PRIORITIES

Rethinking Economic and Community Development

Senator McMorrow chairs the Senate’s Economic and Community Development committee, and has a vision for growing Michigan’s economy that will create opportunity, protect workers, and invest in people.  She understands that when companies make decisions about where to expand, they’re not just looking for the best environment for dollars-and-cents, but for places that invest in talent and infrastructure.  

Defending Reproductive Freedom

Mallory has been a fierce advocate for reproductive rights and protecting abortion access since taking office, and is the lead bill sponsor in the Senate of the Reproductive Health Act, which would codify abortion access and reproductive rights into law.

Why does that matter? With the recent Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, Michigan’s 1931 abortion law effectively turns Michigan into one of the most extreme states in the country, overnight. The law would make providing an abortion a felony punishable by a minimum of 4 years in prison, with no exception for rape or incest, inclusive of medication abortion - meaning countless medical professionals, women, and girls could be jailed.

And while a preliminary injunction means abortion is still legal in Michigan, local county prosecutors have been ruled to have the authority to enforce the 1931 law, effective immediately.

But it doesn’t end there. The fall of Roe puts IVF at risk, criminalizes miscarriages, and opens the door to legislation being moved around the country — and proposed by candidates right here in Michigan — to ban contraception and continue to erode our rights to bodily autonomy.

The decision of if and when to become pregnant is yours and yours alone, and you deserve to make the best decision for you and your family with your doctor, not dictated by politicians.

Supporting Our Students, Teachers and Schools

Access to inspiring teachers and great public schools are essential for every child’s success, and as a product of K-12 public schools herself, Mallory has consistently fought against cuts to school funding to ensure our schools have everything they need for your child’s success. And she’s recently cosponsored a comprehensive plan to recruit and retain great teachers in all of our schools.

While we’ve made progress over the past few years to increase education funding and finally level-out baseline per-pupil funding regardless of zip code, Michigan must work to increase funding in line with the School Finance Research Collaborative recommendations and adjust our tax policy to ensure that economic development or tax incentive programs do not continue to cut in to the School Aid Fund, otherwise known as “death by a thousand cuts.” And we must continue to chip away at the equity gap to ensure every school is a great school, no matter where you live.

Teachers ultimately want to be treated with respect in their profession, and we must push back on constant attempts to add more frequent, ineffective testing, hurdles, or burdens on teachers backs; push back on growing attacks on teachers by those who would attempt to discriminate, ban books, or teach accurate history; and ensure quality teachers are retained with wraparound support, career growth opportunities, and adequate support staff and counselors in adequately-resourced classrooms and schools.

Ending Gun Violence

In 2020, gun violence became the leading cause of death for children and adolescents for the first time in history. And in the over 20 years since the Columbine high school shooting, lawmakers have failed to take meaningful action to end gun violence while gun sales break records year after year after year. As a member of the Gun Violence Prevention Caucus since taking office in 2019, Senator McMorrow has been a leader in pushing to pass common-sense gun reform, sponsoring and co-sponsoring legislation to create “red flag” laws to give judges and law enforcement a tool to temporarily seize firearms from someone deemed an immediate threat to themselves or others, create “safe storage” laws to require firearms be safely secured to prevent them from getting into the wrong hands, limiting magazine capacity and more.

She’s also a leading voice speaking out on the issue, and will continue to keep the pressure on for real policy change. Inaction is not an option.

Protecting Our Water and Fighting Climate Change

Climate change and pollution impact all of us, and it hits us especially hard in Michigan. From PFAS contamination in our Great Lakes to the debilitating impacts of lead water service lines to heat waves, cold snaps, frequent power outages, and record flooding threatening our residents - we need to lean in now to lead. That’s why I’ve led the charge on ensuring Michigan leads the transition to electric vehicles, helped secure millions of dollars to support removal of lead service lines, and joined colleagues in introducing a comprehensive Infrastructure Climate Resiliency plan to better prepare Metro Detroit for extreme weather.

Mallory has cosponsored legislation to declare access to clean water a fundamental human right, and will continue to fight to ensure major corporate polluters are held responsible for contamination, and to ensure all residents have access to clean air, water, and transportation.

Expanding Your Right to Vote

The right to vote is fundamental to our democracy, and at this moment, that right is under attack. Senator McMorrow has been a fierce defender of voting rights, and has consistently stood up against efforts to add burdensome barriers to voting. And she has been sounding the alarm on the dangerous attempts by the GOP and supporters of Donald Trump to undermine our elections — especially noting documented efforts to target majority-Black cities like Detroit.

Instead of making it harder to vote, Mallory will continue to be a fierce advocate for your fundamental right, and will work to support our clerks and election workers to help smoothly facilitate every future election.

Empowering Workers and Families

Mallory has been unwavering in working for working people, introducing legislation to prohibit the egregious use of noncompete agreements, ensure self-employed and contract workers are eligible for unemployment benefits, require employers maintain written job descriptions, repeal the public employee domestic partner restriction act, and require all employers to disclose their paid leave policies to all current and future employees to empower working women and families in the workforce.