creation has transcended her district and impacts nine million people in the state of new jersey because she has been a staunch advocate for job growth women's health voting rights civil rights and criminal justice reform just to name a few she's been a leading legislator in the state of new jersey she's been recognized as one of the most prolific legislators for having the most bill signed into law from both halves she's nationally recognized by emily's list as a rising store and she credits her success to having spent nearly two decades working the halls of trenton in a bipartisan way to impact policy changes she's been married for twenty years to her husband kenneth and they have two children adore tyler and a son khamis and she continues to work hard with purpose because as she says too much is given much is required so she want to thank you so much for coming and show tonight thank you for having me lou it's a pleasure so tell us a little about yourself and tell us about you know how you decide to get involved in the political world and become an elected official certainly so you read my bio but that doesn't begin to tell the story my husband and i actually met on the campaign been involved in politics since high school student government we lost that campaign for counsel but we stayed together so that's all it is and then breaking apart didn't break us up that all but truly my predecessor in the office of the thirty fifth district legislator was my godmother she served in public service for over thirty years and wanted to retire her fear of retiring was that she didn't have anyone to take her place and at the time my kids were young i was climbing the corporate ladder in health care and she said it's something you need to do i haven't regretted  a day i had never held any other office started in two thousand and twelve in the assembly and it's been the most rewarding experience that i could imagine well it sounds like you've had fun i've had a great time it's been a great ride  i'm able to impact people's lives daily nine million people in the state of new jersey remarkable that is really is so i know you're in behavioral health yes and maybe you can talk a little bit about that because i know that you know your director of behavioral health services over at hack political science at the u for my m b a with a concentration in health systems management when i was looking for a career to support my family on and have a quality of life behavioral health was one of those doors that i walked through by the grace of god it wasn't something i planned lifelong vision but were able to touch people when they're in need is a system where access still can be a challenge so i've been a champion making sure that we have providers who can help people meet them where they are we do not x what party you belong to before we provide care to you and it touches one of five people and some form or other with mental illness or  addiction so i am committed to making sure that we continue to increase access in make sure the services are available in our state does a great job with the safe safety net great providers but we do need more resources and i carry that with me  the halls of trenton because when i was stomping the horse of trenton for twenty years those were the conversations i were i was having are for people who are often voiceless and families who are frustrated by trying to access services escher social worker they're getting the job done they have case loads that are sometimes very tough for them to get ahead of and in front of them people are looking to access care for their loved ones and they  pressure traded because for behavioral health you still need a pre authorization so versus a just going right in if you had a medical cardiac emergency and you're going straight in and they're going to follow protocol and take care of you so we really want to make sure that those doors are open for people to access it and and how we make people feel good about an actor with that skill in every facet of what i do is just acknowledging that they exist ok i know  for having a preexisting condition that we are treating people where a country that is a wealthy nation that should have a robust health care system and yet we're missing metrics where we can have lifesaving metrics in place what is the penny conscious pound foolish you know that type of statement if you invest on the front end image for people have good care life sustaining care they can live a quality life  and making sure that it's affordable for those diseases that are considered preexisting it will make a world of difference and most folks don't really entered the whole way of being an advocate until it touches them or touches a loved one so we really mean for everyone to pause be sensitive to the fact that everyone should have health care it is not a luxury it's a right a human right for all ok now i know you have a bill that recently voted the committee on your way out oh yes and i was one if you could tell everybody is watching tonight a little bit about that so that earn your way i'll still impacts my social justice  mission as well where talking about a low level of offenders who are incarcerated and serving up to eighty percent of their sentence because they have no means of getting out of jail we want to make sure that on the front and  we're working with them on a reentry plan as soon as they enter what social supports we can put around you if is what type of education we can support you with and have in the probation system start early so you're not backlog and say ok you're released now go find your housing go find your social services go connect with your health care providers it's it will save us up to forty thousand dollars a year if we start these services on the front and for low level of vendors so that they don't look at becoming a repeat offender and circling back through those doors of a penal system ok i know  we also know that minimum wage has been a very hard topic lately you know certain states are looking to move it up and i was on the move up to fifteen you have a bill that addresses to wage workers too so you see if you are working within that establishment and hamburgers five dollars you're not even earn enough to cover that hamburger the other reality is when we talk about sexual harassment majority of tip workers in to foreigners are women and women are harassed at a higher