Thank you so much for being a part of our community! We really appreciate all the support you have given us and look forward to continuing to connect with you in the future.

Believe in Belinda

Belinda Drake 
Former Candidate for Indiana State Senate
Email: [email protected]

Facebook Twitter Instagram

Belinda believes in a better LIFE* for all of us. 

Expand each letter to see how Belinda plans to make a better LIFE* for Hoosiers.

Legalize and decriminalize marijuana, adopt a person-centered addiction recovery model for substance use disorders

We must provide the services and supports that people need to get better and stay better.

  • Legalize the possession and sale of marijuana.
  • Pardon past criminal charges.
  • Expunge convictions for possession of Marijuana.
  • Create the Indiana Marijuana Regulatory Agency to monitor the cultivation, distribution, quality, and dispensary license procedures of Indiana’s marijuana industry.
  • Tax the dispense and sale of marijuana to fund pre-kindergarten through 12 education, community health services, and infrastructure projects.
  • Leverage the controlled use of cannabis as a substitute for the use of opioids in the treatment of pain.
  • Increase state funding of Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics through state grant programs to increase access to treatment for everyone who seeks it, regardless of zip code or ability to pay. 
  • Increase the number of Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics in Indiana from 2 to 9 by 2023. 
  • Develop and fund programs to provide Veterans with culturally competent and evidence-based care in community health programs in ALL 92 counties, separate from the VA. 
  • Work with Federal legislators to eliminate the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy so  40% of those in prisons and jails living with mental health issues gain access to needed care separate from the for-profit prison medical industry. 
  • Fund a 92 County jail diversion program, re-entry program, and Crisis Intervention Teams.
  • Eliminate recidivism by decoupling criminal justice solutions from situations where mental and behavioral health solutions are needed including substance abuse, untreated mental illness, and domestic disturbance.

Improve Common-sense gun regulation

We must protect our youth and communities with enforceable life-saving firearm violence prevention policies.

  • Expand background checks, close the gun show loophole, & strengthen red flag laws to prevent people who are a danger to themselves or others from easy access to firearms. 
  • Require firearm safety training and pass a certification test prior to the acquisition of a firearm.
  • Expand child access prevention laws to promote the safe use of legal firearms.
  • Leverage evidence-based research to inform common sense solutions that save lives.
  • Curtail the sale of high-capacity add-on equipment like bump stocks and trigger systems

Fair and inclusive state policies

We must strengthen our democracy and ensure our government works for ALL Hoosiers

  • Pass an inclusive Indiana hate crimes bill that includes age, sex, gender identity, marital status, veterans status, and housing status as protected classes from crimes motivated by hate.
  • Define consent in Indiana law as there currently is not a definition. Consent will be defined in three main ways including: affirmative consent, freely given consent, and capacity to consent.
  • Extend the statute of limitations on reporting sexual abuse to life. 
  • Eliminate the backlog of rape kit testing by: requiring the Superintendent of Indiana State Police to adopt reporting guidelines for all providers of sexual assault examination services and also to provide an annual report to the State of Indiana interim committee on courts and criminal code.
  • Eliminate the backlog of rape kit testing by: requiring all sexual assault kits, regardless of anonymity, be analyzed and entered in the Combined DNA Index System within 30 days of an LEA receiving a sexual assault kit.
  • Provide access to reliable, long-acting contraceptives to provide full reproductive freedom and increase economic opportunity.
  • Increase access to birth control, abortion, paid family leave, or child care to afford Hoosiers greater economic security and mobility to ensure economic success in our communities and secure bodily and reproductive autonomy.
  • Approve comprehensive sex education curriculum standards.
  • Protect Hoosier’s right to seek abortion while using proven methods to reduce the need for abortion.
  • Make reproductive justice a constitutional right, not a privilege. 
  • Ensure that an individual’s right to protect their body through access to essential reproductive healthcare will be decided between a patient and their physician.
  • Provide same-day voter registration
  • Expand early voting locations based on a per capita minimum
  • Pay Poll Clerks, Assistants, and Sheriffs a minimum of $15/hr, pay Poll Judges and Inspectors a minimum of $18/hr. Wages shall be paid for time that includes training pay, time driving from the polling location to deliver all election supplies for both the Inspector and opposite party Judge, and time delivering all election supplies to the County Election Board after closing a polling location for the Inspector and opposite party Judge.
  • Pay Poll Workers Overtime pay of time and half for working more than 8 hours during a 24 hour day cycle.
  • Enact legislation that provides statewide standardized voting equipment guidelines so all 92 counties will provide equitable voting experiences. 
  • Enact legislation that ensures each and every county leverages digital voting software and platforms that are secure from cyberattacks.
  • Reform Indiana’s discriminatory gerrymandering practice through redistricting reforms that leverage a non-partisan commission of citizens without political or governmental relationships to build fair districts by and for the people.
  • Introduce legislation for 100% Vote By Mail, leveraging best practices for voter rights, that would be sent to the people for a referendum vote in 2023
  • Enact county and local government reform legislation that requires the pursuit of competitive bidding on similar products and services, to reduce wasteful spending while using a consistent and transparent Request For Proposal contract process, especially when procuring technology.
  • Provide funding and enabling legislation to provide internet accessibility so every Hoosier has access to the internet.

