Desiree Venable

Criminal Justice / Public Safety

Prisons in Texas exploit inmates by requiring them to perform unpaid labor, often under the threat of revocation of commissary privileges, loss of opportunity to shorten their sentences, cell confinement, and more. Private companies outsource labor to our prisons and profit from the forced labor of inmates. This system of modern day slavery is an incentive to jail more Texans. Learn more

We have to establish laws that enforce humane living conditions, abolish unpaid labor, and address practices that disproportionately harm marginalized communities. We have to implement a system that priorities rehabilitation and doesn’t incentivize the incarceration of citizens Learn more

Drug Policy

We need to legalize and tax marijuana, and invest in the aspects of our communities that are proven to contribute to incarceration rates, such as education, poverty, and unemployment. Learn more

Education

Inadequate wages have caused teacher shortages, over-crowded classrooms, burnout, higher turnover rates, and many other setbacks that negatively impact the education of our youth. Schools in low-income communities, which already experience education inequality, are more greatly affected by these setbacks, causing an even greater disparity in the education their students receive. Learn more

The school voucher program that our Governor and many Republican party members support, has been proven in other states to drain funding from rural school districts. Subsidizing religious private schools is a violation of “the separation of church and state”. Taxes should be funding our public schools not private schools. We can not allow these vouchers to drain our rural schools’ funding and overstep the boundaries of our personal religious freedoms. Learn more

Environment / Energy

I will support legislation that works toward reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and begins to replace those options with renewable, clean energy sources. I will support environmental conservation and specifically fight to implement policy to protect our aquifers from over-extraction! Learn more

Healthcare

If elected, I would support legislation that would expand Medicaid and strengthen our community health centers. I would contribute legislation that would address and tackle disparities in health care, and promote the awareness and expansion of mental health resources for all of our community members. Learn more

Access to healthcare is a major hurdle for a lot of Texans. For several years in a row now, Texas has led the country in the highest percentage of citizens without health insurance. Nearly 1 in every 5 people in Texas is without insurance, which is more than double the national average. Learn more

Immigration

I would vehemently oppose any state law that encourages and recruits state law enforcement to overreach their jurisdiction and become ICE agents for the state. Learn more

Rather than funneling even more taxpayer money into failed border security programs, let’s invest in improving our immigration system. Let’s create jobs by hiring additional administrative staff members and streamline the immigration process. Learn more

I strongly oppose family separation and would support legislation to greatly improve the conditions of the holding facilities, legal representation for the immigrants, and the continued protection of DACA recipients. Let’s build an effective and humane immigration policy that we can be proud of! Learn more

Wages / Job Benefits

We have the unions to thank for weekends, health insurance, retirement, overtime pay, paid time off, sick leave, parental leave, and so many more benefits we take advantage of daily. Our unions need to be protected, supported, and their expansion less restricted. Learn more

The lack of care and respect our government officials have for our working class is an embarrassment. I believe our employees should be appreciated and treated with dignity, to do this we need to increase our minimum wage to 15 an hour. Learn more