What’s the most urgent situation in your district?

Balancing the fast inhabitants progress in Frederick County to protect our agricultural heritage whereas constructing a welcoming neighborhood. This contains addressing infrastructure wants equivalent to extra faculties, as an alternative of counting on short-term school rooms, and improved transportation infrastructure. Our focus ought to embody constructing sturdy, supportive, and resilient communities, which welcome all of our neighbors. Our agricultural sector is important to our economic system, and it makes our neighborhood extra fascinating. We have to work to carry our neighborhood collectively, to not tear it aside. We want management in Annapolis which is able to work to deal with issues, not attempt to create issues by trying to question the Governor over his masks coverage.

How will you assist your constituents cope with inflation?

On the State degree we are able to take motion to cut back causes of inflation and to cut back the impression of inflation. To scale back causes of inflation, we must always help competitors, construct extra resilient provide chains, and cut back our dependence on fossil fuels. Examples of this may very well be to help a co-operative to offer a meat processing facility in order that Frederick County farmers might get the next worth for his or her cattle whereas Maryland customers pay a cheaper price for beef, develop the port of Baltimore to stop provide chain bottlenecks, and help analysis and growth at our universities for inexperienced power options. To scale back the impression of inflation, I help a short lived roll again of the state gasoline tax, tax breaks for retirees on mounted incomes, and elevated help for reasonably priced housing.

What do you see as the highest transportation precedence in your district, and the way would you tackle it?

The highest transportation situation is enhancing I-270, the place delays price our residents numerous hours each month. I’m against the proposed toll-based plan, which imposes an extra tax on Frederick County residents. As an alternative, I help including two reversible HOV lanes all the best way to Frederick funded with federal infrastructure funds. Reversible lanes will minimize the challenge price considerably, whereas addressing the height visitors drawback. We additionally want to enhance MARC, enhance the on-ramps on Rt. 340, and tackle the visitors on the Rt. 75 and Rt. 355 intersection, amongst a number of different initiatives. We must always begin planning now for increasing Metro entry to Frederick.

What ought to faculties do in another way throughout the subsequent pandemic to assist college students, households and lecturers?

Pandemic response needs to be primarily based on medical details and legitimate public well being approaches, with an emphasis on prevention of the unfold of illness. We nonetheless want to deal with the persevering with impression of the present pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic has had a traumatic impression on our college students. We have to make sure that we offer a supportive surroundings for our college students with entry to psychological well being companies the place wanted. We have to tackle the training hole which has resulted from the disruption related to the pandemic. Using digital instruction could present alternatives for various educational strategies. Completely different college students could have totally different studying types, and efficient studying types could range primarily based on material. We must always collect information on the impression of digital instruction to determine the best strategy for every pupil, and permit lecturers the flexibleness to use the best strategies.

How equitably do cops deal with individuals of shade?

Our felony justice system ends in totally different outcomes primarily based on race. We have to monitor these differing outcomes at every step within the felony justice system, not simply on the degree of interplay with cops. Our cops are over-worked and tasked to deal with a number of points from pet management to psychological well being intervention. Whereas our police forces are requested to “defend and serve” they don’t seem to be staffed to do the “defend” perform, a lot much less the “serve” perform. We must always crew psychological well being professionals with regulation enforcement. We have to present uniform coaching throughout the vary of regulation enforcement officers, from small city police forces to county regulation enforcement, on de-escalation strategies, use of pressure limitations, and acceptable equipping of regulation enforcement officers. We have to de-militarize our regulation enforcement and return the Neighborhood Oriented Policing.

What would you do to ensure Maryland’s voting system is safe and correct?

Allow us to be clear. Maryland’s voting system is safe and correct. Each vote has a paper path, and paper can’t be hacked. We have to do extra to develop entry to voting for all eligible voters. I help same-day registration. As a result of Maryland now permits same-day registration, we must always get rid of the voter registration deadline which creates a interval during which voters are usually not permitted to register.

What are the appropriate objectives and deadlines for Maryland to cut back carbon emissions and develop renewable power sources?

Maryland’s present objectives of slicing greenhouse gasoline emissions by 40% by 2030 and producing 100% clear electrical energy by 2040 are an excellent begin, however we want an much more complete plan to make sure that we meet these objectives and do extra. Local weather change is costing us tens of millions of {dollars} annually, and the prices of extreme climate will proceed to speed up until we tackle the extreme carbon in our ambiance with the extra aim of lowering atmospheric carbon beneath 350 ppm. To make clear electrical energy viable, we might want to develop the expertise to retailer that clear power throughout instances of restricted daylight and low winds. We should construct resilience into our communities, to incorporate restoring wetlands and lowering runoff to cut back flooding. I’m at the moment the Director of Operations for a analysis firm which has patents on semi-conductive polymers which can have inexperienced power purposes.

What’s Maryland’s finest use of federal COVID reduction cash?

We must always spend federal COVID reduction cash on COVID reduction. There are a number of COVID impacts which haven’t been sufficiently addressed. We have to prepare extra psychological well being professionals. COVID has imposed a trauma on our State, and that trauma will proceed to have a psychological well being impression. As a veteran, I’ve seen the significance of addressing post-traumatic stress. We have to conduct analysis on, and supply remedy for, lengthy COVID. COVID has additionally revealed the necessity for improved faculty services, with a give attention to air dealing with techniques. We additionally want to enhance the resilience of our provide chains, particularly medical provide chains. We shouldn’t be depending on importing medical provides throughout a time of disaster.