rate and i'm talking about me in a tip situation where you're subjecting yourself to this harassment and it's if you're not a nice worker in the eyes of the person you're serving your to is subjected to that and then the restaurant to are supposed to make up the difference in your salary just to get you to minimum wage now we're talking about a loss of my head on this although this is one of those things that i took up the mantle on because it just becomes an afterthought if people believe and don't know that these folks are not earning the minimum wage that they don't move when the needle moves for other workers so my goal is really to elevate the conversation when ever you have a waitress when you go out or waiter please make sure that you're taking them and this also spills into other services that are tips on others ok i think there are other issues too that the trickle down to the people of new jersey and maybe could talk about some of those issues that we're facing every day right now and what you see  hope tackle in the current session of the legislature so a couple of things that i'm hopeful in tackling in this legislature member our terms are only two years or so and twenty nineteen will be running for reelection again so our time clock is short there is a lot to be done a big issue for me is school facilities development and that hits the entire state of new jersey we have some of the oldest school houses in the country over one hundred years old and you know that being from this area as well so as much as we love to maintain them there's a cost right there is the cost so and as our population in our need to educate our students were oh we need to make sure that we have the infrastructure to support those students in facilities start our global educational facilities so that's a major priority for me only is making sure that our we have clean water we have some of the highest level lead in our water higher than michigan and most folks don't know in my hometown of paterson we're one of those cities that had higher levels than michigan and higher the flights higher than flights and the conversation was quiet so it's important that we not only allocate resources for remediation but we look at the pipes for our plumbing system so that we start really working on our infrastructure to come up to speed so that we can make sure that we don't have the health care trust fund for issues such as that i think that's a great idea if we can flush it out lou i'm happy to have you on my team to help me with that because again these are conversations that become complex and we want to make sure that is digestible  acting individuals you know across the not just nationally but also you know school officials will be running to our board of education members but there's a lot at stake and maybe you can talk about why it's important to vote this november so we school board election alise and my hometown of paterson some school districts are in november some are a mayor i'm sorry some are april but we moved to november on our ballot is whether we're going to have a public school board or if the mayor's going to appoint a school board because we just came out of state control we were disenfranchised for over twenty years with the state managing our school district and we were no better off as far as  budgetary for our students to have a thorough and fishing education with the added decision so it's a very big question that voters will go to the ballot to decide on some hoping that our voters are are ready to go to the polls we need a record turnout i'm also hoping to send a message to washington that new jerseyans are alert awake and paying attention and we're looking for funding for infrastructure for our  bridges our water as i just shared with you as well as for our schools which some of those dollars come out of federal government health care access for all so we can stop having that conversation and we should have it and who should have it so this election is much more important than just numbers it's about the future and the direction that we're going to take at least for the next two years while we always like to say every election is important i've heard that all of  a pathway for citizenship to quality housing to fair tax incentives and fair wages ok everything's on the ballot and really what moves this country for this great country for people getting involved there is no substitute for people being involved in our democracy and i know a lot of women are running and then a lot of women are getting involved as you know year what you know what do you think you know that that's happening this year i mean we can all guess why you think more women are running i want to be involved in not just getting elected but you know hopefully as you just mentioned you know changing the course and obviously as a former professor of history changing the course of history so i think we when i always like to say when we do politics we are not transactional we're transformational so i think we get a lot of boys out of the room who would get a lot of things done  always give to a newbie or you know a woman who's been in elected offices just do it be bold about it don't overthink it don't believe you're too busy just do it once you're in there you make long on your plate to achieve the goals you need to achieve and we have a voice and we bring a thought process to the table that always has a heart for people and i think that's needed i would challenge you next city hall this it that you have look on the walls and let me know how many women you see on those walls because i think that also changes the tone of what our young girls see as an opportunity for them to serve in a greater capacity  or public when talking about role models and i think that's what you're really bringing up about the role models that you know young girls need to have and young boys to have you know positive role models i was just wondering who has been your r y made in me and provided us with the foundations of decency and spirituality and then if i move forward of course i love the shell obama so when you talk about race class mission driven in purpose yes but when you receive requests from individuals who are in your district or just in general you know trying to get things on the agenda and legislative agenda and prioritizing the importance how do we go about how do you go about doing that and working