ISSUES

Missouri ranks 42nd in healthcare services, 44th in maternal mortality, 13th in teen pregnancies, and 34th in healthcare access and affordability. Jenna believes in negotiating drug prices while incentivizing new and existing affordable drug costs. Our most underserved Missourians need to be able to have quality affordable healthcare and medication within reach.

Quality, accessible, and affordable healthcare is every Missourian’s right. But every year Missouri families must make increasingly difficult decisions for how they prioritize spending on prescription drugs and medical bills over the basic costs of living.

At the same time, the Republican-led House has left millions of federal dollars on the table meant for expanding healthcare access to Missourians. Their inaction means less healthy communities, higher premiums for those with coverage, and the loss of hospitals, especially in rural areas.

As your state representative, I’ll support common sense measures like expanding Medicaid, so no Missourian is forced to choose between a decent job and keeping their healthcare.

As of 2020, Missouri ranks 49th in state funding, 49th in starting teacher salary, and 45th in average pay. We need to fully fund education, particularly in rural areas where charter and private schools are not a practical choice. For too long, the supermajority has looked at educating our youth as a reasonable sacrifice for their budgeting shortfalls and it’s time for that to end. Jenna supports raising the funding formula and fulfilling Missourians commitment to having the brightest young minds in the country.

Every Missouri child should have access to free, quality public education regardless of their zip code. As your representative, I will work to strengthen our public schools and fully fund our commitment to our kids.

I will support universal early childhood education, because investing in our kids from an early age is the best way for us to invest in our future. I will also support investment in higher education and workforce training, to ensure all Missourians have the opportunity to gain the skills to compete in our economy.

Coming out of a global pandemic, good-paying jobs must be attainable for all those who lost their sources of income through no fault of their own. Missouri’s economy can flourish with Missouri residents working in Missouri jobs. The local economy must come first and build to a state level. The legislature has a surplus of money of which Jenna believes could be used for small businesses to expand.

A strong economy is one that works for everyone. As your state rep, I’ll fight for those who truly build up our economy—our workers—for the wages, benefits, and protections they deserve. I’ll support investments in educational opportunities to support a 21st century workforce.

I’ll work for policies that support local businesses who provide good jobs in our state and keep our economy growing. And I’ll work to bring new businesses here that want to capitalize on our skilled Missouri workforce and quality of life. But I’ll always put workers’ interests before the special interests of large corporations.

Our prescription drug epidemic tragically touches too many families in every community across Missouri. Tracking the frequency of prescriptions filled for these addictive drugs would allow for a chance to intervene with high risk users and save lives.

One critical tool our state can deploy to combat the misuse of opioids is the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP). Missouri remains the only state in the entire country without a statewide PDMP, and I will support efforts to finally pass this legislation for our citizens.

Jenna believes more stringent regulations for CAFOs are needed to protect the environment and our neighbors to limit the damage being done to the environment and our communities. SB391 took away local control to adopt restrictions against CAFOs that are more stringent than MO state laws, censoring local control.

Two of the largest CAFOs in Missouri are owned by international conglomerates: Smithfield is owned by a Chinese Co. and JBS is owned by a Brazilian Co. While CAFOs only make up 500 of the 95,000 farms in Missouri, the damage caused to the environment is threefold, the solution is simple: give Missouri farming back to the Missouri farmer and let families grow on the fruits of their labors.

Agriculture is the backbone of Missouri, and at the heart of it are our family farms—where many of us call home and why generations before us settled here. But passing down our way of life to future generations is becoming increasingly challenging.

Our local communities used to have a say in how farming was done in our backyards, but the Republican-led state legislature has passed bills favoring large corporate farms and pushing out family farms.

Last year, state Republicans passed a bill taking control from local communities to regulate certain large feeding operations known as CAFOs. This allows large scale operations to buy up local farms, push the production limits of the land, and pollute our communities’ treasured landscape without local oversight.

As your state rep, I’ll advocate for the state of Missouri to protect local control, giving ordinary citizens easier access to have their say on how farming operates in their community.

Time and time again, the GOP supermajority has reached into local government when it goes against the mainstream grain of their party. Jefferson City oversteps on these few examples; When it came to LGBTQ+ Rights in St. Charles, school board issues, Municipal Voting Authority. When elected, Jenna will advocate restoring local government control.

