Democratic nominee for Florida's 1st Congressional District

Federal restrictions on funding for a range of scientific issues, from disease control to medicine, should be repealed. The government has a vested interest in developing the most advanced science in the world, and our place as global leaders in scientific discovery and ingenuity must be restored. 

Bills concerning scientific, medical and research freedom 

1. Remove cannabis from the list of Schedule I drugs to allow for research and development of potential benefits and risks of medicinal marijuana.

2. Repeal the Dickey Amendment to allow doctors and researchers to study all forms of disease. We can't develop legislative solutions to problems we have not fully studied. --> Expires this year!

3. Increase federal funding for research and planning for communities impacted by extreme weather and climate change, including sea level rise, drought, wildfire, invasive species, water scarcity and water quality issues, toxicity and exposure, and more.

4. Increase funding to develop better warning systems for emergencies, including the development of primary and secondary tornado warnings in rural communities.

5. The "Right to Science Act" will allow citizens to request copies of all scientific studies and/or reviews conducted or considered in making legislative decisions through a new and prioritized category of the Freedom of Information Act, and require that science and transparency be integral in any legislation concerning science policy.

6. Modern instrument infrastructure act -  to update aging technology and improve geographic coverage of environmental monitoring systems, including radar technology, buoy locations and instrumentations, and expanded coverage of LiDAR technology across North America.

7. Tele-health amendment requiring medical insurance to cover the cost of telehealth appointments and to allow patients to attend certain types of therapy and medical check-ups remotely in all 50 states. Access to remote counseling increases access to mental health resources tremendously, and will be critical in combatting issues of teen self-harm and suicide, regular therapy for disabled and non-disabled persons, and veteran treatment for PTSD. 

8. Require states to allow those with pending criminal cases to appear for non-trial court hearings to attend remotely via video conferencing. One of the lessons learned through the COVID-19 pandemic was that people want to make their court appearances but often are unable to do so due to a lack of childcare, inability to take off work, lack of transportation, medical limitations and more. Court appearances in everything from immigration court to criminal court increased dramatically with the allowance of virtual appearance for non-trial and non-sentencing hearings. Remote appearance should be a permanent option for the innocent-until-proven-guilty stuck in the cycle of continued and never-ending case management hearings to reduce those who are jailed for failure to appear because of limitations they cannot control.