Legislative District 46

As a physician, I see everything through a health equity lens. Public safety to me means that every member of our community has the ability to develop, to maintain their health and wellness, and to reach their full potential without fear or threat. That is not a reality for too many whose lifespans are defined by the color of their skin or the zip code they were born in.

We should evaluate and measure who has access to important resources and social services, such as healthcare, childcare, education, and housing. We must also measure

rates of violent crime. We should measure how many people end up in the carceral system and how many end up in alternative, restorative justice programs. We should measure the success of preventative programs - mentorships, apprenticeships and other programs that allow young people to develop skills, earn a living wage and contribute to their communities.

We should work to fill the gaps in health inequity. One way I did this was by helping lead the fight to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates in the state of Washington so that poor children (disproportionately children of color) would have meaningful access to health care providers. Health equity also means safety from police brutality, poverty racism, misogyny, homophobia, and climate change.

As a pediatrician, I am trained to treat the whole child – this is the perspective I will bring to advocating for health and safety in Olympia. Taking care of the whole child requires considering their family context, home environment, development, mental health, physical well-being, and ability to thrive. That’s why I will advocate to strengthen our mental health workforce, invest in education, implement common sense gun reform, and champion environmental justice. We must work to fill in the gaps and ensure that all members of the community have access to the social services that allow people to thrive.

When it comes to law enforcement, over policing, incarceration, and police violence in our state disproportionately impact marginalized communities. And, we must have enough police to respond to violent crime when it occurs. Those officers must be trained so that they can respond APPROPRIATELY. And, we must have enough individuals trained in trauma informed care, crisis response and mental health intervention to augment the work done by police. This will allow police to do what they are best trained to do and allow well-trained professionals who are equipped to handle mental health crises, addiction and other issues handle situations that are best managed with de-escalation techniques and protect communities from excessive force. Such approaches have already saved lives in our state. In order to shape those reforms I will look to colleagues in the Black Members Caucus and the communities in my district most impacted by any policy. I will do whatever is in my capacity to support essential reforms as a pediatrician, parent, and legislator.

Gun violence in minority communities is, unfortunately, predominantly carried out by teenagers and young adults. We must work to put systems in place that decrease access to deadly weapons. We also should implement community policing where the police can

be part of a community’s harm reduction and seen as allies rather than as dangerous enemies. There is much repair work to be done and training needed in that area. I will passionately support all of these solutions. I want to listen to the communities themselves so I that I can learn from them and advocate effectively on their behalf. I believe that people can and will tell you what they need.

Public safety means that every citizen feels safe and secure as they go about their daily lives. With respect to policing, I believe we need to not only measure crime and arrest rates alongside rates of harm caused by police, but we need to measure community trust and sense of equity. Using the framework of the Center for Policing Equity, I believe tangible ways to measure progress are rooted in the legitimacy, or lack thereof, of the local and regional criminal-legal and law enforcement system. Unfortunately, the current sense of legitimacy is low, particularly in youth and people of color, and I believe the only way we can enhance the legitimacy of the system is with the creation of powerful civilian oversight boards along the lines described by the National Coalition on Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE).

I will work with like-minded legislators toward strengthening our incipient Civilian Oversight board. I will work toward the elimination of pre-trial detention and cash bail; ensuring that all arrestees are referred to Community Court, Mental Health or Drug Court and connected with services rather than being weighed down with a criminal record.

I believe we need to work with victims and their advocates to create a plan for safety and for those people deemed a danger to themselves or others, they should have a least restrictive option, including possibly mental health and/or addiction services with the appropriate therapeutic setting to ensure recovery and safety for all parties. Everyone who is admitted to jail must, prior to booking, be evaluated by a mental health provider. Should the individual be deemed at risk for mental health deterioration, they must be placed in a therapeutic environment designed to ensure safety and recovery.

I will work to end the “war on drugs'' replacing this with a regulation of drugs rather than a prohibition strategy. I believe in many cases, with adequate services including safe discharge and counseling that we can proceed with essential transformative changes like stopping re-imprisonment for technical parole violations. We also need to ensure that parole hearings are predictable and that everyone eligible for parole has the opportunity to be heard before a judge and that there are transparent and consistent criteria for release from prison.

