Marco is committed to getting results and solving the problems that residents of our district face.
RESTORING FUNDING FOR INFRASTRUCTURE, STORMWATER MANAGEMENT, AND FLOOD REPAIR
We must bring dollars back from Harrisburg to fix and repair our local infrastructure, stormwater management systems, and flood damage. For too long, Harrisburg has been mismanaging our tax dollars and has not made infrastructure, stormwater management, or flood repair a priority. That must change. The funding is there. We must restore that funding back to infrastructure, stormwater management, and flood repair.
I will fight to make sure our communities receive our fair share of funding for infrastructure, stormwater management, and flood repair so that we do not have to raise property taxes in order to pay for these much needed repairs.
ENSURING AFFORDABLE AND ACCESSIBLE HEALTHCARE
We need a healthcare system that puts patients over profits. Affordable and accessible healthcare for all is what Pennsylvanians deserve.
I support affordable healthcare, and lowering prescription drug prices, for all members of our community. I will work to ensure that patients have access to the medical providers they need. We cannot allow insurance companies to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions or set lifetime limits for care, or force families to take their children off their health insurance before they are 26. We must protect Pennsylvania families by ensuring all Pennsylvanians have these basic patient protections. This is more important now than ever because the federal government is trying to take these protections away.
I will protect the rights of healthcare workers to organize. Healthcare workers deserve to be compensated fairly and work in a safe environment.
PROTECTING OUR SENIOR CITIZENS
Too often, our seniors are hit the hardest by rising healthcare costs and increases in property taxes. I will fight to make healthcare more affordable for our seniors and lower prescription drug prices. I will also work to bring property tax relief to our seniors.
STRENGTHENING OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
We have great public schools in our District and we should be proud of that fact. Public schools are, and should remain, the gold standard for educating children in our communities. Yet we should always be striving for improvement and never settling for anything less than the best for our children. We must ensure that all of our children have access to high quality early childhood education, great public schools, and affordable higher education options.
During a time when higher education prices are soaring, we must also expand the vocational training and other educational and work opportunities for young adults. We must work to lower the cost of higher education and encourage our youth to consider learning technical and vocational skills through union apprenticeship programs or high quality trade schools.
SUPPORTING WORKERS AND ORGANIZED LABOR
Workers and organized labor built Western Pennsylvania. We must always honor that tradition and embrace the important role that labor and unions still play here in Western Pennsylvania by providing good family sustaining jobs and helping to develop our regional economy. Additionally, we must hold corporations and employers accountable when they violate workers rights.
PRESERVING AND PROTECTING OUR ENVIRONMENT
I want a cleaner, healthier, and safer environment for all. Clean air and clean water are vital to the health of our citizens and the health of our communities. Preservation of our natural recreational spaces is an important part of ensuring a cleaner, healthier, and safer environment for all. The Pennsylvania Constitution states that people have the right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural scenic, historic and aesthetic values of the environment.
I will work to hold polluters accountable when they violate the law. Our Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) funding has consistently been cut, and the DEP has lost over 25 percent of its staff in recent years. The DEP is responsible for protecting and preserving our land, air, water, and public health by enforcing the state’s environmental laws and regulations.
I will fight to fully fund, and fully staff, the DEP to ensure we can hold polluters accountable when they violate the law. Additionally, we must continue to invest in the health of our people and a healthy environment by advancing carbon capture and utilization technology, methane leak detection and mitigation, and alternate energy systems.
GOOD GOVERNMENT THAT IS ACCOUNTABLE TO VOTERS
Government must work for the people it represents and our elected officials must be accountable to voters. After all, that is the basis of a democracy. We can have a government that is more responsive and more accountable to voters.
We should end gerrymandering and have fair legislative districts. We should have state campaign finance laws that impose campaign contribution limits and increase transparency in campaign finance reporting. Voters deserve to know who is funding a candidate's campaign and how candidates are spending campaign funds. This is why I post all of my campaign finance reports on my website (link). I was the first candidate in this election to post campaign finance reports on a campaign website and I have publicly called on other candidates to do the same.
We must also protect taxpayer dollars. The Pennsylvania legislature is one of the most expensive in the entire country. We can do better. I will do my part to end this waste of taxpayer dollars. Once elected, I will not accept costly per diems or a government car. I will only accept reimbursement for official government expenses and I will publish all expenses and reimbursement reports on my website.