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Issues
Affordability
Carol Murphy is committed to making New Jersey more affordable and reducing our property tax burden by:
● Establishing a task force to analyze the root causes of high property taxes and develop innovative solutions to bring much-needed reform to reduce the burden on New Jersey families.
● Leading the fight as a member of the Assembly Budget Committee to fully fund the senior property tax freeze program, preserve veteran’s property tax reduction, and advance middle-class property tax relief.
● Supporting the passage of Stay New Jersey to provide a 50% tax credit for seniors, allowing them to stay in their homes in New Jersey.
● Advocating for policies that tackle our affordability crisis, including reversing New Jersey’s over-reliance on new taxes to balance the state budget, national trade policies that reduce our burden at home, and forward-looking efforts to address rising gas prices.
Climate Change, Environment, and Sustainability
Carol Murphy believes that we have a moral responsibility to address the alarming threat of climate change and has been leading efforts to critical reforms by:
● Increasing capacity for renewable energy production, positioning New Jersey as a world leader in offshore wind energy production to generate cleaner energy and tens of thousands of jobs.
● Improving availability and access to green alternatives with electric vehicle infrastructure and financing programs for energy-efficient home improvements.
● Expanding environmental protections by requiring local governments to consider the risks of climate change when making planning decisions.
● Ensuring that everyone has access to clean drinking water by making historic investments in clean water and drinking water infrastructure projects
Economy
Carol Murphy has fought to provide financial assistance to small businesses and craft economic development initiatives to serve as a driver for the local economy by:
● Ensuring businesses and workers can thrive through providing incentives for job creation and capital investment and disbursing financial resources for small businesses.
● Prioritizing investments in high-growth sectors and creating viable job opportunities to position New Jersey as a global leader in the innovation economy.
● Supporting equitable access to healthy and nutritious foods and providing services to communities in need through investments in nonprofit organizations.
● Supporting cultural, historical, food, and beverage tourism, including online gaming and sports wagering
Education
Carol Murphy believes that education is the essence of opportunity and that a good education levels the playing field. She has worked to ensure that New Jersey continues to lead the nation with the best school systems by:
● Fighting to close a gap of more than 30 million dollars for underfunded Burlington County public schools and remaining a fierce advocate for teachers and students.
● Leading the fight for improved access to mental health services in our schools for students with wellness rooms and mental health first aid training for teachers and faculty.
● Expanding free school meals to more than 60,000 students.
● Improving school bus safety protocols and operations by keeping unsafe individuals out of the driver’s seat and increasing accountability measures for drivers.
● Passing legislation so that menstrual products are readily available to girls in our schools.
Gun Violence Reform
Carol Murphy has been a leader in the state legislature to combat the epidemic of gun violence by fighting for common sense laws that protect our residents, including:
● Reduce the size of high-capacity magazines often used in mass shootings because they are a danger to our public safety and have no place in our communities.
● Strengthen background checks and require background checks for private gun sales.
● Prohibit the sale of body armor-piercing ammunition.
Healthcare
Carol Murphy believes that healthcare is a human right and has been a strong champion at the State Capitol for access to affordable healthcare by:
● Delivering the most significant investment in women’s healthcare funding in state history that includes facility improvements, wellness and cancer screenings, and prenatal, reproductive, and preventive care.
● Improving the affordability of prescription drugs through telehealthcare and discounts from popular healthcare platforms.
● Expanding access to mental health services with an emphasis on the extreme pressure teenagers are facing.
● Protecting the Affordable Care Act through comprehensive measures to ensure health insurance plans cover essential benefits, guaranteeing young adults continuing coverage, and establishing an in-state health exchange to protect our residents.
Human Trafficking
Carol Murphy is leading the fight against human trafficking by:
● Sponsoring legislation to provide victims access to services and increase penalties to crack down on traffickers.
● Working with Volunteers of America and South Jersey Law Enforcement to eliminate human trafficking.
● Promoting the Red Sand project annually, where volunteers fill sidewalk cracks with red sand to spread awareness of human trafficking to symbolize those who have been exposed to human trafficking and have fallen through the cracks of our economic, social, and political systems.
Infrastructure
From water, to transportation, to technology, Carol Murphy believes that infrastructure is the backbone of our communities. Carol has invested in maintaining, repairing, and advancing our infrastructure by:
● Protecting the longevity of our water infrastructure by working to protect and improve our drinking water while combating the effects of climate change and confronting pollution in lakeside communities.
