Running for State House in LD22.
/ic8hp7iz0zvqyeudh438eqomyvsq)
The cost-of-living crisis is particularly severe in Washington, and it's no big secret why: Corporate money is buying influence in our government. That influence has created tax codes and government subsidies that protect and enrich the wealthy, and working families pay for it in rent, premiums, and gas prices that outpace their wages every year.
Jamie doesn't take corporate money. Not from PSE, not from Weyerhaeuser, not from insurance companies or private equity firms who buy up our rental housing, not from any corporation. Every policy below stems from that decision.
Jamie answers to the people, not PACs.
Housing & Rent
We're in a cost-of-living crisis, and the legislature's main response was a law letting landlords raise rent up to 9.7% per year whilst simultaneously encouraging the demolition of affordable housing and construction of luxury units most people can't afford. Rent has outpaced wage growth for 15 years straight; nearly half of Washington renter households are now cost-burdened.
Jamie will fight for:
Statewide Caps on Rent Increases: Restrict annual rent increases to the rate of inflation, with no exemptions for corporate landlords or new luxury construction.
Repealing the Rent Control Ban (RCW 35.21.830): Abolish the corporate lobby's state preemption law and restore local municipal authority over rent freezes.
State-Funded Social Housing & Community Land Trusts: Establish a public social housing program to develop mixed-income, affordable homes entirely separate from the speculative market via Community Land Trust (CLT) ownership.
Universal Housing First & Vocational Training: Provide immediate, requisite-free permanent supportive housing to end chronic homelessness, saving lives and cutting costs (emergency services are massively expensive). Pair housing-first policy with access to free vocational training, union apprenticeships, and a statewide public works program paying prevailing wages.
Shift to a Land Value Tax (LVT): Exclude improvements and construction (buildings) from property taxes, shifting the tax burden onto speculative land hoarders. Private equity firms will have no incentive to sit on vacant lots, developers will be incentivized to build.
Childcare
Childcare is the most underappreciated service Washington should provide to its people, and it is the key to creating a more equitable democracy. So many working people have to sacrifice their income to make sure their children are being taken care of, and that's not a sacrifice they should have to make. Free, safe, effective childcare should be provided to all families until their children are in elementary school, at which point the state should provide extensive funding for after-school programs that end at the end of a standard work day.
The lack of extensive state-provided childcare disproportionately affects single parents (72% of which are women in Washington State), and when a multi-parent household has to make the decision to sacrifice one parent's career, it's usually a woman. Jamie may not be able to fully rectify the unhealthy patriarchal societal structure we live in, but he can certainly take a big step towards that goal: by fighting for free and effective childcare.
Healthcare Costs
For too long, Washington has been under the thumb of massive health insurance companies. Jamie's opponent, Lisa Parshley, received literally 22% of her funding from the corporate medical industry, and she claims to be a progressive! Lisa Parshley sits on the Committee for Healthcare and Wellness (CHW), the committee which has killed ALL of the Single-payer healthcare bills that have been proposed in Washington state. Every CHW member is bankrolled by insurance companies and other medical giants, and it's usually by members of the CHW that work with their corporate masters to 1) author a flawed bill, and 2) ensure that the bill never reaches the house floor. Washington has the power to provide single-payer healthcare and ensure that hospitals, doctors, and nurses get paid fairly for the life-saving work they do. Jamie will cut corporations out of Washington politics, fight to get impartial legislators onto that committee, and work with the true progressives to save lives and save wallets: with free and effective healthcare.
Gas & Utilities
Gas is a huge financial stressor for Washingtonians. Jamie is committed to long-term investment in expanded public transit infrastructure (including trains), but that's the long-term. People are struggling right now with the cost of gas.
As with so many exacerbated costs in the modern day, gas prices can be traced back to huge corporations extracting record-breaking (windfall) profits every chance they get: COVID-19, conflicts in the middle-east, and Trump's deregulation have all given exploitative oil companies opportunities to cheat the consumer. Although the state can't control the global price of oil, that doesn't mean there's nothing we can do, even if the establishment wants to make you think we're helpless. We:
Can modify antitrust enforcement to address tacit collusion between the refineries
Can implement a tax on price-gouging windfall profits, putting that money right back into the pockets of the people.
Jamie wholly rejects corporate PACs and lobbying money, and will fight for the people every chance he gets. He will save Washington state money, and he will save you money. Jamie will fight to make sure there is NO MORE price-gouging for gas or utilities!