Re-Elect Senator Anna M. Kaplan State Senator from Nassau County, Long Island New York

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2022 Endorsed

Meet Anna

Anna Kaplan is a former child refugee who has devoted her life to public service as her way of giving back to the country that has given her so much. Now serving her second term as a New York State Senator, Anna is fighting hard for Long Island and delivering results for our community. With your support this November, we can keep Anna Kaplan fighting for us in the Senate.

Anna Kaplan was born Anna Monahemi in Tabriz, Iran, and when revolution swept the country, her parents made the difficult decision to send her to America for her safety when she was just 13 years old. She arrived in Brooklyn as part of an international effort to save Iran’s Jewish children and was sent to live with a foster family in Chicago, where she learned to speak English and completed high school. Eventually, the family was reunited in Queens, where Anna went on to graduate from Yeshiva University before becoming the first woman in her family to graduate from law school at the Cardozo School of Law.

Anna and her husband Darren moved to Nassau County to start their family and raise their daughters, and Anna felt a strong desire to give back to the country that had opened its arms to her as a child in need. After volunteering in the community for several years, she ran for office and served first as a member of the Great Neck Library Board, then a member of the North Hempstead Town Council. In 2018, she made history when she was elected to the State Senate as the first former refugee to be elected to the New York State Legislature and the first Persian American. Since taking office, Anna has delivered on her promises to protect women’s reproductive rights, pass common-sense gun safety laws, deliver record funding and resources for our schools and law enforcement, decrease state income taxes, cap property taxes, and support small businesses. Anna stands up for Long Island families and will always fight for us!

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Issues

FIGHTING FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS & WOMEN

Senator Kaplan has relentlessly fought for women's rights and access to reproductive healthcare, co-sponsoring the Reproductive Health Act and laws that make contraceptive care accessible to all women. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe and removed the Constitutional right to abortion, Senator Kaplan wrote a new law protecting medical professionals who provide legal abortions to out-of-state patients, making New York a safe haven for women from in need of care. Senator Kaplan has also expanded programs and services to support breastfeeding, increased access to mammograms, and criminalized so-called "revenge porn."

KEEPING OUR COMMUNITY SAFE from gun violence

Senator Kaplan is a champion of common-sense gun safety legislation, authoring several pieces of landmark legislation closing dangerous loopholes and getting dangerous, untraceable ghost guns out of our community. After the Supreme Court's dangerous ruling overturning New York's concealed carry law and the tragedies in Buffalo and Uvalde, Senator Kaplan co-sponsored new laws raising the age to buy semiautomatic rifles and creating a strong, new permitting process to restrict who may carry a concealed weapon, and where they may do so. And because this issue demands a multi-prong solution to keep our community safe, Senator Kaplan delivered $224 million for gun violence prevention programs including for local law enforcement.

PRIORITIZING public safety

Senator Kaplan stands with law enforcement and always fights to fully fund public safety. Keeping our community safe is a top priority for Senator Kaplan, and she has delivered record funding for law enforcement and public safety improvement programs. Senator Kaplan delivered common sense fixes to bail reform, closing the repeat offender loophole and giving judges more discretion to keep our community safe. In addition, Senator Kaplan introduced legislation to give $500 million in grants to law enforcement, District Attorneys, and Sheriffs to invest in new equipment and technology, and she introduced legislation creating Crime Victim Recovery Centers to support crime victims and stop the cycle of violence.

CUTTING TAXES AND KEEPING LI AFFORDABLE

Senator Kaplan proudly fought to pass a permanent cap on property tax hikes that has saved Long Island taxpayers millions of dollars and this year, she delivered a $2.2 billion homeowner tax rebate, saving eligible Nassau homeowners an average of $1,387 on their property taxes. She's fought tirelessly to cut state income taxes for middle class families to their lowest level in 70 years and to help address rising gas prices, she suspended the gas tax until the end of 2022 giving our families relief at the pump.

