Kirshanti O’Mara Vignarajah has prioritized pillar four issue pillars, from there breaking down policy more incrementally and articulating those goals and how her potential governorship will achieve them. You can learn more about them at her campaign website.
Education
- Fully implement Kirwan Commission recommendations
- Fix funding discrepancies and inadequacies by earmarking casino and lottery revenue for schools, modernizing the tax code, cultivating more private sector involvement, reallocating budgetary resources, and reinvesting projected savings and revenue from education improvements to fund those objectives
- Expand and guarantee access to fully-funded, high-quality universal Pre-K
- Expand and guarantee school lunch and breakfast programs so every child has access everyday
- Expand STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) education so that computer literacy, math and science are regarded as as essential as reading comprehension and writing.
- Guarantee graduates of two-year colleges and career or technical training programs leave debt free.
- Create micro-grant program to subsidize transit expenses for community college students with jobs
- Invest $500 million in Maryland Historically Black Colleges and Universities, making them leading academic institutions and engines of economic mobility
- Improve school safety by funding intervention programs to step in before disturbed students become threats, and improve safety protocols to better handle dangerous situations that arise.
Gun Control
- Raise the Minimum age to purchase any gun to 21
- Every weapon must be registered and insured
- Enforce stringent “red flag” laws that allow authorities to remove guns from people seen as potential risks
- Ban bump stocks
- Stricter background checks and 10-day waiting periods
- Utilize gun buyback programs
- Mandate additional gun safety training for owners who live in households with minors
- Provide free gun locks and strengthen gun storage laws related to minors
- Work with neighboring states to restrict firearm sales conducted elsewhere that results in guns flooding Maryland
- Require Smart Gun technology on all handguns in Maryland by 2025.
Health and Safety
- Support three-months of paid family leave for every Maryland resident
- Guarantee health care to all Maryland residents, creating a state-run public option that will be available through Affordable Care Act exchanges
- Support immigrants and their access to schools, healthcare, and jobs in the state, fighting federal policy seen as overly repressive or unconstitutional
- Expand treatment access for those battling opioid dependency, and expand intervention options for first responders
- Expand reproductive health to all Maryland women, particularly its most vulnerable residents, and protect the rights and economic futures of expectant mothers
- Regulate Crisis Pregnancy Centers and ensure all Maryland students receive medically sound sexual education
- Ensure that the rights of LGBTQ+ residents are being protected and respected, fighting discrimination and focusing on youth homelessness
Economics:
- Create 250,000 well-paying jobs by encouraging the “innovation economy.”
- Simplify permitting process and regulations, expand funding access, and utilize federal support to grow the small business community of Maryland
- Invest in better transit infrastructure to combat the economic waste that comes with gridlock and expands economic options for residents.
- Expand access to broadband internet
- Focus efforts on developing the economy of Southern Maryland by utilizing military, healthcare, natural resources.
- Fighting the opioid crisis, particularly in the state’s rural areas
Environment:
- Make Maryland a leader in the “green energy revolution,” setting a goal that 50% of the state’s energy comes from green sources by 2026
- Modernize the electric grid and infrastructure to increase efficiency, better incorporate green tech, improve reliability and increase security.
- Create 80,000 clean energy jobs
- Invest and grow mass transit systems that more efficiently move people, provide more expansive and reliable service, and connect better with different route options
- Fight for environmental justice by curbing lead poisoning, guaranteeing clean water access, reducing air pollution, and working to clean up polluted sites
- Conserve and grow Maryland’s “outdoor economy,” by protecting historic sites, protecting rural land from being developed, and working to increase wildlife populations