● Working for the safety and well-being of our residents through passing historic lead remediation legislation that also creates jobs with lead removal projects.
● Securing record funding for New Jersey Transit and the Department of Transportation to allow these agencies to invest in transportation infrastructure while creating thousands of viable job opportunities.
● Streamlining Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) services to better serve the public, increasing efficiency and accessibility.
● Increasing public transportation for individuals with physical and intellectual disabilities and the senior community with reduced fares and consideration of accessibility needs.
● Advancing 5G wireless infrastructure so that residents have online access with faster speeds, greater capacity, and better reliability.
● Authoring the “21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act” to update web-based platforms that would enhance government digital services to residents.
Labor
Carol Murphy is a leader fighting for working people by focusing on the wage gap, income inequality, and vital benefits for families by:
● Supporting increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
● Expanding paid family leave by increasing benefits and doubling leave time up to 12 weeks.
● Enacting the most robust pay equity law in the nation to ensure that New Jersey can close the wage gap: at the time of passage, women in New Jersey made 82 cents on the dollar on average, and women of color made as low as 60 cents on the dollar.
● Establishing an earned paid sick leave benefit of up to 40 hours a year for all workers.
Reproductive Rights
As reproductive rights have been slashed at the federal level, Carol has been a forceful champion for abortion rights and reproductive healthcare in New Jersey by:
● Advocating for and passing the Reproductive Freedom Act so that New Jersey remains a state of reproductive freedoms for both residents and non-residents.
● Investing in women’s healthcare facilities for reproductive healthcare, prenatal care, and cancer screenings.
● In Congress, Carol will fight for federal abortion protections so that an individual’s bodily autonomy is not dictated by where they live.
Seniors
Confronting issues that specifically affect our senior community throughout New Jersey is a priority, and we have worked to mitigate disparities in treatment through:
● Improving the long-term care facilities devoted to caring for our seniors by verifying they are equipped with the resources they need, increasing the minimum wage of staff, and preventing social isolation.
● Assuring seniors remain in their homes and are financially secure by passing Stay New Jersey to significantly cut property taxes for seniors, a middle-class tax rebate, cutting taxes on retirement income, and improving eligibility in the PAAD and Senior Gold Prescription Discount Programs.
● Lowering the cost of prescription drugs by increasing discounts available and expanding telehealth services.
● Strengthening protections from food insecurity, financial exploitation, and discrimination by increasing transparency and regulation in long-term care facilities.
Veterans
As the daughter of a Bronze Star United States Army veteran who died from complications of Agent Orange exposure, Carol Murphy has made fighting for veterans and their families a priority to honor their sacrifice by:
● Improving affordability for military families by ending the tax of military combat bonus pay, providing in-state tuition to family members and service members stationed in New Jersey, and expanding eligibility for veterans’ property tax exemption.
● Ensuring women service members who were previously banned from serving in combat roles receive fair veterans’ benefits with the historic passage of a Constitutional Amendment to make peacetime veterans eligible for the veterans’ property tax deduction.
● Investing in military families to maintain a robust military presence in New Jersey and to protect the critical role that Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst plays in our national security.
● Prioritize the safety of vulnerable residents in long-term care and veteran homes by improving oversight of veterans’ homes.
Voting Rights
In the past few years, we have seen our democracy face threats that were previously unthinkable. Carol understands how crucial it is that we protect our election system, and has worked tirelessly to do so by:
● Protecting voting integrity and expanding voting accessibility by modernizing our election system.
● Implementing laws that safeguard and expand the right to vote with vote-by-mail protections.
● Establishing an early voting process to help increase voter participation in our democracy.
Women
Carol Murphy is a devoted and staunch advocate for women’s equality in the state legislature and has prioritized addressing discriminatory treatment and gender-based disparities by:
● Expanding paid family leave.
● Increasing assistance to small businesses owned by women and people of color.
● Addressing racial disparities in healthcare by introducing legislation to improve maternal health.
● Improving childcare accessibility and affordability by providing federal relief aid to support childcare providers.
● Strengthening domestic violence and sexual assault services, combatting sexual violence in prisons and the military, and establishing protections for victims of sexual violence.
● Enacting the most robust pay equity law in the nation to ensure that New Jersey can close the wage gap: at the time of passage, women in New Jersey made 82 cents on the dollar on average, and women of color made as low as 60 cents on the dollar.
Let’s Work Together
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