Molly’s Platform

Molly spent five days working in the ER during Winter Storm Uri while her family and neighbors were huddled at home waiting for power to come back on. The ER was more crowded during the freeze than it was during Hurricane Harvey, and the Texas Medical Center struggled to provide care.

Renewable energy is cleaner, cheaper, and far less resource intensive than more traditional fossil fuel generation. Diversifying our energy mix provides the reliability that Texans need and deserve during extreme weather events. Winter Storm Uri showed us that access to affordable, reliable power is a critical public health and safety issue. Climate justice and environmental justice are the root values of Molly’s work as an organizer, but even the most conservative voters and lawmakers should support expansion of renewable energy production and transmission. Adding more clean energy to the grid will provide necessary environmental benefits and, in the long run, powerful economic benefits to consumers across the state. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming a ubiquitous and indispensable tool in Texans’ everyday lives. AI requires extensive energy, and now is a critical moment for energy transition infrastructure planning. Molly supports:

• Maximizing Texas’s homegrown energy sources–windy days and plenty of sunshine–to provide lowest-cost, highest-value energy to both large-scale and individual consumers

• Encouraging new investment and resource competition in ERCOT without discriminating against renewable energy resources

• Evaluating proposed transmission projects for their affordability to individual consumers

• Advanced, long-term planning for new transmission infrastructure to bring much needed electrons to the grid that have been waiting in the queue

• Prioritizing development of renewable energy projects across Texas to grow local property tax bases and stimulate economic activity in the communities where they are located

Molly had a procedural abortion in 2014. It was emotionally difficult, expensive, and difficult to access. It shouldn’t have been.

Seeking an abortion is a personal decision, guided by healthcare professionals, our loved ones, and our faith and beliefs. Each person faces a unique set of circumstances when they decide to become pregnant, terminate a pregnancy, or become a parent. Once that decision is made, the only role of Texas lawmakers is to guarantee that the abortion is safe. Under the current set of laws, wealthier Texans and white Texans are the only people with access to safe abortions, and even then, they only get access if they leave the state. All Texans should be able to consider every option regardless of their income or neighborhood. Abortions should be covered by insurance.

Molly is committed to fighting for incremental and revolutionary change to policies concerning abortions, bodily autonomy, and reproductive healthcare.

Texans need abortions now, even while unjust laws are in place. Molly encourages you to follow and donate to abortion funds that work every day to provide Texas residents with safe, out-of-state abortion options.

Abortion restriction is a component of a larger pattern of statewide policy that attacks and dehumanizes women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, young people, communities of color, and other marginalized communities. We all know and love someone who has had an abortion. Every Texan deserves the right to decide if and when they get pregnant and become parents.

Molly routinely bears witness to the horrific cost of gun violence in her work as an ER nurse. It shouldn’t have to be that way.

According to Everytown’s Gun Law Rankings, Texas ranks 32nd because we have weak laws and worse than average rates of gun violence. Gun violence is the number one cause of death for children in Texas and nationwide. Gun violence disproportionately harms young people, Black communities and communities of color, women, the LGBTQ+ community, and other marginalized communities. There are common sense laws that a majority of Texans support passing. There are also federal laws already in place that protect survivors of interpersonal violence, and Texas lawmakers choose not to enforce them. Loose laws in Texas put Texans at risk, and they also put our neighbors and the global community at risk. We need common sense gun reform now. Molly supports:

• Requiring background checks for all gun sales

• Banning person-to-person gun sales, which are not monitored or regulated

• Removing guns from the possession of persons who have been determined by a judge to be a risk to themselves or others

• Raising the age to purchase an assault-style rifle from 18 to 21

• Passing, enforcing, and raising awareness of safe storage laws

• Prioritizing and funding community violence intervention programs

Molly came out as bisexual in 2021. It was a powerful, deeply personal, and liberating experience.

Every Texan is precious, and every Texan who identifies as LGBTQ+ deserves to be treated with the dignity warranted by the breath of life in our lungs. It is important to consider intersectionality when writing policy to protect those of us who are vulnerable to harm. Our trans neighbors are in the cross hairs of hateful policymaking and are at the highest risk for violence. Molly is fighting for a world where every person of any gender (or non-gendered person) feels and is safe.

The first vote Molly cast was for President Barack Obama’s re-election. She can still remember exactly where she was standing in a student services building, surrounded by other young people, on campus at the University of Texas.

