Welcome to this page which is a collaboration between yourself as a community member, thinker, and problem solver and myself as a person seeking office in our Capital.
Please know that you are invited, encouraged, and cajoled, to put in the comments your ideas for laws to propose to help New York State.
Immediately below is some of my reasoning and hopes for this project. Though, please feel free to skip to the comments and give your ideas about laws to help New York State better organize, fund, or legislate positive outcomes for yourself and your neighbors in Suffolk County. At the very bottom are more of the parameters of this project, and an explanation of comment moderation.
Kimberly Wilder writes:
Being a member of a legislature is a wonderful way to serve the community, propose laws which could help fix systems, and deliberate with experts, community activists, and thoughtful elected leaders. I look forward to the chance to deliberate in Albany for ways to make your life easier, more affordable, safer, and more just.
I just know, I am positive, that there are ways to make your life more affordable without overburdening the New York State budget. Yes, I want to spend money on needed infrastructure, healthcare, social services, and education. Though, in addition, I believe that there are old, outdated, or unfair laws that unnecessarily limit our abundance. (And, also, needed laws which can create more comfort, safety, and abundance.)
One of the goals of my campaign is to propose solutions that combine legislating with social innovation. So, instead of just the polarizing method our government often has of being faced with votes to support: right v. left, liberal v. conservative, Democrat v. Republican, we could try to find solutions to some of the problems that have, for years or decades, defied solutions from both sides.
One approach to healing polarization that many have grasped at is to say “Let’s be moderate.” Though, moderate often turns out to be a wonderful liberal solution to injustice, that just becomes watered down, or worse, is sapped of its logic and compassion.
I am an independent candidate and an independent thinker. I believe we need some independent elected officials in the mix to trust in new ways to solve problems, and who will not allow political polarization and partisan politics to limit our collective thinking.
I have always been a systems thinker. I want to find the glitches in the system. I want to propose solutions that solve problems like an engineer, in this case, a social and political engineer.
I would be so grateful if you would join me now during the campaign — when you and I have a platform to speak to our legislator and/or future legislator — in placing some new ideas on the blackboard of the public space, to be discussed and deliberated on as possible solutions for making Suffolk County and New York State more affordable, safe, and overall enjoyable for ourselves, our families, our children, and our neighbors.
Here are some of the ideas I have put forward to help make New York State better for “The People”:
Data Minimization
Corporations, municipalities, and nonprofits would be required to only ask or retain the data they need to serve you or to sell you there specific product(s). California and Maryland currently have data minimization laws. New York should have a similar law to keep up with technology that can compromise citizen privacy and data.
Child Data Protection Laws
The first stage of this kind of law would be very specific, in order to protect a child’s birthdate, which is a key data point which can be used or exploited by financial institutions. The first stage of this law would, in a fairly simple way, exclude most corporations or retail stores from asking for a child’s birthday. Children’s birthdays would only be allowed to be requested and retained by health care entities, healthcare service providers, and educational institutions.
Another layer of this law that could happen in the initial stages, or after a simple law is passed, is to create a social innovation such as this: Instead of offering up children’s birthdays all the time to see what group they can be in at a camp or if they are old enough to skate, or worse, offering up children’s birthdays for no good reason as a requirement to enter an entertainment venue, the state would create a totally new way — a social innovation — to assign to each child. The state would start counting years with four sections — four seasons. So, your child’s age given to a retailer would reflect that they were born in “The summer of 2024”, instead of the precise date.
More data minimization laws especially for children. (And, please, propose your ideas about these laws for children’s data in the comments.)
Professional “Caregiver” Career Laws
I am someone in the “sandwich generation”. One of my family members is in their eighties in a long term care facility (nursing home). And, my child is at school. In addition, I have served as a Teacher and Teaching Assistant in classes for children with special needs. I see that in New York, we are in desperate need of caring people who can serve as: CNA’s, Nurses, Direct Support Professionals for adults with special needs, Homecare Workers, and so many other roles in the fields of healthcare, eldercare, and education.
Unfortunately, these roles have trouble finding qualified people to fill them, especially since Covid changed healthcare and changed workers’ minds about how to interact with their employment. Also, even people who want to stay in their field and love the caring work they do, often get burnout.
I propose that New York State create laws — and also certification pathways and special training classes — that would allow people to more easily move between these roles as healthcare workers and/or Direct Support Professionals and/or caregivers.
So, if you were a CNA (who, in addition to nurse-like healthcare tasks, are often charged with moving, carrying, or diapering patients), and you got burnt out, you might be able to take a very short training to find a role you would enjoy more as a Direct Support Professional.
I think of this situation because in my career, I have often enjoyed moving back and forth between working in a world of service to adults and working in a world of service to children.
Part B of “Professional Caregiver” Laws
(This part of a caregiving solution was proposed by a community leader and some parent experts at a recent parent circle.)
Laws that would help Direct Support Professionals, Healthcare Aids and Professionals, and other caregiving workers to have more pathways or entitlements towards climbing the career ladder in their fields.
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Now it is your turn!
“There should be a law” you say?
Please jot down some ideas about a law you would propose. We will post answers that our team thinks would start a positive conversation. And, if Kimberly Wilder wins her race and becomes a New York State Assemblymember, she may be able to help your idea become a law!
Please note that this project is designed for public deliberation (And not speed or merely self expression.) Comments will be moderated. The candidate and/or her team will check comments for how constructive they are and to make sure comments are fair and useful for public display. No comments will go up automatically. Please understand it may take 2 to 3 days for comments to appear, even if they are in line with our parameters. In addition, we will do our best to allow ideas that are not in perfect alignment with our views or progressive views. Though, we will not waste time posting comments that propose harm to our neighbors or communities.