Catherine Torzewski

Candidate Q&A

In your view, what was the most important issue to come out of this year’s legislative session, and how would you have approached legislating the issue?

The cuts to healthcare in Indiana have been more than unsettling this past legislative session. We need to funnel funding back into Medicaid and bring back the Affordable Healthcare subsidies that enabled hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers to keep their healthcare costs relatively low.

Companies proposing data centers in Indianapolis had touted jobs and local tax revenue as benefits. Residents, many of whom have fiercely opposed the proposals, are concerned about pollution, energy bills and property values. What is your stance on the future of data centers in Indianapolis?

While I’m not unconditionally opposed to data centers, I am opposed to data centers in communities that have made it clear they don’t want them. The writers of these types of proposals need to work hand in hand with the community for a result that is desired by all. Communities that have made it clear they do not want data centers should not have to keep fighting to keep them out, especially when those data centers will have proven negative effects on the environment and utility costs.

Indianapolis residents are facing steep increases to the cost of living at the same time federal benefits are being pulled back. What is one policy you would pursue to ease the financial burden of your constituents?

Indiana’s state legislators have allowed utility companies to operate as unchecked monopolies, passing rate hikes onto households while shielding big businesses from their fair share of costs. I will fight to restructure utility rate-setting so that industrial and corporate energy users are no longer subsidized on the backs of Hoosier families. Putting those costs back on big business is one of the fastest ways to provide real relief to working families.

More than 1 in 10 Marion County residents were born outside the country. President Donald Trump’s administration is pursuing a immigration agenda that has led to mass detentions and at times resulted in the deaths of citizens and noncitizens. What is your role in maintaining the safety and due process rights of immigrants and other residents in Marion County?

The immigration policies that have been pushed on both the national level and state level have not benefited Hoosiers. Immigrants are our neighbors and community members. Of course, violent criminals should be taken off the streets, but time and again, it’s been proven that such criminals are not who is being targeted. We need to fight back to keep our community members safe and respect the rights of all those on our soil, an equity established by the United States Constitution.

How should public tax dollars be spent on education? Do you support property tax funding for charter schools? Should Indiana fund students’ tuition to attend private schools?

I am vehemently opposed to using public tax dollars for charter schools or private schools. Public dollars need to stay in public classrooms. Everyone benefits from a well-educated public. That is exactly what tax dollars are collected for.