Accomplishments & Priorities

Every Pennsylvanian deserves to feel safe in their community. Threats to public safety are complex, but the state has a number of responsibilities to provide safety in our neighborhoods.

• Fully funding our police, fire, and EMS agencies is of paramount responsibility to ensuring that every city, borough, and township in Allegheny County has well-funded first responders. As a state representative, Nick has advocated for additional funding for local first responders and delivered $1.8 million in grant funding for local volunteer fire companies, EMS agencies, and police departments. He voted for legislation in Harrisburg that supports our first responders by expanding PTSD healthcare, increasing funding for 911 services, increasing the state police officer cap, establishing an urban search and rescue in western Pennsylvania, and investing an additional $30 million in grants for local fire fighters and EMS. Nick is honored to have the endorsement of local first responders including the Pittsburgh Fire Fighters, McKeesport Fire Fighters, Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighter Association, the Allegheny County Constables Association, and Teamsters Local 205 representing local police officers including 22 police departments in the 45th district.

• In addition to mental health programing in schools, we need to invest in adult mental health programs. Nick supported state budget investments in adult mental health programs and believes we need to do more to invest in these types of services.

• One of the biggest challenges we face is that not enough Pennsylvanians are entering public safety careers to replace those retiring and to meet expanded demand. There are too many barriers, including inadequate pay and workplace safety, to careers like policing, EMS, nursing, fire fighters, social work, and more that make it too hard for young people interested in those lines of work to enter those fields. Nick has supported a number of bills that help tear down these barriers to make it easier for those called to protect us all to choose those careers, provide for their families, and stay safe.

• Many communities in Allegheny County face significant issues with remediating old, dilapidated, blighted buildings that are extremely costly to tear down and largely abandoned. This blight creates unsafe situations every day and prevents economic redevelopment and most communities don't have the financial resources to clear the blight to start the process of reinvestment. In Harrisburg, Nick has been a loud advocate for community revitalization programs, blight remediation, and state redevelopment funding to supplement local and private investments in making our communities safer.

• State investments in child care programs, recreation programs, and after school programs are necessary to ensure that our children have safe places to learn, play, and grow up. Nick is a proponent of expanding funding for these types of programs to make child care more affordable and expand the number of facilities available to families. He also proudly voted in favor of increasing the state's child dependent tax credit which tripled the amounts returned to families across Pennsylvania.

In the state Senate, Nick will continue to vocally support our first responders, vote to expand access for mental health programing, drive state funding back to Allegheny County for blight remediation and community revitalization, and create better programs that invest in care for our children.