Tom Steyer
Hedge fund manager, political activist
Opportunity
Racial Wealth Gap
Tom Steyer addresses the racial wealth gap in his “People Over Profits Economic Agenda”. His agenda will:
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“Pass a federal $15/hr minimum wage and expand the earned income tax credit and retirement security programs,”
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“Allocate increased resources to public schools and social service programs; and addressing systemic gender and racial wealth disparities.”
Affordable Housing
Steyer addresses affordable housing in his “Affordable Housing” plan. His plan will:
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“Invest $47 billion per year in Affordable Construction and Renovation.”
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“Increase LIHTC Housing Credit allocations by 50% over the next five years, establishing a 4% housing credit floor for renovation projects, and enact reforms to create more than 500,000 additional affordable rental units through zoning changes.”
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“Dedicate $10 billion per year to solve the housing crisis through the creation of the Ideas to Develop and Ensure Affordability Housing Competition (IDEAHousing), a grant competition designed to support innovative new solutions in streamlining, financing, technology, and construction to end America’s housing crisis.”
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“Increase funding for Community Development Block Grants to resource programs that help with equitable local economic development, affordable housing, transit-oriented development, disaster resilience, and infrastructure.”
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“Expand access to the Housing Choice Voucher Program.”
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“Provide relief for low- and middle-income renters” by supporting a “quarterly tax credit to directly help low-income and middle-income families based on the local area Small Area Fair Markets Rents designation.”
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“Create a renters emergency fund to make one-time grants or loans to low-income families facing eviction.”
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“Assure that everyone has a right to legal representation in eviction proceedings.”
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“Prohibit landlords, real estate agents, homeowner associations, banks, and government services from inquiring against past conviction records prior to processing an individuals’ financial application.”
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“Ban landlords and rental agencies from discriminating against applicants based upon the source of their income or history of bankruptcy, if they demonstrate current cash flow and stability requirements for occupancy.”
Access to High Quality Education
Tom Steyer addresses access to high quality education in his “The 5 Rights”. He will:
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Provide free, quality, public education from universal pre-kindergarten through higher education, including workforce and technical training.
Environmental Equity
Tom Steyer first addressed environmental equity in when he launched NextGen Climate America. He:
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“Partnered with expert analysts to produce studies showing significant environmental justice and health impacts from power plants in Pennsylvania and Ohio.”
In his campaign he addresses environmental equity in his community-led plan for climate justice plan. His plan states:
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“Each community will identify what they need most where they live, and his administration will issue $250 billion in new bonds to invest those community-determined projects.”
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“In too many low-income communities and communities of color, people are suffering from intentional pollution — dirty air, contaminated water, and toxic waste from fossil fuel plants. Cleaning up our country starts with holding corporations accountable for the environmental injustices they’ve caused.”
In his “Climate-Smart Transformation at a Glance” plan, he will “ensure that every American has access to safe and clean drinking water by 2030”
Health Equity
Tom Steyer addresses health equity in his “Right to Health” plan. His plan will:
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“Create a competitive public option to drive down costs, expand coverage, and deliver quality care to everyone who lives here, including the undocumented community.”
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“Offer fully subsidized enrollment for the nearly 5 million qualifying individuals who should be covered under an expanded Medicaid”, resulting in all low-income Americans within 138% of the Federal Poverty Line receiving full coverage and with zero direct cost for their care.”
Transportation Access
Tom Steyer addresses transportation access in his “Infrastructure and Investment at a Glance” plan. His plan will:
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Invest over $775B for clean-transportation infrastructure in building 5 million electric vehicle charging stations by 2030, clean freight systems, rail and public transit, and electrifying every school bus in the country.
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Invest over $555B in climate-smart communities and housing in walkable communities and urban parks, green space, urban tree canopies, and rural clean transportation and connectivity.
Justice
Bail/Prison Reform
Tom Steyer addresses bail/prison reform in his “Criminal Justice Reform” plan. His plan will:
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“End cash bail.”
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“Reduce the prison population.”
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“Stop the prison pipeline and revolving door.”
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“Eliminate private prisons.”
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“Restructure the federal parole and probation system.”
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“Exercise
clemency powers when appropriate.” -
“Increase resources for public defenders and community intervention programs.”
Re-Entry Services
Tom Steyer addresses re-entry services in his “Criminal Justice Reform” plan. His plan will:
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“Fight for the rights of those re-entering society by supporting rehabilitation and workforce readiness programs.”
Ending Capital Punishment
Tom Steyer is against re-instituting capital punishment. Steyer expressed his views via Twitter:
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“[Resuming Federal executions is] another huge misstep by the Trump Administration. Their leadership on what it means to be an American couldn’t be more misguided.” — 2:37 PM · Jul 25, 2019
Expanding Gun Safety Measures
Tom Steyer addresses expanding gun safety measures in his “We Can End Gun Violence” plan. His plan will:
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“Pass universal background checks by expanding them to private sales and unlicensed sellers.”
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“Close the Gun Show, Boyfriend, and Charleston loopholes.”
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“Establish waiting periods at the federal level for delivery of guns.”
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“Pass the Making America Safe and Secure Act (MASS Act) on gun licensing standards and incentives for both buyers and sellers.”
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“Ban high risk weapons including assault weapons, device modifications, high capacity ammunition magazines, and strengthen laws on untraceable firearms, including ghost guns, 3D printed guns, and home manufactured guns.”
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“Establish strong Red Flag/Extreme Risk laws to temporarily prohibit access to firearms from individuals demonstrating risky behaviors toward themselves or others.”
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“Repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which gives the gun industry special protections and exemptions and denies gun violence victims their day in court.”
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“Reverse existing DOJ policy that allows fugitives to buy guns; reverse Social Security Administration policies that exempt records of mentally ill from background checks.”
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“Regulate sellers by monitoring their inventory and restricting sales locations.”
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“Prohibit manufacturing of guns outside of traditional supply chains, including 3D printing and ghost guns.”
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“Pass a reauthorization and expansion of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), and the Protecting Domestic Violence and Stalking Victims Act, to support provisions to close gun loopholes and ban firearm purchases from domestic abusers, including partners and stalkers.”
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“Work closely with state level governments to establish high standards for concealed carry.”
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“Pass the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act and Disarm Hate Act.”
Improving Police-Community Relations
Tom Steyer addresses improving police-community relations in his “Criminal Justice Reform” plan. His plan will “work to promote better-policing methods and training to reduce police brutality.”
Democracy
Voting Rights
Tom Steyer addresses voting rights in his “Plan to Make Our Democracy Work for the People”. His plan will:
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“Pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Native American Voting Rights Act.”
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“Establish a national referendum process; establish an office to implement and oversee this process.”
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“Develop criteria to place no more than two key issues annually before the national electorate to vote on.”
Access to Voter Registration
Tom Steyer addresses access to voter registration in his “Plan to Make Our Democracy Work for the People”. His plan will “initiate a Vote-At-Home System by providing voters with postage-paid absentee ballots.”
Gerrymandering
Tom Steyer addresses gerrymandering in his “Plan to Make Our Democracy Work for the People”. His plan will “establish independent, non-partisan redistricting commissions to draw boundaries and eliminate racial gerrymandering.”
Census 2020
Tom Steyer’s campaign platform does not include a plan for Census 2020. However, he has addresses the issue on Facebook:
“Not only is the 2020 census set to undercount minority populations and over-represent upperclass white populations, but it’s set to do so BY DESIGN. Mr. Trump may sit in the Oval Office, but his vision of the world is nasty, brutish, and small.”