Five priorities for Colorado House District 12.

When taxpayers fund a road, a school, or a bridge, the money shouldn't change hands until the work changes the ground. Today, government contractors are too often paid on schedules disconnected from actual progress — and when projects stall or fail, taxpayers absorb the cost.

I'll work to require that contracts funded by Colorado taxpayers hold disbursements in escrow, releasing payment in stages against verified milestones — the same way a homeowner pays a builder. The accountability that any private citizen demands of their contractor should apply to every dollar the state spends.

Kids respond to recognition. Programs that reward effort and mastery with tangible incentives — points, levels, real-world rewards — see engagement climb. We should bring that mechanic into Colorado's classrooms.

I support a point-based reward structure that recognizes student achievement, paired with AI-assisted instruction that meets each student where they are. Tax incentives for major employers who provide goods that match those rewards — a laptop for finishing Calculus I, for example — keep the program funded without growing the state budget. Education should feel like progress, not a chore.

Colorado's energy debate gets stuck between today's grid and yesterday's solutions. Meanwhile, technologies like thorium reactors and micro-nuclear reactors (MNRs) are moving from concept to deployment — quietly, safely, and at a fraction of the land use of legacy options.

I'll advocate for educating Coloradans on these emerging sources and for giving each county more authority to decide what mix of energy fits its geography, economy, and values. A rural plains county and a Front Range city shouldn't be forced into the same energy plan.

Water, food, and the rights of the citizens who depend on them are the foundation of any community. They need active protection — not just in policy language, but in how we structure incentives.

I'll push for tax incentives on goods that are produced in Colorado for Colorado, keeping supply chains local and our resources accountable to the people who live alongside them. The closer production is to the community that consumes it, the more leverage that community has when something goes wrong.

Home Rule is already written into the Colorado Constitution — but most residents don't know what it allows their county to decide, and most counties don't use it to its full extent.

I'll work to expand the conversation around Home Rule: what it covers, what it doesn't, and how counties can use it to make decisions that better fit their communities than state-level policy ever could. The closer a decision is made to the people it affects, the more accountable it becomes — and accountability of governance is the principle this campaign is built on.