In Missouri, we have seen many decisions influenced by special interests, circumventing the will of local communities on local issues by preempting local ordinances with state law or by diluting local opposition to matters by including state-wide votes.

Our state elected officials are spending taxpayer dollars on frivolous lawsuits to fight local control and ballot initiatives passed by Missourians. As a small business owner, Jenna will work to ensure your tax dollars are being used responsibly by reinforcing infrastructure, fulfilling education funding, caring for our elderly, and ensuring our small businesses are getting more than out-of-state big business. This step needs to be as transparent as possible. As a Missourian, you deserve to see what is happening with your tax dollars.

I believe in the saying “show me your budget, and I’ll show you your values.” Our state’s budget serves as a moral contract with our citizens. Every year, it is up to the state government to allocate the tax dollars you pay to maintain and improve our quality of living.

But while our schools are underfunded, our healthcare costs are on the rise while our taxes increase, and we’re borrowing money to pay for our crumbling roads and bridges, corporations in Missouri are receiving tax cuts and incentive packages.

We simply should not be handing out money to corporations hoping that prosperity will trickle down. As your state rep, I will be a careful steward of your tax dollars in Jefferson City.

I believe you and your family are the economic drivers of our state. Our budget should reflect that by investing in the things that will improve you and your family’s life, rather than lining the pockets of big businesses.

Jenna believes everyone has a right to body autonomy and that medical decisions are between a patient and their doctor. In Missouri, mothers die from childbirth in numbers far greater than the rest of the industrialized world, and in response, Missouri legislators have repeatedly restricted access to healthcare.

Every person should have the autonomy to make decisions about their body and their life. Republicans have passed extreme abortion bans in recent years, limiting access to abortion even in cases of rape, incest, or medical need.

Mothers die from childbirth in Missouri in numbers far greater than the rest of the industrialized world, and instead of promoting healthcare, Missouri legislators have placed burdensome restrictions on it.

Republicans have gone so far as to pass legislation that costs hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to defend against Constitutional challenges, while at the same time blaming budget shortfalls for lack of funding for essential items like school transportation.

As your state rep, I will stand with women for the right to make the best decisions about their healthcare for their own lives.

Faith in government and the political process is the cornerstone of a functioning democracy. As your state rep, I’ll fight to shine a light on those who conceal their donors and influence our politics with dark money.

Over the years, Republicans have eroded the barrier between special interests and politics. In 2018, Missourians overwhelmingly voted in favor of Amendment 1, known as CLEAN MO. It capped contributions and limited the way money could move in and out of campaign coffers.

Special interests have continued to find loopholes around these laws, pushing ‘dark money’ further into the political process. At the same time, Republicans are advocating for the repeal of Amendment 2.

Ultimately, this campaign isn’t about me. This is your campaign and I want you to be proud of it and the coalition we build along the way. That’s why I’ll provide you easy access to the sources of our campaign money.

Jenna believes that Missouri must pass the Missouri Non-Discrimination Act (MONA). For the last 22 years, the Legislature has tried and failed, to pass MONA. Going forward, with more folks in Jefferson City supporting MONA, we can protect our LGBTQ+ neighbors. Although the Biden Administration and SCOTUS have upheld pro-LGBTQ+ protections, however under current Missouri law our LGBTQ+ community can still be fired, denied housing, kicked out of their current housing or a restaurant for being gay, or transgender, or simply being perceived as such.

The Missouri Legislature actively fights every session against the LGBTQ+ community, going so far as to ignore Federal law. Jenna believes medical decisions should be between parents and medical professionals as it pertains to transgender kids.

Every year for the past two decades, the Missouri Non-Discrimination Act (MONA) has been filed, only to be blocked by Republicans. MONA would allow basic protections to our LGBTQ community by adding sexual orientation and gender identity to Missouri’s Human Rights Act.

Missourians should not have to fear losing their jobs or being denied housing for who they love—discrimination that is currently completely legal in our state.

Meanwhile, Republicans in recent years have also passed legislation that makes it easier for employers, landlords or businesses to discriminate based on race, age, religion or gender—more so than in any other state.

As your state rep, I will work for a Missouri that welcomes people regardless of race, religion, gender, age or sexual orientation, and protects all people from discrimination.