Ruth Ann Gaines

Home
About
Issues
News
Accomplishments
Contact

My Issues

Rep Gaines is in her 8th term as a state representative .She has listened and learned what her constituents want and need so she is advocating for those issues

.Gaines taught at East High school for 40 years and during that time while she resided in the district, she learned that there is an achievement gap existing both between minority and majority kids and between kids who are economically disadvantaged and those who are not. There needs to be specific state funding for teacher training to create and adapt strategies to help students improve and continually bridge this gap.

REP.Gaines is very concerned about mental illness among young people and has been approached by students to get them more counselors who can help Rep.Gaines would like to secure funding to hire a mental health specialist in every school. Every child needs a trained adult to go to when they need to talk and this need is too burdensome for classroom teachers who are already swamped.

The recent government shut down made everyone aware of how many citizens depend on government food assistance. Many of these individuals work full time jobs but still can't make ends meet. The minimum wage needs to be raised to $18. an hour to raise the ability of families to put food on their tables and subsequently raise the self esteem of a great portion of our workforce.

I am the single mother of an adult son with a multitude of disabilities. I have raised and single handedly taken care of him since he was 3 weeks old and now he is 41.Like so many others, I cannot afford not to work and depend on in home services to help me with my son. It is so difficult to find in home hourly help because the hourly wage is clearly not enough. If the wages for CDAC and community based employees were higher, people like me could be much more secure in being able to work and provide a good lifestyle for their families knowing that sound helpers were working in their homes while being adequately paid.

The Crown Act has been passed in 27 states in the Country. The legislation prevents discrimination against individuals who display cultural hairstyles in schools and the workplace. Since Iowa is a predominately white state where many cultural artifacts, including hairstyles like weaves, dreads, corn rolls, braids, and all natural hairstyles are misunderstood and not appreciated, we need this bill passed in Iowa to insure fairness

to all in schools and everywhere else. As of today, the Crown Act is not a federal law...

REP.Gaines advocates for equality for all. Bills that have been passed in the Iowa Legislature that discriminate against

LGBTQia individuals and DEI policies and practices need to be reversed.

FINALLY, clean water needs to be protected here in Iowa. There needs to be more education about the benefits of clean water and the initiatives that have been created to protect all Iowans about the dangers of contaminated water.