Equitable education and economic stability for all

We must rapidly revive economic growth by reinforcing our education system for learners of all ages.

  • Expand access to “On My Way Pre-K” by allowing low-income parents who are seeking full-time employment to qualify and by doubling the program funding during the 2021 budget cycle. (NOTE: only 3,500 students participated in the 2019-2020 school year as listed on the State of Indiana website and according to the National Center for Children in Poverty there were 125,000+ low-income children income eligible for the program – http://www.nccp.org/profiles/IN_profile_8.html scroll down to “child’s age”).
  • Increase access to higher education by fully-funding students taking night classes, providing full tuition and book grants for low-income adult students, and providing free childcare services to students who are parents of young children.
  • Enact a “standards are standards” policy for all schools in the state of Indiana, regardless of school designation. 
  • Fund school mental and behavioral health programs that train faculty and staff on early signs of mental health conditions and also link students with services and supports. 
  • Ensure that every Indiana school provides school based mental health services from trained community health professionals and connect families to resources in the community for wrap-around services.
  • Provide funding to school based mental health services and community mental health services to provide cross-collaborative programs so kids and young adults do not fall through the cracks. 
  • Decouple the public funding of religious doctrine that currently exists in the Indiana Choice Scholarship Voucher program.
  • Remove non-educational barriers to adult post-secondary education, including technical programs and apprenticeships.
  • Increase access to economically sustainable jobs for all Hoosiers by investing in Workforce Development programs across the state.
  • Fund community health centers, including mental and reproductive health centers, in areas where there is a drive of 20 minutes or more to the nearest place of care.
  • Close the gender and racial pay gap by strengthening the equal pay law.
  • Repeal Right To Work.
  • Re-institute Indiana’s prevailing wage law for contractors and subcontractors.
  • Provide priority incentives and training programs for the business and jobs of today and the future, especially in the high tech and environmental fields.
  • Improve collective bargaining.
  • Paid medical and family leave.
  • Paid Sick Leave.
  • Employer-provided accommodations during pregnancy and nursing.
  • Raise the minimum wage to $18 per hour over a 3 year period, to be adjusted based on cost of inflation every year thereafter. 
  • Drive dollars to the classrooms.
  • Increase teacher pay.
  • Fully fund early childhood education.
  • Expand Indiana Whistleblower law to include the State of Indiana and its subsidiaries, county, city, town, township, precinct, and all forms of state and local government.
  • Expand and fund the Regional Workforce Development program to grow and attract high-paying technology and manufacturing jobs.
  • Adopt sustainable economic development practices for businesses that receive government incentives, including clawbacks from businesses that leave the state. 
  • Streamline the state economic development process, reduce waste and duplication.
  • Provide full funding to IndyGo public transportation as originally promised in 2014, without penalty, as a fundamental and necessary service to people whose livelihoods and health outcomes depend on it.
  • Increase funds to regional Councils on Aging to help Hoosier Seniors have safe and free access to and from doctor’s appointments, the pharmacy, and the grocery store. 
  • Increase public reporting standards in assisted living centers, especially on infectious disease outbreaks like COVID-19, that impact the health and wellbeing of all residents including timely, comprehensive, reporting on the State of Indiana website.
  • Fund legal and information services for tenants rights through a $250,000 annual grant program.
  • Fund legal services for tenants through a $250,000 annual grant program to not-for-profit Legal Aid Services.
  • Prohibit discrimination against tenants for expunged or sealed past convictions.
  • Protect tenants from landlord retaliation.
  • Require landlords to provide all prospective tenants with a copy of tenant’s rights and written in the tenant’s preferred language.
  • Stop long-term Public Private Partnership leases with terms longer than three years.
  • Create and fund a state-managed public Request for Proposal website that all layers of Government must use to list open proposals for over $15,000/ three month contracts to create democratization effect and fiscal accountability.

Environmental & climate justice to build a livable planet

We must grow a planet that is livable to achieve social justice and thrive.

  • Expand and appropriately fund environmental health and justice programs to provide safe and clean water.
  • Strengthen and enforce sustainable solutions for industrial toxic waste from coal ash plants.
  • Establish a carbon emissions tax to achieve global carbon targets.
  • Establish the Indiana Water Regulatory Agency to create and enforce water quality, water table and aquifer, farm drainage standards. 
  • Develop a tiered fine structure beginning in July 2021 and enact annual fine increase adjustments that are tied to Gross Domestic Product for businesses dumping toxic materials.
  • Require all businesses regulated by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to make publicly accessible their annual environmental compliance report.
  • Increase regulations on the minimum distance between toxic waste dumps and schools, hospitals, community health centers, community centers, parks, senior centers, and drinking water sources.
  • Prioritize environmental businesses as an economic solution to a livable planet in the future through economic development programs.
  • Increase water quality standards in Indiana to align with World Health Organization guidelines on safe human consumption of water.