. This has resulted in over-criminalization, inhumane treatment, overcrowding, routine abuse of detainees, and inadequate services and health care.”
  • “In a time when more and more Americans are concerned about gun violence, Texas has an opportunity to push for safe storage guidelines and liability for gun owners who don't follow them, closing the background check loopholes, and restricting access to weapons of war.”

Education Funding & Teacher Pay

  • “I believe in strong public schools that have the resources and flexibility to serve each and every Texas student. Last session, I helped increase state funding for education from 38% to 45%. We still have a lot of work to do, and I pledge to protect our investment in public schools and fight for more education funding from the state.”
  • “As professionals, we must compensate teachers fairly and competitively and keep our retirement promises to them. Most retired educators are not eligible for social security, and the Teacher Retirement Service pension hasn't given a cost-of-living increase since 1999.”

Texas Economy & Taxes

  • “As your legislator, I worked to diversify Texas's revenue sources, to make our tax structure more progressive, and to reduce the burden on local property taxes. Last session we passed $5.5 billion in property tax relief, which unfortunately only slowed the growth of most homeowners’ taxes in House District 45.”

Government Transparency & Ethics

  • “I support campaign finance reform to establish contribution limits in Texas elections, preferably matching the federal individual limit of $2,800.”

Healthcare

  • “Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the nation, and healthcare costs are skyrocketing across the board. The biggest single thing Texas can do to improve health coverage and reduce costs is expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Only 12 states have failed to expand Medicaid.”
  • “I support full legalization of cannabis in Texas, but in the interim, I helped pass legislation to expand Texas's current "compassionate use" program to more patients and to make it less cumbersome. I hope in the future we can trust medical professionals to prescribe it appropriately, just as we do with other prescriptions, and do away with unnecessary restrictions on what conditions it can be prescribed for.”

Immigration

  • “I support Congress pursuing comprehensive immigration reform to make it easier for people to travel here to legally work and to create a path to citizenship for folks who’ve been productive members of our communities.””
  • “I also support giving undocumented Texans access to a better livelihood, which includes providing access to driver's licenses. Many undocumented immigrants end up in jail and at risk for deportation because of driving without a license.”

Reproductive Health

  • “Once someone has made the decision to have an abortion, they should have access to safe, timely, and affordable health care. I will continue to fight against the erosion of Texans’ access to health care and work to expand preventative care and comprehensive family planning services for all Texans.”
  • “In addition, Texas needs better reproductive education. Texas ranks fifth in the nation for teen births and first for repeat teen births. This isn't surprising, because 25% of Texas school districts offer no reproductive education and another 60% only offer abstinence-only. Young people cannot make good choices for themselves without adequate information.”

Infrastructure & Environment

  • “Texas needs to focus strategically on multimodal and regional transportation options (including mass transit) to help Central Texans with their commutes, which will result in less wear and tear on roads that the state is struggling to maintain currently.”
  • “Water resources in Texas are likely to become more scarce as climate change exacerbates the pressures of development. I will fight to give our groundwater conservation districts the tools they need to protect our water, and I will work to replace the outdated "Rule of Capture" with either the "Rule of Reasonable Use" or state-owned groundwater.”

Social Services

  • “Under Texas law, it is still legal to fire someone or deny them housing on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. I will work to close that gap in our civil rights laws and provide comprehensive anti-discrimination protection for LGBTQIA+ Texans. This anti-discrimination protection would also cover discrimination from government agencies, counties, and municipalities.”

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