DELIVERING FOR OUR SCHOOLS

Senator Kaplan has been a tireless advocate for Long Island schools, bringing back record-breaking funding from Albany to make sure our schools can provide our kids with the best educational opportunity possible, while keeping the local property tax burden lower. In 2022, Senator Kaplan secured over $386 million for area public schools, plus $12.5 million to create nearly 1,000 new pre-k slots in our community, and as a result, many districts in our area were able to hold the line on tax hikes, and some even cut taxes for local residents.

CREATING JOBS & GROWING THE ECONOMY

As chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Economic Development, and Small Business, Senator Kaplan has passed new laws that support and strengthen our small businesses so they can continue to create good paying jobs right here in our community. During the pandemic, Senator Kaplan delivered billions of dollars in grants, tax cuts and relief for small businesses struggling to keep their doors open. She has also supported responsible economic development projects on Long Island that will create thousands of jobs and help reduce the local tax burden for residents.

STANDING UP TO HATE & EXTREMISM

Senator Kaplan has been an outspoken voice fighting back against the rising tide of hatred and antisemitism, authoring numerous bills that combat the crisis through education, and speaking out against hatred and extremism whenever it rears its ugly head in our community. To address antisemitism and Holocaust misinformation, Senator Kaplan passed the Holocaust Education Bill that will ensure all students in New York are educated on the history of the Holocaust.

To combat the cancer of anti-AAPI hate, Senator Kaplan hosted a Stop Asian Hate rally, and co-sponsored legislation to teach K-12 students about the history and contributions of Asian Americans.

To keep our public spaces free from hate, Senator Kaplan wrote a new law banning the display of hate symbols on public property, and passed legislation creating a statewide campaign promoting acceptance, inclusion and diversity.

STANDING UP for israel

As the only former religious refugee in the New York State Senate, Senator Kaplan understands the importance of a safe and secure homeland for the Jewish People, and has always been a strong, outspoken supporter of the State of Israel. She's spoken out forcefully, and repeatedly, against the antisemitic BDS movement, and sponsored legislation to prohibit New York State from contracting with corporations that boycott Israel. Each year, Senator Kaplan sponsors a resolution celebrating Israel's Independence Day to celebrate and renew the bonds of friendship and cooperation between the State of Israel and the State of New York.

STANDING UP for LGBTQ+ New Yorkers

At a time when extremists around the country and in our own community are scapegoating LGBTQ+ people and making them targets for violence and harassment, Senator Kaplan has been a strong advocate for equality, and a true ally to LGBTQ+ New Yorkers. When extremist groups came into our community to attack LGBTQ+ families, Senator Kaplan fought back and called these groups out for their disgraceful attacks on our neighbors. When the Supreme Court laid out a path to overturn marriage equality, Senator Kaplan co-sponsored the Equal Rights Amendment to begin the process of amending the State Constitution to enshrine marriage equality protections for all New Yorkers.

PROTECTING OUR ENVIRONMENT

Senator Kaplan has tirelessly fought to protect our environment, helping pass the strongest environmental protections in the history of New York State, banning offshore drilling on Long Island, and bringing hundreds of millions of dollars to our district for drinking water treatment upgrades that will address emerging contaminants like 1,4-dioxane. To help accelerate the transition to the green economy of the future, Senator Kaplan passed the Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Bond Act to invest $4.2 billion in green jobs and infrastructure.

STANDING UP FOR OUR KIDS

For years, Albany politicians stood in the way of holding child abusers accountable, but Senator Kaplan fought hard and helped pass the Child Victims Act, which allows survivors of childhood sexual abuse more time to seek justice from their abusers and those who knowingly allowed their abusers to continue to prey on children.

combating opioid addiction

Senator Kaplan has brought back millions of dollars to fund programs and services that help Long Islanders who are struggling with addiction. She has also helped pass laws that make treatment programs more accessible to those in need, and has worked closely with local law enforcement to hold prescription drug take-back events and Narcan® (naloxone) trainings.