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Everyone wants to and should feel safe in their communities. I’ve seen the 46th district change tremendously over the years and both housed and houseless neighbors feel unsafe. When community members have what they need to not only survive, but to thrive, we all do better. Increasing public safety starts with providing care the moment it's needed, supporting crisis behavioral health professionals, affordable and accessible low-barrier housing, and reducing the scope of work of law enforcement. We are experiencing serious workforce shortages across the board and especially when it comes to behavioral health care professionals. As a result, we’ve tried to plug holes by having law enforcement respond to crisis. This isn’t working for anyone.

Police are trained to respond to crimes and detain individuals, not to provide a trauma-informed approach to a person in crisis. To be clear- there are still times when law enforcement must be involved in a behavioral health crisis and they should show up to support in these moments. But to support law enforcement and increase public safety we need to reduce their scope of work and bolster our behavioral health crisis system which starts with supporting the workforce.

Public safety includes police accountability. I’m proud to have stood with families who have lost loved ones to police violence as part of the Washington Coalition for Police Accountability. I’m proud to be endorsed by police accountability champion Representative Jesse Johnson and Katrina Johnson, the cousin of Charleena Lyles. I stood with families to pass 1310, through the misinformation campaign that law enforcement created, and through all the rollbacks. I’m proud to say I’ve been chosen to serve as a founding board member for the Washington State Coalition for Police Accountability as we become a non-profit organization.

Law enforcement, just like civilians in other sectors, must be held accountable for the training they receive, actions they take, and any lives they take. As your Representative I will continue this work alongside family and community members who have lost their loved ones to police violence.

I believe progress is measured by

● Fewer deaths by law enforcement

● Fewer reasons for law enforcement to use force

● Fewer people with disabilities, black, and brown people pulled into the criminal legal system

● Marginalized communities feeling safe to call for emergency help

● Marginalized communities receiving help without dying or being unjustly incarcerated

● Individuals and families feeling safe to enjoy their communities and safe in their homes

● Individuals having access to readily available resources (e.g. food, housing, etc.)

As a state legislator, I would prioritize the intersection of behavioral health, housing and homelessness, and the criminal legal system. I live in the Lake City neighborhood, a lower-income community of color, where you can’t go anywhere without being directly confronted by the behavioral health and housing crisis. Over 40% of people experiencing homelessness have a disability, many a behavioral health disability. In Washington State, our lack of a behavioral health system drives people with serious psychiatric disabilities into the revolving door of homelessness, crisis, incarceration, and institutionalization.

Our current system misses the mark because it focuses on providing care only when someone meets criteria for involuntary treatment. This is a fine line to walk, and many tip over this line into the criminal legal system during crisis. Involuntary commitment was designed to be a last resort, not the cornerstone of our behavioral health system yet our current system is centered around it. This is the work I know best as Public Policy Director at Disability Rights Washington and as part of the Trueblood Court Monitor’s Diversion Team. I’ve spent the last several years overseeing 12 different diversion programs across the state which do just this, provide help as soon as help is needed. I’m proud to say these programs are doing well enough that they just recently received funding from the state legislature to keep them running. In the House, I would continue to do this work, and redirect our focus from involuntary services and criminal legal investments to community-based programs that intervene as soon as individuals need help – not after it's too late.

In my day job, I advocate for a behavioral health system with true choice that intervenes at the earliest possible point, for many this starts in grade school. And, if elected, I will use my platform to elevate the urgency of this work. Washington State wastes millions of dollars waiting for people to reach a crisis level of care before providing treatment. We can save money and lives by providing low-barrier accessible housing, addressing basic needs, and a full spectrum of care for our residents.

To create meaningful access and treatment options, we need leaders who understand how individuals accessing resources interact with, and rely on, public service systems. I will work for a system that supports individuals with a variety of behavioral health needs, including culturally relevant and LGBTQIA+ responsive services, school-based therapy, outpatient services, disability specific care, and permanent supportive housing with wraparound supports. I will work for a system that provides care as soon as care is needed. But, to make this vision a reality, we must take care of those who care for us. There is a serious shortage of behavioral health professionals. The schooling required to become a behavioral health professional takes a significant amount of time and money. This results in a less diverse and smaller pool of professionals and fewer individuals pursuing specializations. Once individuals meet the requirements necessary to pursue employment, they are not taken care of as employees. Our healthcare providers are underpaid, undertrained, and as a result, understaffed. The healthcare providers, social workers, certified peer counselors, and caregivers we rely on to take care of some of our most vulnerable are not treated well. If we want to transform our behavioral health system, we must start by taking care of our behavioral health providers. I will work to make sure they are paid a living wage, are provided the training they need to successfully provide individualized care, and ensure they are encouraged to pursue specializations. By properly supporting our workforce, we encourage others from diverse backgrounds to pursue this career path and increase the number of providers’ range of expertise.

