ISSUES
Mark takes an intersectional approach to problem-solving and is not afraid to enact bold solutions.
Climate Chaos
We know the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. We know what needs to be done to get them under control. Mark has been at the forefront of the fight to make it happen.
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Statewide, transportation is responsible for the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions. This includes personal commutes by car, trips by airplane, the trucking of goods across our freeways, and more. Deeper and more widespread adoption of Electric Vehicles (EVs) and charging infrastructure is the simplest solution for this but we also need to make it more possible for people to avoid using cars altogether. Transportation is going to be the main topic for the 2025 legislative session and these values will guide Mark’s work in this realm.
Beyond EVs, Mark believes we need to completely reform how we fund transportation systems in Oregon. Right now, much of these systems rely on revenues from Oregon’s gas tax. The problem is that decades ago, Oregon voters put restrictions into our state constitution on what these revenues can be used for and they did not leave any possibility for funding the modern transportation infrastructure we need today. Generally, this means gas tax revenues cannot be used for things like public transit, bike paths, EV incentives, and many other things that we absolutely need to turn to in order to avert the worst impacts of climate change. Mark is positioning himself to help push for the 2025 legislative session to go beyond business as usual and truly create a transportation system worthy of the 21 century.
After the transportation sector, residential and commercial buildings are the second highest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the state. The appliances we use, the insulation in our structures, the ways in which we deliver energy, and more, are all factors which can lead to higher (or lower!) emissions. A key fight here is over the use of methane gas (commonly called “natural gas”) in our homes. This gas is 86 times more potent than CO2 in terms of climate impact, is causing children to develop lifelong respiratory problems like asthma, is supported by an industry that has willfully lied to and misinformed the public for decades… and yet we continue to support and expand its use in our homes. Mark finds this unconscionable and is working to build support in the legislature for solutions to begin to reduce the use of methane gas, while transitioning and expanding the good union jobs into the many new renewable forms of energy production.
A crux to solving both the transportation and building energy’s GHG impacts lies in our aging electrical transmission system. As of now our transmission system is currently running at full capacity which is prohibiting dozens of new clean energy projects from being built. The additional clean energy we will need to power the EVs, replace gas heating and power our growing tech industry will require additional, expensive infrastructure. Indeed, the demand on Oregon’s electric sector is predicted to go up anywhere between 50-100% by 2050. We are simply not building out our grid fast enough to meet all these needs.
With all of that as context, in his first term in the legislature Mark introduced and championed several bills that address many of these issues. Additionally, he successfully professionalized the Environmental Caucus by securing funding, hiring new visionary staff, and establishing its power base. This new structure will continue amplifying the voices of our climate champions in the legislature and will help us win big in the fight to save our planet.
Housing & Houselessness
Homeownership is getting further and further out of reach for the average Oregonian looking to buy. Because homeownership is the traditional way of building generational wealth in this country, this essentially traps entire families into generational cycles of poverty. For the roughly half of our population who rent their homes, the skyrocketing rents are devastating our communities. We have to urgently bring down housing and rent costs or we are going to see more and more people forced out of their homes and onto the streets.
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Right now, about 2,000 working families in Oregon are being evicted from their homes every month. Housing costs— both for renting and for owning— are escalating far faster than regular folks can afford and one key driver of this is a simple lack of housing supply.
When he was Mayor of Milwaukie, Mark led one of the most visionary transformations of a city’s municipal zoning codes in the entire state, going above and beyond what was required by state law to make it dramatically easier and more cost-effective to build affordable housing.
Mark has carried on this fight in the legislature. He helped to guide legislation establishing the monumental Oregon Housing Needs Analysis policy, which will study and set critical benchmarks across the state for housing production. He also advised Governor Kotek’s team on the crafting of her 2024 housing legislation to help ensure it would result in more affordable housing and not just more mcmansions. In a similar vein, Mark championed legislation in 2023 to open up thousands of acres of land perfectly situated for low-income housing; many faith communities across the state own land in ideal locations and want to put it to a mission-driven use, but lack the funds and expertise to do it. Mark’s 2023 legislation did not pass but he sees it as unfinished business. He plans to bring it back next session if re-elected.
Another piece of legislation Mark plans to bring back in 2025 is his concept to reform system development charges. For many years, there has been a perennial fight between developers and cities over how and who should pay for the infrastructure needed for housing development. Mark was able to bring both sides together and find an acceptable path that would have lowered the cost to build new housing by several thousand to over a million dollars per project. His bill passed out of the Housing Committee unanimously in the 2024 session, but the Ways and Means Committee did not make it a priority for funding and it was not passed into law. If re-elected, Mark plans to take another crack at it in the 2025 session.
