Elizabeth Fiedler - State Representative for the 184th

LONGFORM QUESTIONS

What do you value most about the district you are running to represent and why do you want to represent it in Harrisburg as State Representative/State Senator?

My district is full of kind, generous people. Many have lived here their entire lives and their extended family lives a few houses away. Many other people have moved here because the neighbors are welcoming and friendly, housing is relatively affordable, mass transportation is relatively good, there are business corridors, and the area is mostly walkable and compact.

I ran for State Representative in 2018 because I wanted to help create a better future for my children to grow up in. The 184th district is home to many people from many countries and cultures who speak more than 40 languages and dialects. Many of these residents are refugees or immigrants themselves. Many of them simply want to have a place to call home, food on the table, and the basics for them and their families to survive and to enjoy life. This is not too much to ask in the richest country in the history of the world. I’m working to be part of accomplishing that goal for every person in my district and in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I’m proud of what we’ve done together in my first term and it would be my honor to serve this district for a second term.

Do you regard basic needs of Pennsylvanians, including food, housing, health care, and education, as human rights or as commodities most efficiently distributed by economic markets? How would this look in a truly just world? How would you begin to fight for that world in your first 100 days in office?

They are human rights. We live in the wealthiest nation on Earth. Providing healthy food, quality housing, healthcare, and education to everyone is a moral responsibility for our society. The commodification of these basic needs in the “free market” has allowed private profiteers and the super rich to exploit us and endanger our lives and livelihoods.

I will continue to fight for emergency school funding to remediate toxic school buildings and fully fund our schools – so students, teachers and staff start to be treated with the respect they deserve. We must spend our money wisely by making significant investments in public schools and in housing, passing single-payer healthcare legislation, and establishing a Family Care Program that protects everyone’s health from birth through death.

We also need to reform our tax policy so that we have the money to deeply invest in our communities. Right now the tax system in Pennsylvania benefits the rich and corporations. That’s not right. To make a more fair system, we need to pass the legislation I introduced to eliminate what’s called the “uniformity clause,” which prevents us from having fair tax policy for working people. We need to pass the Fair Share Tax Plan (sponsored by Rep. Rabb, I am co-sponsor), so our state more fairly taxes working and poor people.

In recent years, Pennsylvania has had enormous trouble passing a budget. What are your budgetary priorities, what revenue sources would you seek, and how would you move these measures through the Republican-dominated legislature?

This is bigger than just a few changes. We need to re-imagine what a “good economy” really looks like. We shouldn’t just count on numbers like “unemployment rate” as key indicators. Instead we should build an economy that is based on high quality, well-paying jobs with unions.

My highest budgetary priority continues to be securing emergency school funding to repair toxic school buildings. I have been working with groups, teachers, and students across my district, as well as groups and lawmakers from across the state to push other lawmakers and the Governor to prioritize this funding in this year’s budget.

We must spend our public money wisely. To me, that means not giving it away to big, for-profit developers. Instead, we need to invest in the public goods and infrastructure that matter to poor and working people across our city and state. That includes making significant investments in public schools and affordable housing, in mass transit, and in energy efficiency of all public buildings. Even in a GOP-dominated legislature, progressive budget goals are attainable. We have been pushing for Governor Wolf to build a budget that better reflects the needs of poor and working Pennsylvanians, or use the Rainy Day Fund to address emergencies, such as our schools crisis. Republicans cannot pass a budget all by themselves. I sit on the House Appropriations Committee, where crucial decisions are made on budget allocation. I refuse to sit quietly while we rule on these matters of life and death. Last year, I voted against the state budget because it did not do enough to fight for these things. Meanwhile, we lost the General Assistance program that supported so many of our neighbors in need.

Philadelphia remains the most impoverished major city and about 75% of our residents lack bachelor's degrees. What policies would you implement to ensure that decent, high-paying jobs created here are accessible to the majority of our population, not just the relatively well-educated and already well off?

