SPD: program for the 2022 Lower Saxony state election

The SPD wants economic and industrial policy to focus more on innovation. Companies, especially mid-sized firms and skilled trades, are to work more closely with universities, and there are to be more start-up centers.

The SPD wants to support new ideas in business. Companies should work more closely with universities. Universities should get more centers for new companies. People who start a company should get help. The topic should already come up in school.

The SPD wants to turn the state-owned NBank from a development bank into an investment bank and create an innovation fund. The state is to invest alongside companies in infrastructure, research and transformation.

The SPD wants to change NBank. NBank is the state's development bank. In the future it should put money into important future fields itself. For this it should get more money. There should also be a fund for new ideas.

The SPD wants jobs lost in combustion-engine production to be replaced by new jobs making electric motors, battery cells and other components. More sites for battery cell production are to become possible.

Many people in Lower Saxony work in the car industry. In the future, cars will run on electricity. The SPD wants new jobs to come from this change. More battery factories should be built. Workers should get further training.

The SPD wants to expand Lower Saxony's seaports and keep them reachable for large ships. Priority goes to deepening the lower Weser up to Brake and the outer Ems.

The SPD wants to expand the ports on the coast. Large ships should be able to reach the ports. For this, the rivers Weser and Ems should become deeper in certain places. New berths for ships should be built in the ports.

The SPD wants to support city and town centers with funding programs because retail is retreating in many places and leaving vacancies. In the program's view, centers should become greener and livelier and offer more than shops.

Shops are closing in many city centers. The SPD wants to help cities with money. Poor cities should have to pay less themselves. City centers should become greener. There should be more leisure and culture there.

The SPD wants to expand the state's startup initiative and add a growth fund. Founder stipends are to run longer, and more women are to start companies.

The SPD wants more support for young companies. There will be a new fund for this. Stipends for founders should last ten months. More women should start companies.

The SPD wants to promote the skilled trades and support dual vocational training. Vocational and academic education are to be treated as truly equal.

The SPD wants to strengthen the skilled trades. There should be more skilled workers. The SPD wants to advertise for trade jobs. Job training should count just as much as a university degree.

The SPD wants to develop a master plan for good work in Lower Saxony together with unions and employers. Temporary agency work is to be regulated more tightly and the abuse of contracts for work and services is to be tackled, because the program sees insecure and low-paid work as widespread.

The SPD wants better jobs in Lower Saxony. It wants to make a big plan for this. Unions and employers should help. There should be stricter rules for temp work. Everyone should be able to live well on their pay.

The SPD wants to expand employees' say in their companies and backs union initiatives for reform. It argues that companies with strong employee participation are more successful and cope better with change.

Workers should have more say in their company. The SPD wants to update the rules for this. It supports the unions on this. The SPD believes companies with a strong worker voice do better.

The SPD wants to strengthen collective bargaining coverage and spend public money only on good work. All public contracts are to be tied to representative collective agreements, as is business development funding.

More people should be paid under collective agreements. That is a contract on pay and working hours. The state should only give contracts to firms that follow such agreements. Funding should also go only to firms with good jobs.

The SPD wants to improve occupational safety through more inspections, especially in the food industry and agriculture, and to add staff at the trade inspectorates. Safety rules are also to apply fully when people work from home.

The SPD wants more checks on safety at work. The offices that do this should get more staff. Safety rules should also apply when people work at home. People should have time off in the evening there too.

The SPD wants to tackle the shortage of skilled workers with regional alliances, new service centers for companies and more immigration into the labor market. At the same time, more people within the country are to be brought into work, such as women, older people and the long-term unemployed.

Lower Saxony lacks skilled workers. The SPD wants to help companies find staff. There will be new contact points for this. Skilled workers from abroad should also come. More women and older people should be able to work.

The SPD wants to create a public employment sector with fair conditions for the long-term unemployed. A statewide funding program for nonprofit organizations and municipalities is to be set up for this.

Some people have been out of work for a very long time. The SPD wants to create publicly paid jobs for them. The conditions should be fair. The state should give money to towns and nonprofit groups for this.

The SPD wants employees to have a stronger say in digitalization at their workplace and will push for this at the federal level. Platform work is to get fair rules, and the digital gap between women and men at work is to be closed.

The SPD wants workers to have more say. This is about digital technology at work. Work through online platforms should get fair rules. Women should get more support with digital technology at work.

