A Just California

Indigenous Sovereignty

What is the problem?

The Indigenous people of California have been subject to over 400 years of oppression, genocide, and disenfranchisement. The history of our state is tragically built on the theft of Indigenous land, lives, and resources. To this day, the Indigenous Nations of California face a lack of access to resources, high rates of hate-motivated violence, and complete disenfranchisement. Indigenous women in California are three times more likely to be murdered than white women, yet these cases are seven times less likely to be solved. 

There have also been constant attacks on the treaty rights of Native communities. Most prominently, oil infrastructure such as the proposed Keystone Xl pipeline and Line 3 are destroying sacred lands and polluting the water and the land. 

Despite our history, Indigenous peoples all over the world have survived: protecting vibrant cultures, building resilient communities, and caring for over 80% of the planet’s biodiversity.

What is Mia’s plan?

Mia will fight to begin the long process of healing from the wounds of colonization. Many tribal communities lack access to clean water, indoor plumbing, adequate housing, medical services, and more. Mia will introduce legislation to ensure that Native communities have basic access to needed services and resources, community health centers, fresh food, and more. It is unacceptable that any community should go without guaranteed human rights like access to water, housing, and healthcare. Mia will also stand firm against any fossil fuel developments that violate Tribal Sovereignty. 

Mia will fight for a dedicated inter-agency effort housed within the CA Department of Health to bring every available resource to bear to combat the epidemic of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Relatives.

Finally, Mia believes that the process of healing must also include a restoration of power and resources. Mia will champion a new Landback Commission to transfer stolen public land to original Indigenous stewardship. We have already begun that process: 500 acres of redwood forestland that were forcibly removed hundreds of years ago were recently returned to the Sinkyone Council. 

In the Assembly, Mia will be a fierce ally of indigenous people in California and across the nation.

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Gender Equity

What is the problem?

Women face systemic, institutionalized, and interpersonal violence and oppression. Many women have been excluded from building economic security and as a result face poverty and homelessness. According to the Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, the number of women experiencing homelessness has increased by 70% since 2013. Per the National Women’s Law Center, 35% of single mothers in CA live below the poverty level. White women still make 80 cents for every dollar paid to men, and that number is even worse for Black and Latina women who are paid 63 cents and 43 cents respectively. Nearly 9% of women in California are uninsured and are unable to access medical care.

Just as horrifying, 1 in 4 women have experienced sexual or physical violence and 1 in 2 trans women have experienced inter-personal violence. This is unacceptable - the State of California must act to protect all women.

What is Mia’s plan?

Mia believes that the State of California must mobilize all of its resources to stop the oppression of women. To tackle the loss of 4 million women-held jobs in the workforce, Mia will support legislation to create specialized job training programs, apprenticeship programs, government jobs programs, and workplace flexibility for working parents. She will champion a stronger social safety net including universal daycare, universal healthcare, and universal paid parental leave. 

Mia will also strive to ensure the fair treatment of women in the workplace. She will introduce legislation to empower the California Commission on the Status of Women to work with the State’s labor and civil rights agencies to strictly enforce pay equity laws, workplace safety, and anti-harassment laws. Mia will also support legislation to enshrine the rights of Domestic Workers (many of whom are women) who are overrepresented in cases of unpaid labor and interpersonal violence at work. To ensure the safety of sex workers, many of whom are women, Mia will support the decriminalization of sex work. 

Moreover, in the aftermath of the US Supreme Court's Dobbs decision, we are reminded again just how important our state lawmakers are in protecting a woman's right to choose if and when she becomes pregnant. Mia unequivocally supports codifying the right to safe and legal abortions in the California State Constitution and will do all she can to protect that right.

Finally, Mia wants to seriously address interpersonal violence against women. In the Assembly, she will introduce legislation to fund violence interrupter programs and proven public health approaches, with specialized programs to stop violence against trans-women and femmes. New survivor led-processes should be instituted to protect survivors of interpersonal violence, equip them with resources and allow healing. Violence interrupter programs have been proven successful in stopping crime before it happens.

