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My Priorities for House District 44

Utility Bills & Data Center Accountability

You’ve likely noticed that your power bill has gone up in recent months. That is poised to be a lengthy trend if we stay on the course we’re on. A $192 million AI data center opens in Parker in January. It will draw 22 megawatts of electricity around the clock. Right now, there is no Colorado law requiring large data centers to pay their proportional share of the grid infrastructure costs they create. That means Parker families and small businesses subsidize their power bills.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has projected that average residential electricity rates could increase 55% by 2029, driven substantially by large-load facilities exactly like the one opening in Parker. Denver passed a moratorium. Aurora built water restrictions into city code. Parker got a data center and a rate hike.

In Georgia, a Meta data center opened last year and residents started getting brown water out of their taps. Congress is investigating. The EPA is investigating. Colorado had two bills this session that would have required data centers to disclose their water and energy use and pay their fair share. Both died quick deaths, corporate interests winning out yet again. That doesn’t sit well with me.

What I'll do:

  • Introduce legislation requiring large-load data centers to pay proportional grid infrastructure costs so that Parker families don't subsidize corporate power bills
  • Require mandatory water and energy use disclosure for all new large-load data center facilities
  • Support PUC rulemaking that protects residential and small business ratepayers from cost-shifting by industrial-scale electricity consumers
  • Demand a public community impact assessment before any future large-scale industrial facility is approved in HD-44

Property Taxes & Housing Affordability

Parker families who have lived here for a decade shouldn't be priced out of their own homes by an assessment system that treats a primary residence like a real estate investment. Douglas County's rapid growth has driven up property valuations at a pace that many longtime residents simply cannot absorb, especially seniors on fixed incomes and working families whose wages haven't kept up.

At the same time, corporate investors are buying up the starter homes that first-time buyers depend on, and AI-powered rent-setting software is artificially inflating the cost of renting across the Front Range. These aren't abstract policy problems. They are the reason Parker families are being pushed out of the community they built.

What I'll do:

  • Expand Colorado's homestead exemption for owner-occupied primary residences, with protections specifically targeting long-term residents
  • Make the homestead exemption portable for seniors who downsize — so they don't lose their tax protection when they move within the state
  • Support legislation limiting corporate bulk acquisition of single-family starter homes in high-demand Colorado markets
  • Ban AI rent-setting software that enables algorithmic price coordination among landlords
  • Strengthen just-cause eviction protections for Colorado renters

Public Schools & Teacher Pay

Douglas County's schools are growing faster than their funding. Parents who chose Parker specifically for its schools are watching classrooms get more crowded and teachers get harder to recruit and retain. Colorado's school finance formula systematically underfunds fast-growing suburban districts relative to their actual enrollment — and HD-44 families are paying the price.

A child's education should not depend on which side of a county line they live on. Parker's kids deserve fully funded schools, well-paid teachers who choose to stay, and curriculum that prepares them for the economy they'll actually enter, including career and technical education that opens doors without requiring a four-year degree.

What I'll do:

  • Reform Colorado's K-12 funding formula to reflect actual per-pupil costs in fast-growing suburban districts
  • Raise teacher pay to competitive levels and keep it there, allowing Douglas County schools to recruit and retain the educators our kids deserve
  • Expand career and technical education pathways in partnership with local employers
  • Invest in student mental health services and counseling access
  • Defend evidence-based curriculum and oppose book bans in Colorado public schools

Water Security & Responsible Growth

Colorado is in the middle of a prolonged drought cycle, and Douglas County's rapid development is putting real pressure on water infrastructure and long-term supply. The same data center boom threatening Parker's electric bills is now threatening water supplies in communities across the country that didn't ask the right questions before approving construction.

I support responsible growth in HD-44. What I don't support is growth that outpaces the infrastructure to sustain it, or development that transfers resource costs from corporations to the families and farmers who depend on clean, affordable water.

What I'll do:

  • Ground Colorado water policy in peer-reviewed science and long-range supply planning
  • Require mandatory water use disclosure and site assessment for large industrial developments before local governments approve construction
  • Protect water access for tribal lands, agricultural operations, and rural communities in Douglas County
  • Modernize aging water infrastructure across the Front Range to support sustainable development
  • Support Aurora's model of data center water accountability as a statewide standard

Public Safety, Wildfire Readiness & Infrastructure

Parker and the surrounding Douglas County communities face real and growing wildfire risk. The question of whether our firefighters are fully staffed, equipped, and funded is not a political question — it is a practical one that affects every family in this district regardless of party. I will make sure the answer is yes.

Beyond wildfire, Parker's infrastructure needs honest investment: roads built for the population we actually have, broadband access in every corner of Douglas County, and schools and water systems that reflect the community's growth. These aren't partisan priorities, they're basic responsibilities of good governance.

What I'll do:

  • Fully fund firefighter recruitment, training, and retention, including competitive pay and equipment budgets
  • Expand defensible-space and forest management programs for Douglas County communities at elevated wildfire risk
  • Invest in last-mile broadband infrastructure for Douglas County — because remote work viability is a housing affordability issue
  • Support RTD accountability and performance standards that actually serve Parker commuters
  • Advocate for road and transit investment calibrated to Douglas County's actual growth, not statewide averages

Additional Priorities

HD 44 residents care about more than five issues, and so do I. Here's where I stand on the full range of issues facing our community and our state.

Healthcare & Mental Health

  • Guarantee affordable preventive care and lower prescription drug costs through state-level pricing accountability

  • Expand mental health crisis response infrastructure and eliminate barriers to treatment access

  • Protect and strengthen Colorado's Medicaid expansion against federal block-grant proposals

  • Treat substance use disorder as a public health issue, not a criminal justice issue

  • Expand elder care, childcare, and pre-K access across Douglas County

Economy, Workers & Small Business

  • Raise the minimum wage to a living wage indexed to inflation

  • Expand tax credits for manufacturing, trades, and workforce training

  • Establish right-to-disconnect protections and portable benefits for gig and contract workers

  • Support Parker's Main Street businesses with targeted commercial property tax relief

  • Support immigrant-owned and locally-owned small businesses

Arts, Film & Creative Economy 

  • Explore launching a Parker Film Festival as a cultural and economic initiative under HB 25-1005's small-festival tax credit program 

  • Partner with the Colorado Office of Film, Television & Media to actively market Parker and Douglas County as production locations 

  • Work to bring independent film productions to Parker's Mainstreet district. keeping production spending in our local economy 

  • Invest in arts education and local creative industries as economic development tools, not optional extras 

Individual Liberty & Personal Freedom 

  • Protect reproductive freedom as a fundamental right and defend Colorado's constitutional protections against federal interference 

  • Strengthen LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination protections in housing, employment, and public accommodations 

  • Protect transgender Coloradans' right to live free from discrimination and harassment 

  • Defend individual privacy, bodily autonomy, and equal treatment under the law for every HD 44 resident 

Immigration & Civic Participation 

  • Support legal immigration pathways and crack down on fraud targeting immigrant communities 

  • Expand economic opportunity in HD-44 regardless of national origin 

  • Encourage civic engagement and voter participation across all communities in District 44 

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