Workers deserve a living wage regardless of their level of education, or the job they’re tasked with doing. It’s unconscionable that people are making $7.25/hr right now, which is not enough to afford a two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the entire state. We need to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour, and to establish one fair wage so that waiters and waitresses, for example, can also be certain they will make a minimum of $15/hr. I co-sponsored this legislation in the State House.

The Family Care Program I mentioned above would create well-paying, stable jobs for tens of thousands of people.

We need to make all of our public buildings more energy efficient. We need to invest in training programs and structures so we can train thousands of people to make our buildings use less energy, and to use renewable sources of energy. We need to make sure there are career paths for people to follow from those jobs, whether they were coming from school, from unemployment or from incarceration. This work can and should be done in partnership with the unions that work hard to ensure a high-quality job is done, and is done so safely.

I have also introduced Fair Work Week legislation, and worked with unions, colleagues, and community groups to push it forward. This legislation would ensure that workers get two weeks notice of their work schedule, and that if last minute shift changes are made (shifts added or removed), they would receive compensation pay. This way, people could have predictable schedules that would allow them to schedule the rest of their lives (childcare, college, doctor’s appointments) and have predictable budgets within their household as well.

With increased school funding, we can hire more librarians, counselors, teachers, nurses, custodians, cafeteria workers, and every other job that is vital to a healthy school.

We need to end the school-to-prison pipeline, so we stop spending so much money to incarcerate so many human beings in prison. Instead that money can go to schools, housing, and health programs.

What policies would you introduce and/or sponsor to expand and strengthen the labor movement in Pennsylvania? How would you fortify existing unions in the event of a state or nationwide right-to-work law? How would you expand worker representation and power in sectors with low union density?

Protecting and expanding the rights of workers to collectively bargain is essential for economic justice. Among the many ways we can support workers -- raising the minimum wage, enforcing safe workplace standards, paid sick days, and a statewide version of the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights. We must also strengthen the enforcement of existing labor laws, with repercussions for employers who engage in union-busting and wage theft.

We must dedicate ourselves to strengthening existing unions and winning representation for more workers. Right-to-work legislation poses a real threat to the lives of workers. It must be workers who live and work in the center of this struggle, who are prioritized as decision-makers, with the goal of getting members more engaged and willing to take action. This includes attending meetings, striking, and supporting politicians who truly represent their needs. We must expand worker representation and power in sectors with low union density by supporting efforts in industries that haven’t been previously organized, including campaigns like Fight for $15. At the state level, I believe that projects the state invests in should create good jobs, not only on the construction site, but for the long term. I support the expansion of prevailing wage provisions, particularly on projects that the state subsidizes.

All our lives as working people are better because of unions. Unionization is connected with higher wages for all middle class workers and lower income inequality. Both of my parents are proud union members, and I can guarantee you that I will not give up this fight.

Philadelphia’s immigrant communities are threatened by increased ICE deportation efforts, police brutality and misconduct, and discriminatory treatment by our criminal justice system. What will you do to ensure that Pennsylvania residents are safe from ICE?

With our immigrant communities increasingly vulnerable under the Trump administration and its like-minded Republican allies in Pennsylvania, we must condemn the use of racism and xenophobia as a means to expand the carceral state, and block their initiatives at the state level as well. Outside of Harrisburg, State Representatives must be leaders on this issue here in Philadelphia, and facilitate the work of organizers to mount resistance on a grassroots level.

Philadelphia is considered a “sanctuary city,” yet the daily reality of many black and brown people is one that includes constant fear and threat. Many immigrants to our city do not feel safe here: raids continue that threaten to tear them away from their families and communities. They live, in many cases, as second-class citizens: without access to basic healthcare, affordable housing, the ability to drive legally, or quality jobs. Meanwhile, the Berks County detention center continues to imprison women and children. We must increase trust between immigrants and police, and work to protect the Fourth Amendment rights of all residents.