Neighbors across our district who have been left out of our democratic process express apathy and frustration. We must make it as easy as possible for anyone who is legally permitted to make their voices heard. Republican attacks on voting rights and the integrity of election results are placing democracy itself at risk. She will always show up and fight for democracy. Voting should be a habit, not a hassle. Molly supports:

• Online voter registration

• 24-hour and drive through voting where it is needed

• Lifting barriers and prohibitions from the infamous SB1 from 87(1)

Molly is a graduate of Texas public schools, and her public school educators made her who she is today.

Free, high-quality public education is the bedrock of a healthy, Democratic society. It is also a primary, constitutional requirement of the Texas state government. Every child should have access to excellent school regardless of the income of their parents or the neighborhood in which they live. Public schools serve every child, regardless of abilities, and charter and private schools do not have to. Children deserve quality education just by nature of being Texas children. Public education policy in Texas must be evidence-based and center the voices of teachers and students. Molly is opposed to school vouchers, charter school expansion, and book bans. Molly supports:

• Increasing per student funding and enrollment-based funding rather than attendance-based funding

• Separation of church and state in public schools

• Reducing reliance on STAAR and standardized testing

• Raises for teachers and teaching support staff

As demonstrated by the Charles Butt Foundation’s 2023 Texas Education Poll, Texans across the board support investing in public education and teachers. Texans deserve principled, resolute leaders, who will stand up to special interests and deep pockets trying to undermine and sabotage Texas public schools.

Molly endorsed Texas State Proposition 9, which is a cost-of-living increase to pensions for retired teachers.

Molly has volunteered and worked in home care, hospitals, memory care facilities, and senior care facilities since she was in high school. She knows that every single patient deserves the care she would offer to her own mother or father, and her public service is an extension of that nursing care.

Every Texan will hopefully live to older adulthood and senior status, and caring for older adults and seniors should be a priority of every elected official. Seniors face difficulties like predatory lending, displacement, and poor quality housing, variable rent on fixed incomes, lack of access to transportation, isolation, and lack of access to tasty, healthy foods. Molly values intergenerational organizing and has worked for years to increase public transportation options and encourage development that keeps seniors housed and allows them to walk to nearby amenities like grocery stores and doctors' offices. Molly is prepared to help older adults and their families navigate confusing laws, connect communities to available resources, and advocate at every level of government to pass laws that care for seniors, keep them housed, and connect them to their communities. Whether it is a city, county, state, or federal responsibility does not matter to her. Molly's office will be a one-stop-shop for the needs of seniors in Senate District 15. Molly is fighting for Medicaid expansion and environmental justice to protect and celebrate our precious elders.

As a public health nurse, I know that cannabis–for most of the population–is safer than alcohol. As an ER nurse, I see folks turning to other dependency-causing substances for pain relief. Criminalization of this plant disproportionately harms young Black men and other people of color. The evidence is now overwhelming: decriminalize and legalize cannabis use.

Molly takes care of patients every single day who have chronic illnesses that rob them of daily joy, gainful employment, generational wealth, and years on this planet. Many of them are too young, and most of them are Black and brown. That is why Molly has spent years organizing for multimodal, sustainable, affordable transportation in the state of Texas and the Yes on Prop B Fair for Houston campaign at the local level.

No one’s employer should also be their neighborhood’s worst polluter. Neighborhoods in areas of high environmental hazard exposure and fenceline communities need leaders who will stand up to corporate polluters so that we all have clean air, clean water, and clean soil. It is up to all of us to clean and take care of our environment, and government is the mechanism by which we accomplish that vision. Molly supports:

• The passage of HJR 77/SJR 37 from the 88th session to allow TxDOT to spend money on transportation infrastructure other than just roadways

• Enforcement of federal air quality standards for our region’s biggest polluters

• Updates to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s (TCEQ’s) agency rules such as the consideration of cumulative impacts for site placement for new polluting facilities

• Requiring Health Impact Assessments for all projects that qualify for environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

Molly endorsed Texas State Proposition 6, which creates the Texas Water Fund to build much needed water infrastructure improvements projects.

For years, Molly has been fighting TxDOT’s plans to widen I-45 and the subsequent destruction of homes, green spaces, small businesses, faith homes, and history. She has knocked on hundreds of doors and worked closely with advocacy groups, community orgs, faith leaders, and affected residents to pressure Texas state leadership to consider more effective solutions to the Houston region’s mobility needs. Molly knows first-hand from her work as an ER nurse that lack of housing, transportation, and economic opportunity are the underlying causes of many Texans’ emergencies and chronic illnesses.