The SPD backs a guarantee of a vocational training place for every young person in the state. Where companies train fewer people than needed, it supports levy funds. The platform calls dual training the backbone of Lower Saxony's economy.

The SPD wants every young person to get a training place. Some industries train too few people. There, companies should pay into a shared fund. Young people should also get more help choosing a job.

The SPD wants to press in the Bundesrat for the prompt introduction of a Kindergrundsicherung (basic child allowance) that incorporates benefits under SGB II (basic income support). The aim is to curb child poverty and improve all children's participation in society.

Many children in Lower Saxony are poor. The SPD wants a basic child allowance. This is money from the state for children. The SPD wants to push for it in the Bundesrat. Children from poor families should also get help with their training.

The SPD wants to secure the work of guardianship associations and give more support to volunteer legal guardians. It points out that an aging society needs more guardianships.

Some people can no longer manage their own affairs. A guardian then helps them. The SPD wants to secure the associations that do this work. Volunteer guardians should get more help.

The SPD plans a program called "Zukunft Gesundheits-, Sozial- und Pflegeberufe" (future of health, social and care professions) to counter the shortage of skilled workers. It is to bring more training, tuition-free schooling in all social professions, more part-time jobs and better conditions in the voluntary social year.

Social jobs lack skilled workers. So the SPD wants to start a new program. Training for social jobs should no longer cost school fees. There should be more part-time jobs. The voluntary social year should also get better.

The SPD wants to stabilize the services of welfare associations and fund them on a permanent basis. A long-term infrastructure fund is to be created for the digitalization of the social sector, and digital counseling is to be expanded.

Welfare groups help many people, for example with debt or addiction. The SPD wants to pay for this help for the long term. A new fund will give money for digital technology. A fund is a pot of money for one purpose. Counseling should also be offered online.

The SPD wants to curb the low-wage sector and limit temporary agency work, fixed-term contracts and mini-jobs. Broader collective bargaining coverage, support for low-skilled workers and a social, inclusive labor market are meant to secure wages that protect against poverty.

Many people earn very little. The SPD wants to change that. There should be less temp work and fewer mini-jobs. More employers should pay union-agreed wages. People without a degree should get support.

The SPD wants to strengthen municipalities in providing basic care for people living on the street. Projects based on the Housing First principle, under which homeless people first receive a home of their own, are to be expanded and funded.

The SPD wants to give better help to people without a home. Local governments should get support for this. Homeless people should have food, clothing and washrooms. The SPD also supports Housing First. That means a person gets a home of their own first.

The SPD wants a Niedersachsenfonds (NFonds) to enable investments worth billions, financed by loans taken out through investment companies outside the debt brake. It considers the debt brake hostile to investment and wants to turn the NBank into an investment bank.

The SPD wants to invest a lot of money in Lower Saxony. There will be a new fund for this. Separate companies would take out loans. That way the strict debt rules do not apply to these loans. The money would go to housing and hospitals, for example.

The SPD wants counties, cities and towns to stand on solid financial ground. Strengthening municipal finances is to remain a priority in the state budget.

Cities and villages do many important jobs. They need enough money for that. The SPD wants the state to keep giving them a lot of money. This should stay an important part of the state budget.

The SPD wants to close tax loopholes and calls for taxation of digital corporations, a minimum tax rate and a financial transaction tax. In Lower Saxony, the tax administration is to get more staff and modern IT to enforce taxes evenly.

The SPD wants everyone to pay their taxes. Big companies should no longer be able to use tricks. Internet corporations should pay fair taxes. Tax offices should get more staff and better computers.

The SPD wants to rebuild a state-owned housing company that may not be sold. It is to expand the stock of affordable housing step by step because, in the party's view, the market is failing.

The SPD wants to set up a housing company owned by the state. It should build affordable homes. The company may not be sold. The goal is 40,000 state-owned homes.

The SPD wants to expand social housing construction, which in its view is progressing too slowly. Subsidies, social housing quotas in new development areas and a new nonprofit housing status are meant to help.

The SPD wants many more social housing units. These are homes with low rent. There should be 100,000 more. The state will provide funding for this.

The SPD wants to fully apply the federal Mietpreisbremse (rent brake) and the federal building land mobilization act in the state, to protect tenants better and gain more building land. A planning drive is also to create housing for students and trainees.

The SPD wants to protect renters better. The rent brake should apply strictly in the state. It limits how high new rents can be. More housing should be created for students and trainees.

The SPD wants neighborhoods to be more mixed socially and by age, and will support new forms of housing for this. Neighborhood work is to get permanent funding, and collective ownership models are to be subsidized.

