27 Apr Aaron Sims
Aaron Sims
Democrat
for
State Senate, District 16
Campaign Contact Phone: 775-431-4542
Website: www.simsfornevada.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simsfornevada
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/simsfornevada
2022 Questionnaire
Please share briefly what inspired you to run for this office and why you feel you’re qualified for the position.
I believe that Nevada is at a crossroads where demographics have been changing and costs have been skyrocketing. I believe I have a forward-thinking vision that will solve our state's problems.
Given the success of the marijuana industry, should Nevada create a better licensing framework for consumption lounges which would allow tourists an opportunity to legally consume marijuana products?
Absolutely!
Would you support allocating more state funds to help DACA recipients to help with higher education?
Absolutely yes.
As Las Vegas lives in the wake of the worst mass shooting in modern history, what do you think it will take to end the gun violence epidemic and violence in our communities?
We need to be vigilent in a few areas: We need to prohibit all people who have a violent criminal record from accessing guns, we need to prohibit folks who are deemed "mentally unfit" to own a weapon from accessing guns. We also need to do more to educate all Nevadans in gun safety.
Nevada has historically protected the right to abortion, including protecting the right in statute 30 years ago by a vote of the people. However, there remain barriers to access in the state. Do you support not only the right to abortion but policies that improve equitable access to abortion care?
Yes absolutely.
The state of Nevada is facing an unprecedented shortage of health care providers – a problem that impacts every area of medicine, including the provision of sexual and reproductive care. Do you support removing the physician-only requirement and allowing advanced practice clinicians (APCs) to provide this vital care to patients with training and certification?
Yes
Comprehensive, age and developmentally appropriate, medically-accurate, inclusive sex education has been proven to improve students’ long-term health outcomes, yet it is not required that students be provided with this information in their sex-ed programs. Do you believe that public school sex-ed programs should be comprehensive, medically accurate, and inclusive?
Yes of course
It is well documented that patients of color face greater obstacles to obtaining sexual and reproductive health care than non-Hispanic white Americans – a pattern that results in worse health outcomes overall for BIPOC patients. Do you not only acknowledge systemic racism’s role in public health disparities but will you pursue policies that seek to rectify the historical harm of systemic racism and advance equitable access to health care?
Yes absolutely
Knowing that the death penalty is exorbitantly expensive, racially discriminatory, and does not promote true healing for victims family members, do you support its abolition and do you think ending the death penalty is a crucial part of criminal justice reform?
Yes I do
True Colors United, a national organization that implements innovative solutions to youth homelessness that focus on the unique experiences of LGBTQ+ young people continues to rate Nevada as critically low, for its State Index on Youth Homelessness (in collaboration with the National Homelessness Law Center) that ranks and scores laws and policies related to preventing and addressing youth homelessness in the United States. Are you willing to support legislation that helps to fund and provide oversight regulations to youth homelessness services?
Yes and this has long been an important issue to me personally.
Anti-transgender bills are being introduced across the United States that attempt to trans prevent people from having access to health care, gender reassignment surgery, and access to sports in schools. Do you support transgender equality and access to healthcare and an athletic school experience?
Absolutely!
We have seen rental rates increasing at a very alarming rate, in some instances upwards of 30%. How do you see the Nevada Legislature taking action to keep Nevadans in their homes and not being priced out?
We need to intervene with the housing authorities of the state and urge them to help us implement rental caps and even fees for rental companies who raise rents at a certain rate.
State investments in conservation provide resources for a wide range of public benefit, like the management of wildlife and state land, and the creation and maintenance of trails and other recreational facilities. In 2019, the Legislature approved $217 million of bonding authority for conservation purposes, including for the acquisition of land for new state parks. A) Do you support or oppose state investment in conservation? B) Has Nevada’s investment in land conservation been too little, too much, or about right, and how would you change it?
A) I definitely support the state investing in conservation.
B) I would increase investment in order to help protect our water and water sources better. We also have issues in Northern Nevada where our water is high in arsenic and other harmful elements that needs to be addressed.
Nevada has one of the largest shares of federal public land of any state in the country, providing important wildlife habitat, places to hunt, camp, fish and hike, and acting as the foundation of a billion dollar outdoor industry. Even so, some lawmakers have promoted policies that seek wholesale transfer of federal ownership of our national lands to states. A) Would you support or oppose these land transfer policies? B) Would should the State of Nevada’s role be in the management and ownership of federal land?
A) It depends on the policy. There are some things the federal government is much better at protecting and allowing and other things that the state should be in control of.
B) We should be doing what we can to protect our natural resources as well as wildlife and wild gaming.
What legislative action would you take to address the ongoing COVID crisis in communities of color due to mistrust, targeted disinformation, and lack of culturally competent messaging that includes language accessibility?
They would need more funding and resources as well as medical attention such as doctors, nurses and staffing so that they don't experience so much jamming of their clinics.
Would you support addressing public health disparities in Nevada’s diverse Spanish speaking population by funding a “Promotores de Salud” program through the Nevada Office of New Americans that provides year round, culturally competent education and community engagement in Spanish on public health issues?
Yes absolutely
How do you envision working within your state to pass care legislation (i.e. child care, elder care, paid leave, paid sick leave, and disability care) that will ensure that women of color and working families can easily access the care they need?
I would support all legislation that opens up care for all of those communities more, but we need to address the lack of working peoples access to basic family leave and care for their children or elders.
What are you doing to center communities of color and low income communities in your work and how do you ensure that equity is part of every decision you make?
We have a range of old laws on the books that have prevented communities of color from purchasing homes or getting better access to economically advanced areas, we need to overturn those laws and address systemic racism directly in legislation.
Communities of color are most impacted by air pollution; what would you do to ensure that our communities can breathe cleaner air?
By targeting companies who produce large swaths of air pollution and either provide an incentive to move to a location that is away from all communities or penalize those companies for not meeting environmental regulations.
Latinx communities are extremely concerned about the drought and ongoing water shortages. What would you do to ensure our families have a sustainable water supply, not just now but also future generations?
We need to invest in and introduce ways to recycle water, reduce the amount of water used in farms and ranches by replacing old water machines for crops with misters and we need to seriously research desalinization.
Will you practice a just transition approach to Nevada’s clean energy & sustainability plans while holding accountable those who must consult and collaborate with Nevada’s Tribal Nations on decisions which may negatively impact their indigenous lifeways?
Absolutely.
The APIA community faces the largest unmet financial needs when it comes to higher education. Nevada has the highest student loan default rate in the country. In Nevada, there are 333,100 student loan borrowers, $11.5 Billion in student loan debt, and $34,700 in average debt per borrower. What policies can we implement to ensure students and families are protected from predatory lenders and undue financial burdens?
I do believe we can introduce laws that restrict predatory loans but outside of that, I need to do more research to figure out other alternatives as well.
One out of seven people in Clark County are food insecure. What policies would you propose to ensure people are not residing in food deserts and have access to healthy food and water sources?
We should consider creating state-wide "food district" to better identify these deserts and ensure that food supplies can be evened out to all areas of Nevada.