with others to make sure some of the issues that are critical importance to the new jerseyans you know soon see the light of day sure so for me coming from patterson we have over fifty two different ethnicit what i have found is that some of the basic concerns are quality of life decent housing great education and ability to an election right and access to the things that they need people want to be able to deliver those things no matter what your nationality is i bring a very pragmatic approach into the state house and i have done that for well over twenty years i worked in the state house as an intern an undergrad great thing about being from jersey so being able to talk to both republicans and democrats about those things when i'm pushing an agenda for humanize it to let them know how it impacts folks i pride myself on making sure that i'm relatable accountable and touchable to my constituency and i listen to everyone and there's no greater a way to learn about a subject as we can't be the experts on everything some may think they are but taking that time to listen to folks and you know as an elected official there's a lot coming at you you want a glass of water but it's come out of the fire hydrant right so really taken a breath taking that pause by having a call head and really trying to understand why someone's pushing whatever that goal so we can represent their issues and make sure that they have a fair chance ok during the past we've had a lot of previous governors and who have borrowed against the future to pay some s and i think a lot of new jerseyans have a concern about you know rising taxes and the condition of roads and you know pensions and i know they're all trying to be worked on you know in various capacities is there is there is there hope i think people want to know that there's hope that yes we're not going to have to migrate as stated new jersey that we can afford to stay and live say in the state that i was born where i was raised her and i'm working and that it's not going to financially push me out question that i'm hoping for better new jersey that i leave it in a better state than right right the way that i've been raised in and meaning that i was born here and found the love of my life here raised my kids here and received my education here and also found a job that pays me a decent livable wage that opportunity should be available for any individual who seeks it i do think that there is hope because as we look at our towns and we look at young people who are moving into our towns and looking to build their families new jersey so is that place there's no place that i travel in a country that doesn't have a by way of new jersey and you can say hey what exit did you live off of right  that's the jersey they'll be some connection so our goal is really to make sure that we're stores physical stores the tax dollars that our citizens are sending to us partnering with our  sure that we're taking care of our roads and our bridges and making sure that we invest in the infrastructure and we're doing that now i get the frustrated calls on this congestion because we're working on a bridge that's over  hundred years old and so my goal is to make sure that we continue to work on it and that we promote ourselves because there's no better sales pitch been a resident or citizen of the state saying this is a great place to l well we talk about role models and we talk about young people and i want to just question to you for young people that are watching the show right now allow them don't think that public service is the way to go and they think that you know it's questionable and maybe going to the private sector and some money get out you know but why is public service such an important calling that individuals can do both but yet also dedicate their lives in some shape or activism social media showing up their protests from young people on issues that they care about supreme court justice harry recently i happen to be m d c and i mean it was  buzzing with folks protesting and engage i'm hoping that translates to them being act about the polls into them also money to run for office because that's the other metric that we're not quite tracking at but we do know that more folks are running for office millenniums we have a new yorker coffee else we just won the primary there for congress so if putting more people in play because as much as we want to say hey i just want to go and make money in corporate sector and then maybe do that when i get older the time is now you have the energy great ideas of theirs and you can stay up all hours and keep up with the social media buzz feed to see what's happening in real time that's free so before or before we get off the air and we have time for one or two more questions maybe we can talk a little bit about your hobbies and your favorite seasons and just talk a little about you personally and what your what your fun thing to do after after a long week so after a long week i'm living through now very excited to see the end of it which won't end until november seventh by the way outer alexion november sixth you know a lot of late nights  for good reason but i really like to just take a bow i love to read a good book and it really doesn't matter what it is as long as it's not legislation watching a seasons that's why i live in new jersey they saw a politician i it's true it's true it's true that live in new jersey people say oh well i don't have the winter you know i don't really have the spring right much and i have like in california one season all year round seventy that i can see this session we did a lot with access to health care for women family planning we did that earlier in the year with governor murphy and i'm very proud of that legislation as well but really the impact pocketbook issues that are real definitely doesn't matter the age doesn't matter anyway keep keep working for that bill and if you believe that earn your way out as we believe right here is a bill that should grant wage increases those making just over two dollars so that they can live for dibley at the very least and please you know write write to your individuals in the legislature and the senate in the governor's office and let them know how you feel so until next week i'm lugosi thank you for watching open source and we will see you next week so until then have a good night stay healthy stay focused and i'll see you again