Together, we can build a California that protects all women and Mia will champion a pro-gender equity agenda in Sacramento.

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Communities of Color

What is the problem?

Black and brown communities have long faced systemic inequities as a result of hundreds of years of oppression, colonization, racism, and more. California has a long and troubled history of displacement, exclusion, and segregation. From redlining to police violence, there is no place where you cannot see the lasting impacts of systemic racism, not only socially but economically as well. In 2020, the typical white family had a net worth nearly ten times that of the typical Black family. That is unacceptable.

What is Mia’s plan?

Mia wants to start by addressing the large gap in access to resources and power between white communities and communities of color, in particular Black and brown communities. 

By asking the wealthiest amongst us to pay their fair share, Mia will advocate for more state resources and funding to go directly to working-class Black and brown communities. Our tax dollars should go toward building good schools, ending food deserts, funding job programs, and other social programs that uplift and empower. 

Mia will also tackle the very real threat of violence against people of color. 2021 saw the highest rate of hate crimes on record. Anti-Asian Hate Crimes, in particular, have risen exponentially; last year saw a 339% increase in anti-Asian violence. Mia will introduce legislation to spend existing state resources on a public health approach to prevent hate in public spaces and strengthen civil rights protections to prevent and respond to hate in businesses. Additionally, Mia will fight to create and fund API-specific violence prevention programs so that we are not just responding to violence but preventing it.

Mia will also address environmental racism and the enormous impacts polluted air and dirty water have on primarily Black and brown neighborhoods. Through championing legislation like the Green New Deal, we can get millions of dollars for climate reparations, building green spaces, cleaning toxic sites (e.g. capping orphan oil wells in communities like Vista Hermosa), and decommissioning fossil fuel infrastructure, and more. Climate justice is also housing justice, and Mia will support anti-gentrification provisions in the California Housing Code to protect multi-generational residents from being forced out of their historic neighborhoods. 

Mia will use every power at her discretion to begin the long process of correcting historical wrongs and building a California where we can all thrive.

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LGBTQ+ Issues

What is the problem?

California leads the nation in providing protections and safe communities for LGBTQ+ people. However, there is still significant work to be done to ensure that California protects and works for ALL of us. Members of the LGBTQ+ community suffer increased rates of incarceration, harassment in school/work, high rates of hate-motivated crimes, higher incidences of housing insecurity, and lower rates of healthcare coverage. Not to mention that HIV/AIDS is still killing far too many of our community members, especially in Black and Latinx communities.

For many trans and gender non-conforming folks, in particular, these disparities are even more severe. Violence against our trans community is becoming increasingly common, with 2021 being the deadliest year for trans people in recorded history. It is a policy failure that the average life expectancy of Black trans women is 35 years old.

We can and must do more to protect LGBTQ+ Californians.

What is Mia’s plan?

Mia will work to address the systemic challenges facing the LGBTQ+ community. Through supporting policies like universal healthcare, a Civilian Climate Corps, and building social public housing, we can ensure that no one is without a strong safety net at their feet. Mia will advocate for more of our State Budget going toward mobile health units, and more permanent supportive housing to reach out to our most vulnerable community members.

Building on efforts to enshrine LGBTQ+ history in our curriculum, Mia will introduce legislation to aggressively enforce fair practices laws, support LGBTQ+ caretakers and invest in training for medical providers, workplaces, students, and teachers on building LGBTQ+ affirming spaces. She will also work to root out anti-LGBTQ barriers to accessing government services. 

Mia also believes the State Government needs to act urgently to stop violence against the LGBTQ+ community. In the Legislature, she will introduce legislation to fund public health approaches to stopping violence as well as violence interrupter programs that have been proven to disrupt the cycle of harm. 

Together, we can make CA an even more affirming and empowering place for all.

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