Housing, transportation, and the vibrancy of Texas cities are all inextricably linked. Holistic planning is a basic responsibility of state and local governments. Texas Lawmakers can curb tax credits (and exemptions) for corporate developers and nudge that money back into our communities while expanding access to safe, affordable housing. Rent and homeownership must be affordable to working families. During the 88th session, Molly worked with Republicans, Democrats, and housing advocates to pass HB 2071, which significantly reformed Public Facility Corporations preventing loss of property taxes for cities and counties and limiting property tax increases for the public. Urban centers in Texas deserve and can have safe, reliable, convenient, affordable public transportation. Cars are the most-expensive, least-safe way to move around. We must protect all road users and prioritize accessibility for those with disabilities and those who cannot afford cars.

Molly’s work as an ER nurse requires her to physically respond to policy failures in Texas like the choice not to expand Medicaid. Molly takes care of patients on a daily basis who do not have access to high quality, affordable health care. Fighting these broken systems and bearing witness to the repeating patterns of suffering is what inspired Molly to earn her public health degree and run for office.

Texas has shamefully high numbers of uninsured children and adults. In order to prevent harm and suffering, all people must be able to access quality, affordable healthcare. Molly supports Medicaid expansion and Medicare for All.

The ER often serves as the intersection of the health care and criminal legal systems. Molly is proud to provide the gold standard of emergency care regardless of the patient’s income, record, or ability to comply with treatment. Molly sees every day just how effective jail diversion programs can be as well as the astounding lack of resources that prevent crime and help Texans choose health. Molly’s work and education have convinced her that crime must be understood as a public health issue and addressed with data-driven public health solutions.

Every person in Texas should be and feel healthy and safe. Crime and incarceration are public health issues. Improving Texas’ criminal legal system starts by acknowledging the historical legacy of racism and discrimination in policing and prisons, and working for an end to the criminalization of poverty, homelessness, and disabilities. No one should profit from someone else’s suffering, and we must work to end private prisons and jail profiteering. I promise never to accept money from private prisons or prison contractors. We must work to end discriminatory bail practices that disproportionately detain Black people, who are incarcerated in local jails at a rate 3.5x higher than non-Hispanic white people and receive money bail amounts that are 2x higher than white defendants. It is estimated that there are 8,000 people right now in Texas prisons because of wrongful convictions. Conditions are unsafe not only for the people who are imprisoned but for the correctional officers who work in those facilities. Denying folks air conditioning amounts to abuse and cruel and unusual punishment. We must stand with correctional officers and incarcerated people in demanding safe, sanitary, and humane conditions. As of 2019, there were 4,000 open positions for prison staffing. Criminal legal policies must prioritize equity for Black and brown people, immigrants, and low-income communities. We must work to produce good outcomes with compassion, equity, and data. Other criminal legal policies Moll would support to improve public health and safety include:

• Raise the age of criminal responsibility from 17 to 18

• Use Community Reinvestment Funds to prevent crime before it starts

• Protect folks with intellectual disabilities from stigmatization, criminalization, and execution

• Increase funding to local mental health departments and expand the number of beds in psychiatric and state-supported living facilities

• Strict oversight of correctional medicine for pregnant people and people with disabilities

• Legalize/decriminalize cannabis

• Increase prosecutor, policing and correctional facility oversight

• Fund and revive the Criminal Justice Oversight Committee (defunct since 2009)

• Common sense parole

• Automate Clean Slate Initiatives so people can exercise their rights and return to society successfully without navigating overwhelming and confusing paperwork

• Increase judicial accountability

• Vigorously defend Texans’ Constitutional right to be presumed innocent

• Increased oversight and accountability of custody death investigations

Both in the ER and while out door knocking in Harris County, Molly routinely serves people who do not have access to reliable, high-speed internet. A lack of access to the internet is an unnecessary and preventable barrier to health and wellness.

This pandemic made clear that the Internet is a utility. The digital divide creates a needless strain on the personal wellness and finances of Texans. Public broadband could have solved many of the issues students and families faced early in the COVID-19 pandemic. It would help reduce gaps in care for rural Texas, incarcerated Texans, and Texans who do not have access to reliable transportation. Molly’s vision for Texas is one where every single person in every community (rural, urban, suburban, or otherwise), has access to healthcare, education, and easy communication with their loved ones. Other cities and countries around the world already provide public broadband access to spur economic activity and improve social connection. We can do the same.

Molly endorsed the 2023 Texas State Proposition 8, which creates the Broadband Infrastructure Fund.

Molly is required to protect data and privacy for her patients, so why are corporations and our own government not held to the same standard?

State government should be the leading example of privacy protection and cyber-security - it is unconscionable that the state ever made money off of selling our personal data. Molly supports legislation that prevents the unauthorized sale of our data, improves Texas’s confidentiality standards, and reinforces cyber security for sensitive data.