Issues
Education
Most kids receive a public education. Private schools may work well for a select few, but supporting our public school classrooms is the way to help improve outcomes for our children.
Rep. Dickson supported HB23-1064, which creates the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact. The compact is designed to make it easier for teachers, especially active military members and eligible military spouses, from one member state to receive a teacher’s license from another member state.
As an alum of Colorado public schools, Ruby is committed to ensuring every child has access to a quality education. This means supporting our teachers with the resources they need in the classroom, and making sure they can also afford to live in the district they teach in.
Environment
Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time, but we have still failed to take bold action to protect Colorado’s land, air, and water. Summer smoke and late snowfalls are immediate symptoms of a growing problem.
Ruby is a leader in protecting our Colorado way of life, as well as our most valuable resources. She sponsored a bill that creates a carbon management study and makes carbon management projects eligible for an existing grant program. Carbon management includes carbon dioxide removal, carbon storage, carbon capture, and carbon utilization. HB23-1210 creates a plan to incentivize and grow the carbon management industry in Colorado.
Too many politicians make promises about climate change, yet too few actually do anything. Ruby prioritizes these issues while ensuring the most vulnerable among us are protected in the process.
Economy
As an economist, Ruby understands that a healthy & stable economy is critical to lifting everyone up. Our recovery from the pandemic is a unique opportunity to make our economy stronger and fairer for years to come.
Rep. Dickson sponsored a bill that creates a study that will evaluate workforce transition in the oil and gas industries and industries experiencing disruption due to automation. HB23-1074 seeks to evaluate workers’ skills for their transferability to emerging industries. As the economy changes we need to better understand how workers will be impacted and how they can maximize their skills.
Ruby has a plan to improve the economy for everyone by prioritizing small businesses and supporting workers, while reducing the burden of poverty in our communities. Our economy works best if everyone is doing well.
Civil Rights
Racial inequality is a systemic problem in our society, impacting every issue in our community from public education funding to climate justice and the uneven effects of the pandemic. Ruby’s Jewish heritage serves as a strong reminder that equality is always a priority, and history shows the consequences of ignoring the problem. Ruby is committed to crafting every policy using the lens of racial equity.
Rep. Dickson supports the rights of minors in encounters with law enforcement. She supported HB23-1042, which makes juvenile statements inadmissible in court if law enforcement uses deception during interrogation, requires law enforcement to record all interrogations of juveniles, and requires law enforcement officers to be trained on interrogating juveniles.
As a bisexual woman, Ruby is committed to protecting the rights of LGBTQ+ people to live their own experience, without discrimination or threat of violence. Hate crimes have no place in Colorado or the United States, and it’s high time that we learn to accept people for who they are.
Women's Rights
While women have made great strides in recent years, including becoming Vice President of the United States, there is much to do to reach true equality. Ruby supports equal pay for equal work policies, and will make sure that current laws are enforced. Women are an integral part of our state’s economy. Ruby fights for women to be at the table when making labor policy.
Rep. Dickson supported SB-188, SB-189, SB-190, which are the bills in the Safe Access to Protected Healthcare package. When it comes to a woman’s right to choose, there can be no compromises. Ruby is steadfast in her commitment to protect the right of a woman and her doctor to make the appropriate healthcare decisions, without interference from the government. This is a fundamental right, and must be protected.
Health
COVID-19 has changed our perspective on public health. No matter where you stand on the efforts to stop the virus, everyone agrees that the response was not handled perfectly. Ruby prioritizes science, not politics, in determining what public policy positions to support.
The conversation around mental health has come a long way lately. Advocates, including current elected leaders in HD-37, have championed de-stigmatizing mental health treatment and worked diligently to increase access. If elected, Ruby will continue to champion mental health policies.
Excessive costs for prescription drugs endangers the health and safety of Coloradans. Rep. Dickson sponsored HB23-1225 to make changes to the Colorado Prescription Drug Affordability Review Board that was created in 2021. It removes the cap on the number of prescription drugs that can have an upper payment limit, changes the cost thresholds that prompt the board to conduct a review for some drugs, and requires the board to create a report summarizing the drug affordability data that it uses.
Health insurance and health care costs continue to be a drain on everyone’s wallet. We can, and should, do better to reduce unnecessary costs while ensuring that people can receive affordable, quality health care when they need it.
Safer Communities
Keeping children safe at school is an area where we simply cannot fail. Too many parents have suffered in ways that no parent should ever have to suffer. Ruby commits to help carry on the district’s legacy of making sure that no other families have to go through preventable tragedies at school.
Rep. Dickson supported HB23-1219, which establishes a waiting period to deliver a firearm of three days. Gun safety doesn’t have to be a divisive issue, though some special interests benefit from trying to make it one. Ruby supports common sense gun safety measures that help protect our community, without violating anyone’s rights. We can do better, and we will do better at keeping our community safe.
Seniors
Rising prices and costs of living are a growing problem in Colorado, and inflation already impacts everyone. But for people on fixed incomes, it can be devastating. Ruby works to protect pensions and retirement accounts while using her economic expertise to help limit inflation in our state’s economy.
Rep. Dickson knows how expensive finding care for seniors can be. She supported HB23-1030, which makes it so that healthcare staffing agencies wouldn’t be allowed to charge a worker a penalty fee for accepting a job at the facility they’re placed at during or after their contract ends.
Too many seniors face rising prescription drug costs or struggle to find care. Ruby supports efforts at the State Capitol to ensure that Medicare & other health programs for seniors cover as many benefits as possible for seniors to reduce the strain of medical costs.
Veterans
Coming from a military family, and with experience working in VA medical centers, Ruby respects the service and sacrifice of our nation’s military. Fully funding Colorado’s veteran services is a personal priority to Ruby.
She supported HB23-1052 which expands property tax exemption status for disabled veterans.
In addition, Ruby makes it a priority to aid Veteran constituents however possible. Whether advocating for them in their interactions with the federal government, or connecting them to employment services, Ruby is someone Colorado’s veterans can count on.
Affordable Housing
Housing is the single largest cost of living in Colorado, and it is out of control. Ruby has a plan to reduce costs for renters and homeowners alike, while making it easier for those experiencing homelessness to get back on their feet.
Along with rising home prices, rent has increased astronomically in recent years. This puts an enormous strain on younger people trying to establish themselves and it creates setbacks for people trying to get themselves back on their feet. We need to protect renters and make sure that people can live in the same community they work in, which will in turn strengthen the economy for everyone. Rep. Dickson sponsored HB23-1255, which prohibits a local government from enforcing or enacting any local housing growth restriction. Rep. Dickson also supports HB23-1115, which prohibits a local government from banning rent control.
She understands that housing is a complex issue, and supported SB23-213 which makes changes to land use across many areas and cases. It requires state and local governments to quantify their current and future housing needs by income level and take steps to meet housing targets, removes barriers to the building of accessory dwelling units, and removes some of the biggest barriers to Transit-Oriented Development.