The SPD wants rich and poor, young and old, to live side by side. It will support new ways of living for this. Neighborhood work should get steady funding. People with little money should also be able to own a home.

The SPD wants to turn family centers into counseling hubs that link schools, daycare, youth work, and early childhood support. New centers are to be set up where none exist. More families should also be able to take part in family retreats and vacation programs.

Family centers should give families better advice. They should connect schools, daycare and youth work. Places without a family center should get one. Families with little money should find it easier to go on vacation.

The SPD wants to improve children's participation rights and attention to the child's best interests under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child at all levels. It supports writing children's rights into the Grundgesetz (Germany's constitution).

Children have their own rights. The SPD wants to make these rights stronger. Children should have more of a say. Children's rights should also be written into the constitution.

The SPD wants to improve child protection through a dedicated state law, ombuds offices across the state, and uniform standards for youth welfare services. The plan responds to serious cases of violence against children. Campaigns for non-violent parenting are also planned.

Children should be better protected from violence. The SPD wants a special law for this. There should be help offices everywhere in the state. Protection should be equally good in every town. There should be more counseling against violence.

The SPD wants to invest in education. It plans funding for a third staff member in daycare groups, a right to all-day schooling, free digital learning materials and higher pay for teachers.

The SPD wants to spend more money on education. Daycare groups should get a third staff member. All school children should have a right to all-day school. Digital learning materials should be free. All teachers should get better pay.

The SPD favors a right to vocational training and wants to expand youth employment agencies so that all school leavers are reached. School-based training is to become free of charge, and more young people are to take up dual training, including in the skilled trades.

Every young person should be able to get job training. Special advice offices should help everyone after school. Training at schools should cost nothing. Schools should tell students more about training in companies. Skilled trades should get more money for training.

The SPD favors a right to continuing education and wants a training strategy for Lower Saxony that responds to economic transformation. Vocational schools are to become continuing education centers as well, and university places in computer science and robotics are to be expanded.

The world of work is changing a lot. So people should be able to keep learning in their jobs. The SPD wants a right to this. Vocational schools should also offer courses for working people. There should be more university places for computer science.

The SPD wants to offer every child a nursery and daycare spot close to home and expand capacity according to need. Quality is to improve mainly through a third staff member in each group. The platform treats daycare centers as educational institutions that create equal starting chances.

The SPD wants more spots in nurseries and daycare. Every child should get a spot close to home. Each group should have a third staff member. Daycare centers should also stay open longer.

The SPD wants to recruit more daycare staff through a "Niedersachsenplan 2.0" and increase the number of training places. Daycare work is to be opened to other professions and career changers, and staff are to be recruited from abroad.

Daycare centers lack trained staff. The SPD wants to train more people. People from other jobs should also be able to work in daycare. More men should work there. Staff should also come from other countries.

The SPD wants to improve conditions for inclusion at all types of schools and bring more special-education and social-work staff into schools. According to the platform, the goal is more participation and fairer educational opportunities for all children.

The SPD wants all children to be able to learn together. This is called inclusion. More specialists should come to schools for this. Children who need support should get more help.

The SPD wants to develop elementary schools into all-day schools according to parents' needs, meeting the legal entitlement that takes effect in 2026. At the same time, reading, writing and math in elementary school are to be strengthened.

The SPD wants more all-day elementary schools. No child has to attend one. But every child should get a spot if the parents want it. Children should also learn to read, write and do math better.

The SPD wants to give every student a personal tablet and aims for free digital learning materials. It justifies this with equal opportunity: not every family can afford a device.

The SPD wants to give every student a tablet. In grades 1 and 2, children use devices owned by the school. From grade 3, every child gets their own device. This should give all children the same chances.

The SPD wants to expand democracy and peace education at all schools and give students more say. Student councils are to be possible as early as elementary school, and every school is to get its own democracy budget.

The SPD wants children to have more say at school. Even elementary school students should be able to elect representatives. Every school should get money for democracy projects. The students decide how to use this money.

The SPD wants to give all school types equal status and make it easier to found Gesamtschulen (comprehensive schools). In its view, the comprehensive school is an equal part of the regular public school system and supports all children best.

The SPD wants to treat all types of schools equally. It should be easier to start new comprehensive schools. In a comprehensive school, children with different goals learn together. The SPD thinks this school is especially good for all children.

