Policy platform

What I Fight For

Senator Rhonda Fields has spent her career supporting Colorado families and under-represented Citizens.

“Changing the odds for every child, individual, family, and entrepreneur who has been ignored or forgotten, whose stories aren't being told.” ~ RHONDA FIELDS

Throughout her career, Rhonda has been a fearless champion for the voiceless and vulnerable. She has taken bold and direct action on behalf of all people and worked tirelessly to protect our air, water, land, and local communities across Colorado. She served six years as a State Representative and is currently serving on several key Senate Committees in the Colorado Senate including the Education Committee, Legislative Audit Committee, and Chair of the Health & Human Services Committee. During her time in both the House and the Senate, Rhonda has taken on out-of-state special interests and won. She has become known as a leader in the right to reduce truancy, reform Colorado’s criminal justice system, and is known for her courage to tackle difficult and often controversial issues. A strong advocate for women, children, families, and victims of crime, Rhonda is a voice for the most vulnerable in our community.

Healthcare

Rhonda wants to fulfill the promise of Medicaid, CHIP and the ACA by ensuring every eligible child, adult, and family has access to affordable health coverage that guarantees all necessary services. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it even more clear affordable healthcare should be easy to get and keep regardless of income, zip code, place of birth, or immigration status. Rhonda is committed to supporting comprehensive and affordable health and mental health care coverage. Seniors should not have to struggle to pay for their prescriptions. Rhonda supports measures to decrease the cost of insurance, including allowing the Insurance Commissioner to regulate health insurance pricing. She will continue to promote measures to protect benefits available to Coloradans through Colorado Health Connect and support programs that defend women's choices, civil rights, and access to care and treatment.

The Economy

Rhonda believes we need to fight for working families, increase paychecks, decrease the cost of living, and combat both sexism and racism in the workplace. She will pursue an ambitious agenda to build an economy where everyone gets a fair shot and chance to get ahead. Growing up in a hardworking middle-class family, she watched first-hand as good jobs disappeared from the community. As a result, she understands the importance of ensuring economic security and opportunity for all families. Rhonda will continue to work to expand Colorado’s small businesses, promote job creation and growth, and advance workers’ rights by supporting parental leave programs, fair wages, and just workplace treatment for all workers. 

Rhonda believes that folks should not have to fend for themselves during the economic hardship brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Rhonda co-sponsored legislation that supports small businesses in their time of need, helps furloughed workers get back on their feet, and keeps families housed and fed. Rhonda will continue fighting to make sure that Colorado builds back stronger – balancing economic health with public safety.

Education

Rhonda has been a key advocate for quality public education, regardless of a student’s background, zip code, economic status, or how they learn. She has worked to eliminate discriminatory education policies and practices, as well as the inequitable distribution of resources that undermines equal educational opportunities for students. Rhonda is committed to expanding early childhood education as well as workforce programs to prepare young people for success in their chosen fields. The importance of investing in classroom instruction, teachers, and a fair allocation of resources for quality public education cannot be understated.

Our Environment

Rhonda recognizes we are facing a climate crisis. From families devastated by flooding to firefighters battling wildfires in Colorado, one thing is clear: we must stand up for those affected by the damage inflicted by global warming. This is why Rhonda supports the accelerated expansion of electric vehicles, solar panels, and wind turbines in Colorado. She will fight for environmental protections and common-sense standards for oil and gas drilling. Beyond these standards, she also supports further initiatives, such as improving energy efficiency – to save families money, make our businesses more competitive, create jobs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Rhonda believes that by prioritizing clean energy we can stimulate Colorado’s economy while ensuring that our state remains a wonderful place to live for generations to come.

Justice & Equality

As State Senator, Rhonda has aggressively defended human rights, civil rights, women's rights and consumer’s rights. She successfully passed legislation to crack down on predatory lending, discriminatory rental agreements, and cyber bullying. She refuses to ignore the bigotry, discrimination and hate often faced by individuals on account of their race, sex, religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation. She continues to be an outspoken advocate for comprehensive health coverage and laws that respect the reproductive decisions of all women. Rhonda has fought for numerous pieces of legislation to assist the undocumented in our state and will never back down when it comes ending wage theft and discrimination against workers. She remains focused on addressing inequality and promoting equal opportunity for all.

The unjust killing of Elijah McClain in Aurora along with similar incidents involving Black men and women across the country demonstrates the pressing need to address systemic racism in America. Rhonda is at the forefront in creating needed change to increase police accountability in Colorado, having been the prime sponsor of legislation that implements new accountability structures for police. Although Colorado has been a leader on these issues, Rhonda understands we have much more work to do!

Gun Safety

All children in Colorado have the right to live, learn, and grow up safely—free from violence and fear. Rhonda has been on the forefront of major gun reform legislation to institute universal background checks and limit high capacity magazines. She will fight to protect children, their communities, and classrooms from the threat of gun violence. For the sake of our children’s future, we must keep guns out of the hands of those who would use them to commit acts of violence. Rhonda supports common sense gun laws including those that restrict gun access to people convicted of domestic abuse or other violent crimes.

Veteran & Military Affairs

Rhonda grew up in a military family. Her father served and defended this country for 30 years while her mother served as a ‘military wife’. Rhonda is committed to improving economic opportunities for veterans, including those seeking to start small businesses. She will harness government resources to address veteran homelessness and to support veterans seeking to improve their employment credentials. After her father died due to complications associated with Agent Orange, Rhonda recognized that — far too often — veterans lack access to the health care services they need and deserve. Since then she has vowed to fight for veterans’ access to health care, education, and good-paying jobs.