Sunrise Ithaca proudly endorses Anna Kelles for Assembly District 125.
In her previous years in this role, Anna Kelles has dedicated herself to pushing for climate justice policies. She believes in promoting climate action with a focus on environmental justice, centering affordability for working class people by holding polluters accountable, and creating good jobs. This aligns closely with our vision of promoting climate and social policy to benefit community members from all socioeconomic backgrounds.
Kelles is committed to holding polluters and large energy users accountable. For example, she has sponsored legislation to create a cap-and-invest program, which would establish a declining cap on greenhouse gas emissions. She has also passed legislation establishing a two-year moratorium on cryptocurrency mining and requiring a full review of its environmental impacts. She supports clean energy and sustainable agriculture. For instance, she has passed legislation to support research on agrivoltaics (use of land for simultaneous agriculture and solar production).
Kelles supports sustainable and affordable housing and transportation. She has established a fund to help low- and moderate-income households with upgrades to enable electrification and secured funding to preserve public transportation services and improve access to hiking and biking trails. She has sponsored legislation to fight sprawl and promote walkability and transit usage, reducing dependence on cars. She has supported and continues to support renter protections and affordable housing.
Kelles is working on policies to build out electric charging station infrastructure, create a moratorium on the construction of data centers and require a full review of their environmental impacts, build a circular economy for construction materials, and establish a statewide virtual power plant program to support the transition away from fossil fuels and lower energy bills. She is committed to making polluters pay for climate damages, regulating the massive energy use of data centers, promoting sustainable agriculture, and working towards the energy and climate justice goals of the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).
Given her strong legislative priorities in support of climate justice for the citizens of Assembly District 125, we back Anna Kelles.