NEW MEXICO HOUSE DISTRICT 48
1. How have your prior experience and education prepared you for this position?
My family, education, and professional experiences prepared me for the diverse skill set necessary to succeed. I attribute the foundational ethics I learned to the education and rearing from my multi-generational family. My mother emphasized the importance of education and my grandmother to public service and community. I honed in on the values of social environmental advocacy, visual arts, and the love of science that I used to earn a bachelor’s degree in science/premed and fine arts. My work experience in the fields of the medical industry, political public policy, and human resources provided a balance of practical/ common sense fluency I use to address and understand the extensive amount of information and work a legislator must incur.
2. What three important issues would you plan to work on?
I have been and will continue to focus working on: diversifying our economy to be sustainable and equitable through green economic strategies; improving and creating more accessible behavioral health systems that create better health outcomes for individuals and their families; and working on education issues for fair equitable practices with measurable outcomes. In relation to those initiatives, in the 2022 regular session I carried pieces of legislation including: House Bill 52, the Harm Reduction Bill; House Bill 3,Community Energy Efficiency DEV Block Grant; House Joint Resolution 2, Environmental Rights; and House Memorial 48, the STEM Career Pipeline Study.
3. How can the legislature balance the needs of farmers and ranchers with the priorities of cities and towns?
We can balance the needs through a more equitable scope of practice. If we are to address the needs in a formidable way we have to meet and understand the functional changing environmental needs of our farmers and ranchers alongside those we are facing in cities and towns (as drought will continue to influence all growth and development) and work to implement adaptive conservation concepts. All stakeholders have to work together to adapt to the changing climate demands that we are facing.
4. What can be done to support the aging population, i.e., elderly housing, elder care, transportation?
We have to invest in affordable housing for our seniors and work with the state Mortgage Finance Authority and our local governments. There are pathways to address how we can do this through our NM tax code and state budget. I have co-sponsored legislation and invested state dollars in a study of the Healthcare Act that could create an affordable medical care model that will support the needs of our growing aging population as well at the medical service needs of all of us.