Republican candidates for State House District 180 Steven Sainz • Age: 29. • Resides: St. Marys. • Marital status and immediate family: Not married. • Previous elected office: No previous elected office before serving Camden as State Representative, House District 180 in 2019. • Education and military service: Georgia P.O.S.T. Certification (Law Enforcement Mandate), Bachelor in Public Administration, Valdosta State University – Kings Bay Subbase Satellite Campus night school program, Masters in Business Administration – International Business Concentration, Sheller College of Business, Georgia Tech – Night/ Weekend Executive MBA Program. • Occupation and employer: Camden Connection – Managing Principal and Executive Advisor (full-time), State Representative, Georgia House of Representatives, District 180 (Georgia has a citizen legislative model, where legislators are in session January-March and back in the district full-time April-December unless a Special Session is called) • Church and community affiliations: Member of St. Marys Our Lady Star of the Sea – 24 years; board member of Coastal Community Health; advisory board member of St. Marys Salvation Army; member of Woodbine Lions Club; Authority member of Kingsland Development Authority; former chairman of Woodbine Planning Commission; former board member of Camden County Chamber of Commerce; former court-appointed special advocate for children at Camden CASA Program; former fifth grade Sunday school teacher at OLSS. Introductory Statement I believe our government should be comprised of citizen legislators, not career politicians. As your State Representative for the past five years, I care about our shared concerns and work tirelessly as your voice in the State House. This is not a political career for me; it is a personal way of giving back to a community I have been blessed to be a part of since childhood and has given me so much. It is easy to say you’re a conservative, it’s a lot harder to fight for those principles. I am the only candidate in this race with a public record of results when it comes to the conservative principles of Georgia District 180. Together we have fought back on Biden’s border crisis through HR 1019 “Protecting Americas Borders (Sainz lead sponsor). We have also fought back on a 42-year high inflation rate with common sense tax cuts in bringing the state income tax to a historic low, doubling the child tax credits, and giving homeowners property tax rebates to combat some local governments’ lack of millage rollback. We also had a major win in bringing trust and transparency to our elections by getting QR codes eliminated on our paper ballots. As a coastal conservative, former deputy sheriff and small business executive, I know our families do best when we have the personal freedom to live as we see fit — not as the government dictates. We have faced some tough times lately as our community grapples with Joe Biden’s busted economic and security policies. Yet, I still believe America is the best place in the world, and Georgia’s 180th district is the best part of it! I am dedicated to working with you to keep it this way, and I humbly ask for your vote on May 21. What is the most pressing concern in District 180 and how do you plan to address it? We have a great community! District 180 has better schools to send our kids to, a much better natural environment for families to join, and a lower-than-average crime rate. We must ensure we are properly capitalizing on these assets for sustained growth that fits the values of our community. We must also stay proactive in maintaining a low crime rate. When it comes to public safety, I have one of the strongest work records in the House of Representatives. With the support of this community, we passed Mariam’s Law, a multi-year effort. This comprehensive law ensured that dangerous sexual predators were being incarcerated for more extended periods as they deserved and that they would never be off a GPS monitor otherwise. We must now lead in getting local law enforcement the support they need, like we did with state law enforcement pay raises. I started this ear by ensuring each Camden and Glynn school received $45,000 in safety funds that will be used for school resource deputies/ officers. When it comes to economic development on a local level, priority is always lowering the tax burden for citizens and small businesses. This is why I have a record of supporting three separate income tax cuts and why I was a lead sponsor in exempting veteran income from state taxes. This resulted in a highly skilled workforce being retained to work a second career after their much-appreciated military service. Now, Georgia is one of only six states taxing active-duty military income. We must fix this. What do you, as a state representative, plan to do to ensure economic growth in Camden County flourishes and is managed appropriately? I was proud we got $2.5 million in state funds for infrastructure requirements when turning the former St. Marys Airport into a flourishing development park. This kind of activity would not have been seen 10 years ago, and we have a great deal to thank the Camden Joint Development Authority for this, and the citizen board members for their volunteer work. This traditional economic development is what alleviates the local tax burden from citizens as the tax base of industrial and business revenue increases. An economic development structure that does not support local business growth or just doesn’t pass the smell test must not be ignored. Though there is not a great deal of official tools at my disposal to prevent this, I will stand alongside my fellow neighbors in holding our governments accountable. Camden County Board of Commissioners must stop directly handling economic development projects. The Spaceport Camden project is a prime example of this. I have no doubt the Camden JDA would have been able to rationally determine that the project was no longer viable and that citizens had lost support for this on a better timetable. Though I am glad it is clear the current commission understands this, shown through their support this year of my spaceport sunset that passed and is now the governor’s desk (HB1489), we must prevent this mistake from ever occurring again. This is why I am calling on the Camden County commission to make good on their original 2011 promise to voters and fund the JDA at the full millage they communicated would go to responsible economic development more than a decade ago. As a member of both the state Appropriations Committee (budget) and Ways and Means (tax policy), I have no doubt they can do this without any increases in county taxes. It will also result in further reducing the tax burden of local citizens because the JDA has shown it can and has brought industry to Camden. It is time we stop hamstringing them by not giving them the tools they need. What are your plans for environmental preservation and protection in Camden County? Environmental preservation in Camden County is vital for maintaining our quality of life and ensuring the sustainability of our economic growth. I have a record of supporting policy that champions and preserves our natural beauty while also defending us against outside groups that don’t care about the economic cost or preservation. We must manage natural assets for generations to come, but it can’t be on the back of local jobs and a strong tax base. When some candidates in this race were upset about my support of private property rights through co-sponsoring HB 370, I stood firm with the principle that local landowners should be trusted more than the government. HB 370 would actively grow preservation efforts in Georgia by recognizing ownership of land that local landowners are already being taxed on. The shared benefit is the ability to sell a development tool called “conservation credits,” a tool required by federal regulators on some projects, the credits go to preserving the specific land that the credits where purchased for. The bill will allow for more opportunities for this system to benefit marsh preservation in Georgia. I know this is not a simple policy stance, but I have never backed down from a good policy that benefits coastal Georgia. I have also made clear some projects just don’t meet that economic development benefit threshold. In business school I learned about the concept of “opportunity cost,” the quantified cost of what you cannot do because of the project you execute. The mining project proposed in Okefenokee does not meet the opportunity cost and the potential harm it has to our tourism base. It is why I am a co-sponsor of the Protection Act and HB 1338