Fabian Donate

Please share briefly what inspired you to run for this office and why you feel you’re qualified for the position.

As the son of Mexican immigrants, I have devoted my life toward making my community and neighborhood a better place. Growing up in Las Vegas, I have had the opportunity to learn about the issues that my neighborhood has persistently identified as barriers to growth and success. Given my public health and health administration background, I have worked in the health care space for the majority of my career. When COVID-19 first hit, many of my family members (most of them are casino workers) ended up getting laid off from their work. From that moment forward, I decided to move back home from graduate school to help my community, particularly with preparing small businesses and non-profits plan for the reopening stage of the pandemic. Last year, when a vacancy opened in the State Senate, I applied to give my community a voice at the table. Serving in the State Legislature was the greatest honor of my lifetime, and I’m eager to continue my service to help uplift my State throughout its recovery efforts.

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?

Yes, I believe there is room to improve the licensing framework for consumption lounges to better protect employees and tourists in legally consuming marijuana products. This is an issue that I'm eager to learn about and support, given that it increases our competitive advantage compared to the rest of the country and the innovative entertainment services that could arise from this opportunity.

Would you support allocating more state funds to help DACA recipients to help with higher education?

During my undergraduate tenure at UNLV, I was proud to support scholarships in our student government that would assist DACA recipients with accessing college courses. The costs of higher education are steadily increasing, we need to ensure comprehensive

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?

Gun violence is a public health emergency -- as a public health champion, I want to ensure that gun violence is an issue that Nevada stands at the forefront to solve. Once gun violence is seen as a public health threat, we are able to craft legislation and policies that support injury prevention with this particular weapon. More work can be done in this space, I look forward to engaging further in this conversation.

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?

I am a firm supporter of the right to abortions, which is a critical part of the clinical delivery system. Abortion care is health care, and I am committed to ensuring that every Nevadan has equitable access to this service and stopping legislation that seeks to reduce or limit this personal health decision.

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, I am a firm supporter in expanding the rights of advanced practice clinicians and allowing individuals outside of physicians to provide sexual and reproductive care. APCs are integral members of the care delivery team, it's time for our policies and legislation to reflect this change.

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?

As a CCSD graduate and home-grown student, I am in full support of reforming our health education curriculum to better reflect evidence-based programming with comprehensive and inclusive content. This is an issue I am passionate about and would consider championing in the Legislature.

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?

In my district, it's clear to me that Black and Latino families disproportionately face higher incidence rates and greater disparities in comparison to other population groups. Systemic racism is present in our community, and I will work to ensure that BIPOC patients are prioritized in health-related legislation that comes forward.

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 support ending the death penalty in Nevada once and for all.

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, I am willing to fund and support regulations that address youth homelessness in an equitable manner.

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?

Given my health care background, I fully support transgender folks gaining equality and access to services. Furthermore, I will stand in solidarity with our transgender community from any attacks that they receive in delegitimizing their identity, experiences, and traumas. More work can be done to support inclusivity, and I welcome policies that achieve that goal.

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?

As a young Legislator and a millennial, this is an issue that hits close to home -- many of my friends are experiencing increases in rental rates across Nevada. I support policies that will help enact change at the county and city levels to slow down rental increases and increase attainable housing solutions, like the Home Means Nevada housing proposal established under the leadership of Governor Sisolak.

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?

As the former Chair of the Senate Natural Resources Committee, I am a firm supporter in our state's conservation practices and would advocate for legislation to increase our investment towards conservation. Nevada's investment in conservation has been fairly stagnant, more can be done to further encourage tourism and preserve our public lands.

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?

No, I do not support policies that seek wholesale transfer of federal ownership of our national lands to states. Given the lack of funding resources in Nevada, I am uncomfortable at this moment with the transfer of ownership of federal land from the BLM to Nevada.

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?

Given my public health background and that I am the son of Mexican immigrants, I firmly believe that language access is the best possible strategy to overcome mistrust, targeted disinformation, and to create tangible solutions for culturally competent messaging. Last session, I was proud to introduce Senate Bill 318, which would help expand language access for governmental services and COVID-19 related information.

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, I am a firm support of the work being accomplished by the Nevada Office of New Americans and would gladly help with funding a Spanish-speaking program that seeks to build on health literacy efforts across the State.

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?

Currently, through my service as the Vice-Chair of the Joint Interim HHS Committee, I am focused on ensuring that our committee introduces legislation that removes any barriers to the general access to care. My main priority will be to ensure Black and Latino families are involved in the legislative process and that we are making strides to reduce or eliminate disparities that many working-class families continue to face.

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?

Senate District 10 has been my home for my entire life -- it's the neighborhood that my entire extended family resides in, and I'm glad to share experiences with other communities of color in my neighborhood with the challenges that we face. As a part of my campaign, I am doing the due diligence of meeting with these community members to ensure they are receiving a voice at the decision-making table and that we are uplifting their voices every step of the way.

Communities of color are most impacted by air pollution; what would you do to ensure that our communities can breathe cleaner air?

Last session, I was a proud co-sponsor of Senate Bill 448, which will help Nevada with its electrification efforts across the state and target communities of color with receiving much-needed infrastructure support. In public health, we know that communities of color are disproportionately exhibiting asthma cases due to their proximity to highway systems. The faster we can implement green-friendly policies and cut our carbon emissions, the better our communities will be left off.

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?

During my tenure as the Chair of the Senate Natural Resources Committee, I was proud to work alongside my Assembly counterpart to successfully pass a water conservation bill that would seek to eliminate non-functional turf in Southern Nevada. This effort is going to save about 10% of our water usage, but more work can be done to ensure the detriments of climate change are sidelined.

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?

Yes, I firmly believe in establishing collaborative efforts with Nevada's Tribal Nations and including them as part of the legislative process every step of the way. Indigenous communities are often overlooked and left behind when it comes to policymaking, my hope is that we can continue to engage in this space and prioritize any issues that may come up with policies that we see arise in the Legislature.

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?

As a graduate of UNLV, I am one of the folks in our community that has been affected by student loans -- given my experience as the youngest Legislator, I believe more work can be done to ensure college affordability remains at the forefront of higher education. Last session, I was proud to support legislation on the Senate Education committee that sought to increase consumer protection laws and limit predatory practices that affect younger students.

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?

During my tenure as the Chair of the Natural Resources Committee, I was proud to support the Home Feeds Nevada program, which will help better coordinate the distribution of foods to vulnerable communities through the Nevada Department of Agriculture. Granted, this is simply just one effort, more can be done to increase access to healthy foods across underserved communities and I am committed to ensuring this effort gets prioritized.