I’m a community organizer by training, the only way I know how to draft successful legislation is working with impacted communities and taking direction from them. A big part of why I support these ideas is because they have come from families who lost their loved ones to police violence and are part of the Washington Coalition for Police Accountability (WCPA). I’m interested in pursuing legislation that is directed by and for people with direct lived experiance including the families of WCPA.

To effectively address public safety, it’s imperative that we recognize our current approaches aren’t working. Certainly our survivors are aware of it. It’s time we actually listen to them. The fear many in our community feel is real - violent crime is on the rise statewide. Gun violence threatens our kids on the street and in our classrooms.

The stakes are high. As a survivor of violent crime myself, I’m acutely aware of the price - financial, physical, and mental - of being on the wrong side of this violence. We need changes, and we need them now. We can’t bear any more victims.

While victims’ stories are often cited in discussions about violent crime, public safety, and policing, the reality is that victims’ voices have been ignored and our pain has been exploited by people invested in the status quo.

We know this because our current approach to violent crime fails recent and future victims by not focusing on evidence-based prevention measures. Our current system is failing everyone involved, from the incarcerated people we fail to effectively help back on the right path, to the community members and officers put at risk of increased danger from more violence. Instead, we’ve only focused on responding after a crime has been committed, which hasn’t reduced the likelihood of more people being victimized.

Our decades of defunding crime prevention measures like mental and behavioral health treatment, substance use disorder treatment, and social safety net programs. We can keep people from falling into desperation and instability with programs like universal basic income, increasing our public housing stock, and making child care more affordable and accessible in order to support individuals and families who are struggling financially, instead of leaving them to fend for themselves. These are programs I will help enact and support that will create a more just and more effective approach to public safety.

I refuse to let the voices of fellow survivors be silenced in this critical policy debate. Victims deserve safety, validation, and support, but they are often met with further traumatization.

We have established ways to measure how well we’re making progress towards the prevention of crime. For example, The Stranger recently reported that researchers with the University of Washington conducted a study of the prevention-focused JustCARE organization that included findings about the work We Deliver Care does with the organization. Their analysis showed a 39% reduction in 911 calls in the neighborhoods where they operate, and a 12% reduction in 911 calls from the hotels where the program provides shelter.

We can’t say we’re doing everything we can to fight crime until we do everything we can to prevent crime. We deserve better, and I’m dedicated to increasing our investment in proven prevention measures that keep people from having to go through the same trauma I did.

I will sponsor and vote for legislation that funds alternatives to policing and removes officers from situations where they only further harm. I will ensure our legislature invests in communities by providing services that ease the burden of poverty, mental health issues, and substance use disorders, such as the efforts listed in my above answer.

But as a legislator, I can go further than my vote. I will make sure that voices from communities that feel the greatest burden of crime and poverty have a seat at the table when we’re crafting and considering legislation that will impact them. I’ll also see to it that all the legislation I sponsor goes through an equity impact assessment to ensure that my policies will actually relieve, and not worsen, the effects of inequality on our marginalized communities.

In addition to the reforms I’ve endorsed above, I will work to make sure that any officer found to be untruthful for any reason is placed on the Brady list, and that we require more explicit details in Brady list submissions. I will fight for police disciplinary records for longer periods of time, so we can better hold officers and the process accountable. I will pursue legislation that requires higher hiring standards for police officers, allowing us to root out potential recruits with ties to white nationalist organizations or records of violence. I will also work to ensure more municipalities and communities establish Civilian Review Boards to allow the public a forum to discuss police misconduct and problematic decisions from leadership, require further transparency from departments’ internal reviews and disciplinary actions, and conduct independent reviews and analysis of departments. Finally, I will work to get the state to fund independently-researched benchmarking conducted to properly evaluate the effectiveness of our police practices and to demonstrate ways police alternatives would find more success.