Wealth Inequality
Working class wages have stagnated for decades and the cost of living has only risen. We are seeing new levels of social stratification as more and more wealth is concentrated into the hands of the few. Mark is building a sprawling coalition to tackle this issue head-on.
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Virtually our entire capitalist society is structured to funnel wealth to the privileged few. From our approach to health care and insurance, to our systems of taxation, to how we regulate businesses, money nearly always flows towards the already wealthy. Mark believes that nearly all of our societal ills may be traced back to the diminishing share of wealth held by the middle and lower classes. From diseases of despair like drug addiction, to rampant unsheltered homelessness, to Americans’ shortening life expectancy, the concentration of wealth into the hands of a relative few has left the rest of us increasingly struggling to survive. Mark is unafraid of taking on monied interests and pushing for bold, transformative change.
There is much to be done on this front. One of Mark’s primary efforts is building a coalition to pass what he calls a “Houseable Wage.” This concept would look at housing costs in a given region, what an affordable rent would be for a one-bedroom apartment, and then require that the minimum wage for that region meet the threshold. This accomplishes two important things: 1) it ensures that anyone working a full-time job will be able to afford housing in their community, and 2) it pits large corporations like Walmart against real estate speculators and is likely to spark much greater interest by the private sector in increasing our housing supply.
The root cause of our housing, homelessness, addiction, and so many other crises is poverty. Solutions like increasing our housing supply and availability of treatment are certainly worthwhile, but they are only band-aids for symptoms of the larger issue. If we want bold change like a Houseable Wage, we need to send Mark’s undaunted voice back to Salem to fight for it.
Racial Justice
Oregon’s racist history is long, deep, and still impacting our society to this day. It has been embedded in our municipal zoning codes, in our school systems, and even in our very constitution. We need to elect leaders with a proven willingness to look for monumental changes to heal these large-scale problems.
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Mark sees racism as the public health crisis that it is. From racial disparities in maternal mortality, to differing educational outcomes, and even to one’s sense of belonging and of community, these impacts can touch every facet of a person’s life. Mark knows that as a white man, he will never be able to fully comprehend what life is like as a person of color and that he is afforded privileges only due to the color of his skin. He is deeply committed to remedying the deliberate, systemic, and generational impoverishment of Black, Indigenous, and people of color. He knows that we have to continue making deep systemic changes if we hope to achieve a more just and equitable society.
Mark sees the movement to “green” our economy as a tremendous opportunity to do just that and rebalance the scales in favor of racial justice. For example, during his first term there were multiple instances of new investments and new programs being contemplated without even consulting the tribes, even ones that would be directly impacted by the proposed policy. A bare minimum standard for our legislative process should be consultation with impacted communities and Mark has put this into practice and insisted that these groups be included at the table. If re-elected to the legislature, he will continue this practice not only with his own legislation but also as he works with other colleagues on theirs.
Universal Health Care
Oregon has been moving towards a single-payer health care system for several years and the process of setting it up is underway. While it is not likely to be operational for several years still, we have got to remain vigilant for any efforts to prevent or weaken it. The prices of prescription drugs and doctor visits continue to skyrocket and single-payer health care will be a great equalizer if we get it right.
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Health care is a basic and essential human right, full stop. However, our current system treats it more as a profit center. Mark sees this as an abomination that has ruinous consequences for people’s lives and livelihoods. He sees the pharmaceutical and insurance industries raking in cash hand over fist, all the while, we the people suffer. It doesn’t have to be this way.
It is possible for Oregon to lead the nation in implementing a system of universal health care that provides high quality services, dramatically lower prescription drug prices, comprehensive mental health care, and more to each and every resident. Mark has been an outspoken champion of this for years and is committed to taking bold steps to keep the process moving.
The Once and Future War on Drugs
In the 2024 session the legislature took the extraordinary step of rolling back a recently passed voter initiative that ended the failed war on drugs in Oregon. Like many states, Oregon is currently experiencing new levels of overdose deaths due to an influx of cheap fentanyl. Measure 110 did not have the time nor the resources it needed to be successful, and wealthy individuals in Portland used that fact to threaten a complete reversal of the positive potential that the measure promised.
The positive outcome of the new law passed by the legislature is that it will bring significant new resources for treatment. The gap in the law was the ability for treatment centers to be easily sited and built in any city. The negative aspect is that we are once again going to be clogging our already overburdened public defender system with even more low-level possession charges.
Reproductive and LGBTQ+ Justice
The continued fight to protect reproductive justice, gender-affirming care, gay marriage, and so much more is far from over. The growing craziness at the federal level imperils all of these important rights. Mark continues to do everything he can in the state legislature to enshrine and protect these rights, but the outlook of our federal government could still throw everything into chaos. Mark will continue to hold the line.