Our Strategic Priorities for District 78
We don't deal in empty talking points. Every proposal below is anchored in concrete accountability, cost reduction for working households, and direct investments in our local communities.
Accessible Physical & Mental Healthcare
Every family in District 78 deserves care they can actually afford and reach, not a system that makes you choose between a doctor's visit and your grocery bill.
- Protect and expand access to affordable healthcare for working families.
- Fight against cuts that leave rural and working-class Hoosiers with fewer options.
- Support families caring for loved ones with disabilities or complex medical needs. I've lived that fight myself.
Utility Accountability & Energy Independence
Our families shouldn't be at the mercy of an out-of-state company raising rates faster than paychecks can keep up.
- Fight for real rate caps and accountability for utility companies like CenterPoint.
- Support outage compensation and community solar options that put power back in your hands.
- Oppose handing Hoosier ratepayers the bill for corporate decisions we never agreed to.
Affordable Housing for Working Families
Everyone deserves a home they can afford in a community they helped build.
- Support policies that keep housing costs in reach for working families.
- Push for accountability from landlords and developers, not just profits.
- Invest in neighborhoods so families can stay close to the people they love.
Fully Funded Public Schools
I've spent 15 years in the classroom, and I'm not done fighting for public schools. They're the foundation everything else is built on.
- Fully fund public schools instead of draining them to pay for vouchers.
- Support smaller class sizes and the resources teachers need to do their jobs.
- Make sure every kid, including kids who learn differently, gets what they need to succeed.
Protecting Essential Safety Nets
No family should be treated like they don't count because they're struggling or asking for help.
- Protect the safety net programs families rely on to get through hard stretches.
- Cut the red tape that makes it harder for people to get help they've earned.
- Support services for families raising kids with disabilities or complex needs.
Investing in Southwest Indiana’s Workforce
Southwest Indiana has the workforce! We just need a state that invests in it.
- Continue to support training and apprenticeship pathways that lead to real, local jobs.
- Partner with local employers, unions, and schools to build career pipelines that keep talent here.
- Invest in the trades, healthcare, and skilled work our community depends on.
Standing With Workers & Organized Labor
I'm proud to stand with the workers who built this district and keep it running.
- Defend workers' right to organize and bargain for fair pay and safe conditions.
- Stand with union families: coal, trades, teachers, and all.
- Oppose efforts to weaken collective bargaining or worker protections.
Fair Wages & Lowering the Cost of Living
Families are working harder than ever and still falling behind. That's not a personal failure; that's a policy failure.
- Fight for wages that let a family actually make it to the end of the month.
- Push back on costs that rise faster than paychecks, from utilities to groceries.
- Support policies that reward work instead of squeezing it.
A Renters Bill of Rights
Renters deserve the same stability and respect as anyone else trying to build a life here.
- Support clear protections against unfair rent hikes and surprise fees.
- Push for accountability when landlords fail to maintain safe, livable homes.
- Make sure renters have a real voice when decisions about housing are made.
Shared Economic Prosperity
Southwest Indiana has everything it needs to thrive: strong families, dedicated workers, resilient communities. We just need a state that invests in all of us, not just the well-connected.
- Fight for an economy that works for working families, not just corporations and insiders.
- Support small businesses and local employers who reinvest in our community.
- Make sure prosperity reaches every neighborhood in District 78, not just a few.
A Future for Southwest Indiana Youth
I want my own kids, and yours, to be able to build a life here, not leave to find one.
- Invest in schools, jobs, and opportunities that give young people a reason to stay.
- Support mental health resources and safe spaces for kids and teens.
- Build a Southwest Indiana where the next generation can put down roots, not just pass through.
Indiana Families Are Paying More and Getting Less Protection
+28.9% Cumulative Jump Since 2014
Over the past decade, Indiana has shifted from having some of the most competitive residential utility rates in the Midwest to outpacing inflation and neighboring peers.
Competitive & Protected Ratepayers
- ✓ Residential electric bills ranked reliably below the national average.
- ✓ Utility monopolies bore their own financial risk for unbuilt capital projects before charging households.
- ✓ IURC regulatory oversight prioritized ratepayer protection over automatic corporate rate adjustments.
Outpacing Inflation & Midwest Peers
- ⚠️ +28.9% cumulative jump in residential utility rates across Indiana since 2014.
- ⚠️ Laws like SB 271 (CWIP) force ratepayers to fund experimental corporate projects and unbuilt reactors.
- ⚠️ While Midwest neighbors held annual increases to 4%–6%, Indiana households suffered spikes up to 25%–26.7%.
Protecting Evansville & District 78 Households
CenterPoint residential electric customers in our area absorbed a staggering +$44/month (25%) surge in a single year. Sally Busby's legislative defense plan takes direct aim at monopoly rate hikes:
End captive ratepayer subsidies for experimental utility capital projects.
Prevent single-year residential utility bill surges that outpace local wage growth.
Legalize neighborhood solar and wind micro-grids so communities control affordable power.
Household Utility Impact Calculator
Under SB 271 and centralized monopoly protections, Hoosier ratepayers are forced to foot the bill for experimental utility ventures and rate hikes. See how much your household saves under Sally Busby's Ratepayer Defense & Micro-Grid Plan:
“I know what it looks like when late at night, after the kids are finally asleep, a mother sits alone at the kitchen table with a stack of bills and has to do the brutal, heart-wrenching math. When you are forced to choose between paying a rigged, monopolized CenterPoint power bill that jumped twenty-five percent in a single year, or providing winter coats, groceries, and medical care for your children, that is not an accident of the free market. It is legalized extortion. It is a damning indictment of politicians who took corporate PAC checks to guarantee utility monopoly profits while stripping working families of their financial security. When you squeeze a mother at her own kitchen table, you awaken a ferocity that no utility lobbyist can match.”
Your Household Financial Impact
What is Your Top Priority for District 78?
Our campaign is driven directly by the working families of Vanderburgh and Warrick counties. Click an issue below to log the policy priority that matters most to your household right now:
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Ready to Fight For These Priorities?
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