Briana Urbina

Criminal Justice / Public Safety

Criminal justice should be centered around employing the best practices to achieve public safety for all Americans. In order to institute policies that promote safety we must end cash bail, repeal mandatory minimum sentencing statutes, decriminalize recreational drug use, de-privatize prisons and vendors servicing prisons including telephone companies, medical providers, retailers and privately run prisons and treat the root causes of unlawful behavior including addition, mental illness, inadequate housing, transition services for homeless and fostered youth and trauma. Learn more

Education

I believe in access to quality early childhood development facilities, the full funding of the ADA and IDEA for students with disabilities, and tuition free college and trade school with a corresponding $1.5 trillion debt cancellation package for anyone with a student loan. As a victim of a for profit higher education institution myself, I am specifically concerned about the welfare of veteran students. Both for-profit and traditional universities often fail to meet the needs of our veterans as they return home to pursue their education. Learn more

Environment / Energy

As a coastline district, the adverse effects of climate change will result in lost jobs, lost homes, and lost hope in preserving our district’s vast geographic and ecological diversity. In order to restore the health of the Chesapeake Bay and maintain economic progress for working families, we need a 21st century approach to renewable fueled transit, expanded business ventures in the district for carbon neutral energy, and regenerative agriculture. Learn more

Guns

We need a federally enforced extreme risk protective order system that allows members in the community or victims of sexual assault or domestic violence to report dangerous threats that could be armed. We need all new gun safes and triggers to be biometrically programmed by 2030. We need a ban on ghost guns and 3D manufactured accessories. We’ve lost almost 2,500 lives since Sandy Hook to mass shootings, and as your Congresswoman I won’t allow the gun lobby to stand in the way of protecting our district in order to keep our children safe. Learn more

We need a ban on assault weapons, high capacity magazine, and gun accessory to prevent mass shootings like in Las Vegas, Orlando, Dayton, and Parkland. We need universal background checks and mental health screenings for all those who seek to bear arms to ensure their usage is not malicious. We need mandatory training for any and all guns — rifle or handgun — and liability insurance. We need to fix NICS and also include a registry for all gun owners to register their trigger locks and safes to ensure proper storage. Learn more

Healthcare

The Affordable Care Act was a historic first step towards providing all Americans with access to healthcare. I personally have benefited as a consumer on the Maryland Healthcare Exchange. However, the ACA fell short of taking bold action to reduce cost, ensure continuity of care, eradicate inequities across the income divide and extend health care to all Americans. The ACA was a health insurance based model of care. Health insurance companies still make decisions that place profit over people and millions of people are still uninsured and underinsured. I support Rep. Jayapal's Medicare for All Act introduced in 2019. Learn more

Housing

Affordable housing is one of the most pressing issues in our community here in the 5th district of Maryland. Many parts of our district are absorbing large numbers of Washingtonians displaced by gentrification and other parts of our district are building housing too quickly to be sustained by the market. Learn more

Immigration

Offering opportunities for undocumented people to pursue legal status will add a cumulative $1.5 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product—over 10 years. We need to pass the DREAM Act— creating a path to citizenship for immigrants who came to the United States as children. This would put 2.1 million young people on a pathway to legal status, adding $329 billion to the American economy over the next two decades. We must build a 21st century high-skilled immigration system— to accept highly qualified immigrant workers when there is a demand that cannot be filled by American workers. Learn more

Taxes / Budget

I support the creation of a 2% wealth tax for individuals possessing wealth valued above $20 million, and is progressively tiered moving up the latter, a Social Security for All plan to provide a universal basic income, a people-lead & union-endorsed agreement on international trade policy aimed at reducing tariffs, and ending the tax loopholes by supporting the "Real Corporate Profits Tax." We also need to eliminate offshore tax havens and limit stock buyacks by enacting the "Corporate Tax Dodging Prevention Act" and the "Inclusive Prosperity Act." Lastly, upon repealing the Trump tax cuts, we must work to pass a tax equity bill called the 99.8% Act which creates a progressive estate tax. Learn more