Anna Munson on the Issues

As a Salem resident, Anna will fight to lower taxes and fees while opposing any effort to raise the state gas tax.

Oregon is getting harder to afford for seniors, working families and small business owners. If that isn’t fixed, we will continue to lose businesses and jobs to other, less-expensive states.

How Anna will do it:

• Put essential services first, and show taxpayers where their money goes
• Demand that any legislation proposing new fees list—right at the top of the bill—what it will cost the average Oregon family
• The same for any new regulation: what it will cost the average impacted business
• Oppose “taxes by executive order” — no matter who is governor
• Review agency spending line by line and end waste
• Oppose new taxes and fees that raise the cost of living

The record: Tom Andersen voted for the 2025 transportation package that raised the gas tax, and Marion County voted 85% to reject it. See the votes and the sources.

As a mother and grandmother, Anna will prioritize students and academic standards to ensure every child has a fighting chance at success.

Oregon’s fourth graders now score higher in math than students in only one other state, and lower in reading than thirty-eight states. That is the federal government’s own count (NAEP 2024). Anna believes students succeed when expectations are clear and accountability is strong.

How Anna will do it:

• Restore graduation requirements, so a diploma means a student can read, write and do math
• Restore and prioritize core subjects, high standards, and accountability in our schools
• Model our system on what is working in the 40+ states all doing better than we are
• Make sure students leave ready for a career or for college
• Put student success ahead of bureaucracy

As the wife of a disabled Vietnam Veteran, Anna understands how the cost of housing strains the budgets of everyday Oregonians just like her. Anna will fight to lower the cost of housing.

How Anna will do it:

• Remove barriers to middle housing, the duplexes, townhomes and other homes between a single-family house and an apartment building
• Prioritize infrastructure that will support new housing in our community
• Find solutions that do not require more government spending, because increased government spending is the hidden cost that raises prices
• No matter who is governor, support ending the current Climate Protection Program, which imposes new fees on lumber, glass, steel, and concrete, key building materials needed for new housing
• Cut the permitting delays that hold up new homes

Data centers cannot be allowed to drive up our cost of living and destroy our environment.

Today’s economy runs on technology, but that doesn’t mean it should run on taxpayer giveaways or ruin our natural resources. And decisions should always prioritize local control.

How Anna will do it:

• Hold data centers accountable and ensure a return on our investment
• Vote to ban Flock cameras and AI surveillance
• Require data centers to sign community benefit agreements, and end blanket nondisclosure agreements

It’s time for compassionate and real solutions to crime and homelessness. Anna will join with other legislators who want to find the common-sense solutions we need to keep our communities safe.

Homelessness, drug addiction and crime affect quality of life, economic stability and public trust.

How Anna will do it:

• Audit what the state spends on homelessness and addiction, make it publicly accessible and transparent, and keep funding what works
• Hold state and local homelessness programs accountable by setting measurable results and ending programs that are not solving the problems
• Support effective responses to the fentanyl and drug crisis

Anna believes that when businesses grow, jobs grow, and communities become stronger.

Small and medium-sized businesses are the backbone of District 19, but many are struggling under rising regulatory burdens and costs.

How Anna will do it:

• Make it easier for small businesses to start, hire, and thrive
• Speed up and simplify licensing for small businesses
• A “concierge service” to help businesses thrive and navigate the labyrinth of starting a new business
• Eliminate the labyrinth
• Reduce excessive licensing requirements and remove unnecessary regulatory barriers
• Evaluate and limit rising state fees

Anna believes government should be transparent, responsive, and accountable to the people it serves.

Fraud, waste, and abuse mean the people who deserve the help aren’t getting as much as they could or need. Spending should not be done in the shadows.

How Anna will do it:

• Require agencies to publish plain-language reports on what they spend and what it buys
• Lower the threshold for government contract transparency. There is no reason we should not see every contract, who gets it, and who awarded it.
• Make legislative decisions more transparent
• Actively welcome and encourage public input and engagement
• Hold government agencies accountable for performance