T’wina on the Issues
Many families and individuals are struggling in our district. Rising costs, health and safety concerns, and elected officials who can seem indifferent to the pain so many of us are experiencing are continuing to push opportunities further and further out of reach. T’wina Nobles is running for State Senate because she believes in this community and wants every member of our district to reach their greatest potential.
Education
Twina is deeply passionate about education and ensuring all students in Washington State have the opportunity to succeed. In the State Senate, T’wina serves as the Committee on Higher Education and Workforce Development Chair and Vice Chair of the Committee on K-12 Education. She is also a University Place Board Director and has served for many years on the Narrows View Intermediate PTSA, Evergreen Primary PTSA, and the Curtis Senior High PTSA.
T’wina is a proven leader in education, having sponsored legislation to expand access to financial aid and cosponsoring a bill to prohibit book bans, stopping schools from banning books solely because they were written by or about members of marginalized groups. In the Senate, T’wina brings her decades of experience in education to advocate for our teachers and students.
A top priority for T’wina is ensuring that teachers and schools have the necessary funding and resources to equip our kids for the future, paving the way for greater pathways to college and career. Over the past four years, T’wina has also prioritized advocating for increasing paraeducator compensation, mental health support for students, free school meals to ensure that no student goes hungry, and expanded financial aid options to create more opportunities for students to access higher education, including students whose parents are stationed on military bases in Washington.
T’wina will continue to advocate for quality education, ensuring that every student has the opportunity to achieve their dreams.
Transportation
From better roads to accessible public transit and safe biking routes, T’wina is committed to delivering the transportation solutions our region needs to deal with the congestion and traffic we experience daily. As a member of the Senate Transportation Committee and an active member of the link light-rail extension stakeholder group in Pierce County, T’wina has prioritized expanding our transportation infrastructure while ensuring that the new projects protect families’ budgets and our Pierce County environment.
To continue improving our multi-modal transportation infrastructure, T’wina sponsored legislation to improve connectivity between our roads and people walking, biking, and rolling. In the budget, she championed requests for ADA improvements, increased charging stations for electric vehicles, zero-emission grid expansion, and bridge replacements, ensuring our communities are safe as they drive along our local roads.
T’wina will continue to find transportation solutions that benefit everyone and is committed to finally freeing our region of gridlock.
Affordability & Housing
T’wina is dedicated to finding real solutions to the crisis of exploding housing costs that have made it difficult for families to thrive, let alone pay their rent or mortgage, across our district and state. To combat the housing affordability crisis and ensure more families are secure in their homes, T’wina has prioritized legislation that endeavors to bring housing costs down. These include passing a bill to create more affordable homeownership opportunities and supporting legislation aimed at creating more affordable housing options by converting vacant commercial spaces into affordable housing.
To help families keep up with rising costs, T’wina advocated for legislation to provide utility bill assistance to an estimated 750,000 households across Washington State. She also supported a bill aimed at increasing the working families’ tax credit to better reflect the economic burden of property taxes incorporated into the rent paid by individuals and families.
T’wina will continue to champion policies that bring down everyday costs, leaving more of our families’ income in their hands.
Environmental Justice
Climate change, pollution, and environmental damage put our families’ health and safety at risk–risks that T’wina has worked tirelessly to address in the legislature. In response to unprecedented increases in wildfires with devastating impacts on our ability to work and play outside, T’wina has prioritized mitigating the risk of wildfires. She has also steered numerous pieces of legislation working to increase the health of our important shorelines on Puget Sound.
It is a priority for T’wina is help Washington State be a leader in carbon reductions while ensuring that everyday families aren’t overburdened by the cost of transitioning to green energy. T’wina is proud to have supported the Climate Commitment Act which ensures equitable climate action, a nation-leading model on emissions reduction, and accountability for large emitters in Washington State. She was also a champion for legislation to support the transition to a green economy and workforce, the Climate-Ready Communities Act, which would create green jobs and support further green job creation in the future. It is a priority for T’wina to invest in policies that both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ensure that our communities, businesses, and jobs can transition along with our energy usage.
We also know that environmental threats hit communities of color and low-income communities the hardest, everyone deserves clean air & water, and access to our vibrant outdoor recreation areas. T’wina has worked to address this disparity through her work on an Environmental Justice task force and in sponsoring legislation to expand access to the outdoors.
T’wina will continue to champion policies that combat climate change, ensuring that Washington State is livable for our communities and our children’s communities.
Safe, Healthy Communities
T’wina believes that to have safe, healthy communities, we must get at the foundations of public safety including increasing access to mental health care, protecting communities from gun violence, and improving law enforcement training such as those focused on de-escalation tactics.
In the legislature, T’wina is working hard to protect communities from gun violence and keep our children safe in their schools by limiting the sale of high-capacity magazines in our state and expanding access to mental health resources for students. She also supported legislation to ensure that people who have not passed a background check can’t access untraceable “ghost guns” that are often used in violent crime.
T’wina has also championed legislation to strengthen protections for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, ensure victims of non-fatal strangulation can access the Crime Victims Compensation Program, and invest over $20 million to support crime victim services including legal assistance, mental health services, and housing support.
Public safety also includes ensuring that businesses and community members feel safe to go about their day. In response to community concern over catalytic converter theft, T’wina has supported legislation requiring businesses to obtain proof that a catalytic converter rightfully belongs to the seller before completing the transaction. She also supported legislation to protect consumers from fraudulent businesses and scams by making improvements to the Consumer Protection Improvement Act.