The SPD wants to launch a pact for vocational education and an investment package for digital equipment at vocational schools. It regards vocational and academic education as equal in value and wants to prepare schools for a digitized working world.

The SPD wants to strengthen vocational schools. They should get money for modern digital technology. This includes 3D printers and robots, for example. For the SPD, job training is worth just as much as a college degree.

The SPD wants to pay all teachers at grade A13 or E13 regardless of school type and raise salaries step by step to get there. It argues that all teachers are equally important for students' success.

Teachers at different types of schools earn different amounts. The SPD wants to change that. All teachers should get the same pay grade. It is called A13 or E13. Pay should rise step by step.

The SPD wants to fundamentally reform teacher training, ease teachers' workload through a new working-time regulation and simplify career changes into teaching. This is meant to make the state a more attractive employer and secure enough staff.

The SPD wants to redesign how teachers are trained. College programs should include more hands-on practice. Teachers should have a lighter workload. People from other jobs should be able to become teachers more easily.

The SPD wants to bring additional educational specialists into schools. Special-needs teaching and school social work are to be available at every school. Teachers are also expected to take part in regular training.

The SPD wants more specialists in schools. These include social workers and special-needs teachers. Teachers should take one training course every year. Other school staff should get better working conditions.

The SPD wants to make Lower Saxony a state for science and research. Universities are to keep planning security and get more professorships and modernized buildings. Research and business are to be linked more closely at the regional level.

The SPD wants to strengthen the state's universities. There should be more professors. The buildings should be modernized. Universities should be able to plan with certainty. Research and companies should work together more closely.

The SPD wants to improve working conditions in academia. Fixed-term contracts without objective justification are to drop significantly, student employees are to get a collective agreement, and mandatory internships are to be paid at the minimum wage.

Many people at universities only have temporary contracts. The SPD wants far fewer of these. Students who work at a university should get a collective wage agreement. Required internships should be paid the minimum wage.

The SPD wants to abolish the fees charged to long-term students. It argues that many students have to work on the side and therefore take longer to finish their degrees.

People who study for a very long time must pay fees in Lower Saxony. The SPD wants to end these fees. Many students have to work on the side. So they need more time to finish.

The SPD wants to raise the number of clusters of excellence in Lower Saxony beyond the current six and expand further research areas. It argues that each cluster can give rise to a new industry of the future in the state.

The SPD wants more top research in Lower Saxony. It wants more clusters of excellence. These are large research groups at universities. The SPD hopes new industries will grow from them.

The SPD wants to renovate all of the state's universities and invest in buildings, staff and digital equipment. This is to be financed through a university development company. In addition, an innovation fund is to support flexible and digital forms of study.

The SPD wants to renovate all universities in the state. It wants to spend money on buildings, staff and digital technology. A new company is to pay for this. A fund is to support new ways of studying, such as distance learning.

The SPD wants to make access to higher education fairer, because by its account children of academics are far more likely to study. Universities of applied sciences are to receive the unrestricted right to award doctorates, and students from non-EU countries are to get a tolerated residence status for the duration of their studies.

The SPD wants more people to be able to study. Children from families without degrees should have good chances too. Universities of applied sciences should be allowed to award doctorates. Students from far-away countries should be allowed to stay while they study.

The SPD wants to secure adult and continuing education permanently and recognize it as the fourth pillar of the education system. The adult education law is to be adapted to digital formats, and the state agency for civic education is to be strengthened.

People learn all their lives. The SPD wants secure funding for adult education. The law on it should fit digital courses. The state agency for civic education should grow.

The SPD wants an investment program to modernize and digitalize hospitals. A rural doctor quota and regional health centers are meant to improve care outside the cities.

The SPD wants to put a lot of money into hospitals. They should become more modern and more digital. There should be more doctors in rural areas. A rural doctor quota should help with that. New health centers should also open in the regions.

The SPD wants better working conditions in nursing and more staff in elder care and hospital nursing. Home care and family caregivers are also to receive support.

The SPD wants to make care work better. There should be more care workers. This applies to elder care and to nursing in hospitals. People who care for relatives at home should also get help.

The SPD wants to abolish school fees in the remaining training programs for social and health professions, such as special-needs care. This is meant to address the shortage of skilled workers in social professions and nursing care.

Social professions lack many skilled workers. For some training programs, young people have to pay school fees. The SPD wants to end these fees. More trainees at schools should also get paid during their training.

The SPD sees health as part of public services, not as a commodity. It wants to end the growing focus on economic interests and return facilities to municipal ownership where possible.

