Sonia Chang-Diaz in 2022 MA Governor's race


On Civil Rights: Social equity loans for those impacted by cannabis arrests

Cannabis regulators asked the Legislature to consider a loan for people disproportionately impacted by cannabis arrests. Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, who has served on the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy, said she will continue to push for social equity loans. "I'm also hopeful that the heightened level of attention that the commonwealth as a whole, and the Legislature, has on issues of racial justice and racial equity will hopefully lift up that legislation even more in the coming term," she said.
Source: Springfield Republican on 2022 Massachusetts Governor race Aug 3, 2021

On Crime: Wrote law banning chokeholds & racial profiling

[On police reform]: "This law will create the first civilian-led police oversight board with subpoena power and decertification authority; it will ban chokeholds and limit no-knock warrants; it will create a duty-to-intervene for police officers and a duty to de-escalate," said Chang-Díaz. "It will ban racial profiling and put enforcement powers behind that ban; it will end the requirement of police officers in schools. But no one bill will dismantle structural racism."
Source: Jamaica Plain News on 2022 Massachusetts Gubernatorial race Jan 1, 2021

On Drugs: Make retail cannabis market accessible to smaller players

Communities also collect revenue from cannabis establishments through host community agreements. Community impact fees are limited 3% of gross sales, though there have been allegations that some communities collect more. Chang-Diaz said she's hopeful the Legislature will advance a bill allowing the Cannabis Control Commission to review host community agreements. The measure would help make the market more accessible to smaller players, she said, including equity applicants.
Source: Springfield Republican on 2022 Massachusetts Governor race Aug 3, 2021

On Education: Young people shouldn't have to carry decades of student debt

Things like giving every kid a fair and strong chance in life; making it so that we don't all have to sit in traffic for hours on end; making it so that you don't have to worry about going bankrupt if you have a medical emergency in your family; aspiring that young people do not have to carry decades worth of student debt on their backs after working for years to get a degree. These are not radical ideas.
Source: WBUR 90.9-NPR on 2022 Massachusetts Gubernatorial race Jul 22, 2021

On Government Reform: Signed letter urging federal action on voting rights

Seventy-four members of the Massachusetts Legislature have signed a letter asking the federal government to bolster access to the ballot as several states, including Massachusetts, have seen proposals for voting restrictions. Ten Massachusetts Democrats--Comerford, Rausch, Sonia Chang-Diaz, Cynthia Creem and Adam Gomez in the Senate, and Mindy Domb, John Lawn, Tram Nguyen, Chynah Tyler and Bud Williams in the House--led the effort on the letter, according to Comerford's office.
Source: The Berkshire Eagle on 2022 Massachusetts Gubernatorial race Aug 3, 2021

On Health Care: COVID: universal masking in schools, indoor public spaces

Chang-Diaz put out a six-point plan of her own to respond to the threat from the delta variant, starting with universal masking in schools and indoor public spaces, consistent with the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "The Baker-Polito administration has taken an inconsistent, path-of-least-resistance approach to pandemic safety that seems to be based more in politics than in--and puts the health of Bay Staters in jeopardy as a result," Chang-Díaz said.
Source: Newburyport Daily News on 2022 Massachusetts Governor race Aug 28, 2021

On Immigration: Proposed path for in-state college tuition for undocumented

Under the latest legislation filed by Democrats Rep. Michael Moran of Brighton and Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz of Jamaica Plain, an undocumented resident must have attended a Massachusetts high school for at least three years and graduated or achieved similar results in a Bay State adult education program to qualify for in-state tuition.
Source: MetroWest Daily News on 2022 Massachusetts Governor race Jun 20, 2021

On Principles & Values: My North Star is: "Are we getting results?"

She's heard the criticism that she can be too hard-charging in her advocacy, but doesn't make apologies for it. "My North Star is, are we getting results?" she said. "It is for everybody out there to judge a tree by its fruits. And, absolutely, I believe that a key ingredient to accomplishing systemic change, not nibbling-around-the-edges change, but the systemic change that working families actually need, is that often you have to speak truth to power."
Source: CommonWealth Magazine on 2022 Massachusetts Governor race Jul 1, 2021

The above quotations are from 2022 Massachusetts Gubernatorial race: debates and news coverage.
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Page last updated: Jun 08, 2024