What is your opinion on privatized infrastructure and/or public–private partnerships for development or maintenance of public infrastructure, such as roads and water works?

PPPs are often used as a transitional step away from public ownership and management of public goods and towards privatization of those industries. By using tax breaks, deregulation, and taxpayer funds to support their own private sector growth, PPPs can become Trojan horses for corporations to expand their control over public spaces and utilities.

Retaining public stewardship of infrastructure projects and utilities allows taxpayers to save on interest rates on the loans required for those projects, to avoid the spiraling costs of the bidding process, and to pay less in user fees. Moreover, we’d retain crucial revenue streams from the use of public services, and maintain operational control.

Pennsylvania faces a rental housing crisis. According to the 2017 American Community Survey, 22.3% of Pennsylvania homeowners are cost-burdened and 44.8% of Pennsylvania renters are cost-burdened. Given the housing crisis in Pennsylvania in general, and in Philadelphia in particular, what meaningful measures will you take and push for so that all residents have access to safe, affordable housing?

We all deserve to have a warm, dry, safe place to call home. Rising housing costs, and the fact that so many jobs pay too little, have made realizing that reality very hard for many people. Across our district and the city many people struggle just to pay rent or the mortgage, while also affording groceries, medical bills, prescriptions, and childcare. This happens often even when a person works one or two jobs. That is ridiculous. We need to raise the minimum wage, pass our Fair Work Week legislation, strengthen unions, and implement comprehensive housing reform including rent control and increasing funding for public low-income and accessible housing. That includes passing a Tenant Bill of Rights.

Specifically, on the rental front, many tenants face eviction through no fault of their own. Currently, under Pennsylvania law an eviction record follows a person for years. I have been working with community and legal groups on legislation to establish eviction expungement procedures. Any eviction cases that came from a “not-for-cause” eviction or a foreclosure eviction would be automatically sealed. Our legislation would give a clean slate to many families who are looking for safe and affordable housing, and who deserve it!

Given the reality of the climate crisis, do you support a Green New Deal (GND) for Pennsylvania? If so, please outline how you will craft this, what would be included, and how adaptation measures for communities most impacted will be centered.

The climate crisis is already unfolding, and will impact our most vulnerable citizens first. Nearly 80% of Philadelphia’s carbon emissions come from buildings, industry, and the power grid. We must champion a Green New Deal that creates thousands of union jobs by making major investments in electrification, energy efficiency, and clean energy production. Meanwhile, we have the power to prevent polluters from damaging our state’s air, water and natural resources. I am honored to be a vocal member of the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, where our voice as progressives must grow louder.

The big donations, gifts, and lobbying money of the Marcellus Shale Coalition and their corporate allies have bought off large parts of the state legislature. The tragic impact is that Pennsylvania is being held back from making the policy changes and investments in clean energy that could create hundreds of thousands of jobs. We must break our dependence on fossil fuels by banning offshore drilling, fracking, new fossil fuel infrastructure including pipelines and natural gas power plants, and divesting from energy companies that make a significant portion of their revenues from fossil fuels. We also must fully fund the DEP and state parks.

Creating the power we need to achieve our goals must also happen outside of Harrisburg, and we will continue to work with grassroots and community groups. Specifically, I am committed to continuing to work with environmental justice and community groups like Sunrise Movement to organize inside and outside to achieve the legislative policies we need.

Taken together, the transformations of our energy, agricultural, transportation, and industrial systems provide a once-in-a-century opportunity to reshape our economy towards justice and democracy. This transition must be funded by the super-rich, who have extracted so much wealth from the fossil fuel economy, and the jobs must go first to former workers and to poor, working class, black and brown communities.

What measures can be taken by the Pennsylvania legislature to put an end to overpolicing, militarization of police, police brutality, and lack of police accountability, especially in black and brown communities that are unfairly and disproportionately targeted? How would you support these measures?

