Policy Priorities

Roads & Infrastructure

Once an asset deteriorates, the service it provides also deteriorates. When our infrastructure — roads, bridges and water systems are in poor condition it reduces our quality of life and Michigan continues to fall behind. We don’t have to accept that.

Stephanie wants to increase infrastructure investments and encourage innovation in Michigan and in Michigan roads. The reality is, roads don’t last forever. Like any other asset, they need continued investment and maintenance (just to keep them as-is). To go beyond just maintenance we need continued innovation to help reduce costs.

We can study what the city of Holland has done, right here in our state, with snow-free roads. By heating the roads in their Downtown, Holland saves expensive winter salt and plowing costs in addition to lower costs of road maintenance.

Infrastructure investments ultimately pay for themselves and improve the quality of life in Michigan. We need to get Michigan moving again.

Protect Our Great Lakes & Water Infrastructure

20% of the entire world’s freshwater is right here in our Great Lakes. We are the Great Lakes State and we need people in Lansing who will protect our lakes. In addition to being a source of freshwater, the Great Lakes, and our thousands of inland lakes, are an economic driver for our State. We need laws that will keep pollutants and invasive species out of our lakes.

We also need people in Lansing who will fight for clean access to water. It does Michiganders no good to live in the Great Lakes State if the infrastructure needed to access that water is crumbling or contaminated. Stephanie wants to invest in our water and our water systems to ensure clean access to water for all Michiganders.

Education

We need to invest in Michigan public schools and Michigan teachers. An educated citizenry is an engaged citizenry. When we engage with our community and with our government we are helping build and maintain a prosperous state and education is the key. Michigan will prosper both economically and socially if we invest in public school education.

The #1 factor in a business decision to invest in a state rests on the strength of the state’s labor force. Right now, Michigan ranks 41st in labor force participation meaning we have an aging population and a brain drain of young people. In short, businesses are not coming here.

By making sure every child has the opportunity to reach their highest potential from a first-rate education not only do we get more equity in society and open doors for new solutions and ideas, we also get the positive result of a strong work force in our state, which business follows.

Stephanie will work in Lansing to fight for public schools and the future of Michigan children, and our state.

Support Small Business

Michigan thrives on small business, but the last few years saw small business get decimated. As a small business owner, Stephanie knows the problems small business owners face and she wants to work in Lansing to help solve those problems.

Our small business owners are the life-blood of Michigan and what set us apart from other states. We need people in Lansing that know what it’s like to run a business, to provide jobs to fellow citizens, and what it means to contribute to our society by offering unique goods or services.

Stephanie wants to help small business owners and encourage others who are thinking about going into business on their own, that they can do it and they can help our great state flourish.

Personal Freedoms

For nearly a decade Stephanie has been a champion for personal freedoms fighting for them in the courtroom as a criminal defense attorney. In Lansing Stephanie will continue to champion the personal freedoms of Michigan residents, including reproductive rights and the rights of LGBTQ Michiganders.

Community Safety

It should not be American for kids to go to school and not come home because of gun violence. We have to work now in Michigan to make sure not one more child is killed at school.

As an attorney, Stephanie knows our 2nd Amendment rights and gun safety measures are not mutually exclusive.

In Lansing Stephanie will continue to uphold the promises of the constitution as she has done during her career as an attorney and she will work to help make sure we have the safest communities right here in Michigan, free from gun violence.

Local Control

As a Bloomfield Township Trustee, Stephanie sees the way local governments are constrained financially to provide all of the services their communities need. Michigan local governments need a champion in Lansing who will fight for local control.

Everything happens locally and local governments know their municipalities, they know their residents and they know their needs. In Lansing Stephanie will fight for local control and work to do-away with the trend of unfunded mandates, making local governing more difficult.

Criminal Justice Reform & Funding Trial Courts

As a criminal defense trial attorney, Stephanie is no stranger to our state courts. Our state courts are fundamental to the Michigan criminal justice system, but the funding system developed in Lansing is not working.

Michigan needs to increase court funding into specialty drug courts and mental health courts to help divert people from the court system, jail system and in turn from wasting taxpayer dollars.

We also need to improve court data systems. Court data systems provide information for criminal background checks, including for firearms purchases — these checks are only as good as the data they have. Michigan must ensure that all courts, including rural courts, have the necessary resources to update and maintain court records.