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Signature Issues
Strengthening Our Economy
Growing our economy requires investing in our current and future workforce through appropriate education, support for small and large businesses, and strategic recruitment of new companies and industries. When it comes to innovation and research, North Carolina is a leader in the South. We need to build on this rich history by preparing citizens for good-paying, highly-skilled jobs.
From my 7 years in local government, I know that businesses
considering relocation put ‘quality of life’ high on their checklist: a well-trained workforce, excellent schools, affordable housing, sufficient infrastructure (including roads and other forms of transportation), and amenities like sports venues, leisure activities, and the arts. These are important to new residents just as they are to those of us who already live here. Quality education, attractive communities, and infrastructure investments attract new businesses and good jobs to our state.
Ensuring Access to Quality Health Care
As a nurse practitioner of almost 40 years, I believe everyone deserves access to healthcare. There are two sides to the healthcare access coin: insurance coverage to help pay for care and an adequate supply, mix, and distribution of healthcare professionals to deliver that care.
Health insurance allows individuals to seek primary and specialty care in the community rather than through hospital emergency rooms, which, by federal law, cannot turn away anyone needing care, even when their condition is not an emergency. When people are sick and have no other option,
they will go where they know they will be cared for. Hospitals must then deal with over-crowded ERs and the financial drain of uncompensated care. Those of us with health insurance also carry this burden through higher insurance premiums. Ensuring that all North Carolinians have affordable insurance coverage benefits everyone.
As a nurse practitioner and former healthcare administrator, I fought for Medicaid expansion from the moment I arrived as a freshman legislator in 2015, and I was delighted to vote for it in early 2023. This healthcare coverage for 700,000 previously uninsured working adults is a lifeline for them and critical for hospitals overburdened with uncompensated care that threatens their ability to remain employment centers and economic engines in their communities.
Even for those with insurance, many areas of our state are medically underserved. Individuals living in these communities often forego care until they are very ill because they cannot travel the long distances necessary to receive care. To meet a growing demand for healthcare and to give taxpayers a return on their investment in healthcare provider education, our healthcare workforce must be utilized to its full capacity. Restrictive and outdated state laws and regulations preventing the full utilization of licensed health care professionals must be repealed.
Investing in Public Education
Education is the key to individual, family, business, and community prosperity and core to a thriving state economy. To ensure innovation and opportunity in the future, we must never lose sight of the need to invest today in all levels of education: pre-K, K-12, the community college system, and our public university system. This means recruiting and retaining the best possible educators, keeping schools structurally and technologically up-to-date, and making higher education affordable.
Protecting Our Environment
North Carolinians deserve access to open spaces and clean air and water. It is the duty of the legislature to be good stewards of these resources and to ensure they are protected and available for generations to come. Environmental protection requires the right mix of evidence-based regulations and oversight and intervention by a strong NC Department of Environmental Quality.
Preservation of open space improves quality of life, naturally mitigates stormwater runoff, provides recreational opportunities, preserves our state’s rural heritage, and protects fragile ecosystems.
That is why I support conservation tax credits and adequate funding of the Clean Water Management Trust Fund and the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund. These programs promote public-private partnerships that preserve unique environments and protect our natural resources.