We must change the way we police poor communities and communities of color, including ending the unconstitutional and ineffective practice of stop-and-frisk. Instead, intelligent and proactive policing, targeting the people who commit the majority of violent crimes, can build trust in communities hit hard by crime and truly make residents safer. We must reform divisive law enforcement strategies and work to have transparency and fairness on behalf of victims of crime, their families and our communities.

We must take a number of steps to reduce prison populations. I strongly support treating drug addiction as a public health issue and in diverting non-violent drug offenders into treatment programs. I oppose blanket mandatory minimum policies that over-incarcerate people and that remove discretion from the judge to determine how long of a sentence a crime should result in. We are spending too much time prosecuting minor property crimes and minor drug offenses, while many homicide cases never end with a proper conviction. We need to use the resources of law enforcement and prosecutors to target the most serious crimes. We must focus on prosecuting cases only if they have sufficient evidence, and review past convictions to work toward freeing those who have been wrongfully convicted. We also must put in place alternatives to cash bail for people who are charged with nonviolent offenses. The myth that prisons make us safer has prevented us from even beginning to deal with many of the largest causes of violence.

YES OR NO QUESTIONS

1. Will you support legislation to provide universal child and elder care for Pennsylvanians? Yes

2. Will you support legislation for single-payer health care that covers all individuals, regardless of documentation status? Yes

3. The average student loan debt in Pennsylvania is $33,935, one of the highest in the country. Will you support legislation to make the PASSHE system and Commonwealth colleges tuition and fee free and provide cost of living stipends to students who are residents of Pennsylvania? Yes

4. Do you support a moratorium on all new charter schools? Yes

5. Do you support the use of public school vouchers to pay for private school tuition? No

6. Should all state educational revenue streams be funneled through the Fair Funding Formula for our public schools? Yes

7. Do you support the Keystone Opportunity Zone program? No

8. Do you support tax breaks to lure or retain businesses? No

9. Do you support the use of eminent domain by corporations and businesses? No

10. Do you support a ban on fracking in Pennsylvania? Yes

11. Will you support legislation to mandate that pensions increase each year to match with the average increase in cost of living expenses? Yes

12. Will you commit to introducing/sponsoring legislation to expand Medicaid to fully fund medically assisted treatment, mental health, and community-based programs to support people struggling with addictions and their families in Philadelphia? Yes

13. Do you support the permanent loss of a distribution license as the penalty for overproduction and overprescription of opioids? Yes

14. Will you support legislation to ensure that medically assisted treatment is readily available to people who are incarcerated? Yes

15. Will you commit to supporting safe-consumption sites in Pennsylvania? Yes

16. From the moment a landlord files a claim in landlord-tenant court, a tenant is saddled with an eviction record that makes it nearly impossible to obtain safe and decent housing. This is true regardless of the outcome of an eviction claim. Will you support legislation to:

a. Expunge all eviction records that do not result in a judgment against the tenant? Yes

b. Seal all open eviction cases upon satisfaction of the judgment? Yes

c. Expunge all eviction records five (5) years from the day of filing? Yes

17. Will you support legislation to create a state-wide tenant bill of rights, including but not limited to a right to legal counsel, full funding for tenant legal aid, and just cause eviction laws? Yes

18. Will you support legislation to enact rent control in Pennsylvania, limiting yearly increases in rent to 3% (including in the case of vacancies). Yes

19. Do you commit to enshrining in law employment and discrimination protections for the LGBTQIA+ and immigrant communities? Yes

20. Will you support an end to the death penalty in all cases? Yes

21. Will you support an end to all felony disenfranchisement in Pennsylvania, in accordance with the laws in Maine and Vermont? Yes

22. Will you support the decriminalization of sex work, for both sex workers and patrons? Yes

23. Will you commit to protecting reproductive rights, by supporting an end to the Hyde Amendment? Yes