The SPD says health is not a product for sale. Hospitals should not mainly be about making money. Cities and counties should run more hospitals themselves again. The state and federal government should help.

The SPD wants to carry out the hospital reform started with the new state hospital act. Basic care close to home is to remain available everywhere, while highly specialized services are to be concentrated at suitable hospitals. Investment funds are to rise significantly.

The SPD wants to reorganize hospitals in Lower Saxony. There should be a hospital nearby everywhere. Only certain hospitals should do difficult treatments. The state should give more money to hospitals.

The SPD wants to secure medical care in rural areas with regional health and care centers. Doctors are to be distributed more evenly, and outpatient and inpatient care are to be linked more closely.

Rural areas often lack doctors. The SPD wants to set up new health centers there. They offer help around the clock. Doctors should be spread better across the state. Practices and hospitals should work together more closely.

The SPD wants to add more money from the state budget to the special fund for the university hospitals in Hannover and Göttingen in the coming years. The platform puts the investment needs of both hospitals at more than 2.1 billion euros.

The university hospitals in Hannover and Göttingen need renewal. This costs more than 2.1 billion euros. The state has a special pot of money for it. The SPD wants to put more money into this pot.

The SPD wants to reduce the shortage of therapy places and shorten waiting times, especially in rural areas. The state psychiatry act is to be renewed and child and adolescent psychiatry strengthened.

Many people wait a long time for psychotherapy. The SPD wants this to go faster. There should be more places, also in rural areas. Children and young people should get better help.

The SPD wants to create joint dispatch centers that handle both the emergency number 112 and the 116 117 line of the on-call medical service. The aim is to direct patients more effectively and make emergency care easier to understand for people seeking help.

The SPD wants shared dispatch centers for emergencies. Calls to 112 and to 116 117 will arrive there. The centers are open day and night. People should get the right help faster.

The SPD wants to structurally strengthen the public health offices in Lower Saxony. The additional staff funded through the federal-state pact is to be kept beyond 2026 with federal and state money. The platform says the COVID-19 pandemic showed how necessary this is.

The SPD wants to make public health offices stronger. They should get more staff and keep them. There should be money for this after 2026 too. The offices should also get modern technology.

The SPD wants to give civil servants in Lower Saxony access to statutory health insurance in the longer term. To that end, it plans to examine the so-called Hamburg model, under which the employer pays a flat-rate allowance.

Civil servants mostly have private health insurance. The SPD wants to open public health insurance to them. It will look at the Hamburg model for this. In that model, the state pays a fixed share of the cost.

The SPD wants safe, high-quality maternity care close to home across the state. It plans a state action plan of its own and wants to link birth centers and midwives more closely.

The SPD wants good care around birth everywhere in Lower Saxony. The care should be close to home. The state will make its own plan for this. Midwives and birth centers should work together more closely.

The SPD wants to strengthen addiction counseling centers and expand online counseling for people with addictions. The organization Aidshilfe Niedersachsen is to keep receiving support and secure funding.

The SPD wants to strengthen counseling centers for people with addictions. There should be more counseling online. The AIDS support group should keep getting money from the state. Young people should know a lot about AIDS.

The SPD wants to promote digital solutions in health care, including the electronic patient record, e-prescriptions and telemedicine. This is meant to relieve staff and give rural regions access to specialized care. Health data is to be usable for research under strict protection rules.

The SPD wants more digital technology in health care. This includes the electronic patient record and e-prescriptions. Doctors should also be able to treat patients by video. This helps people in rural areas. Patient data should be well protected.

The SPD wants to improve care for seriously ill and dying people and strengthen their self-determination. Hospice and palliative care structures are to keep receiving state funding, and grief support is to be promoted.

The SPD wants to give better help to dying and very sick people. These people should be able to decide about their own lives. Hospices should keep getting money from the state. The SPD also wants to support help for grieving people.

The SPD calls for a nationwide collective wage agreement for care work that the federal labor minister can declare generally binding. Insurers and municipalities are to fully refinance the agreed wages. The platform justifies this with appreciation and more attractive working conditions.

The SPD wants one wage agreement for all care workers in Germany. A wage agreement sets pay. It should apply to all employers. Insurers and local governments should pay for the wages. Care workers aged 40 and older should get regular health retreats.

The SPD wants to create more short-term care and home care services so that people needing care are well looked after in a facility, at home or within the family. Municipal care support centers are to be strengthened to improve counseling.

The SPD wants to create more care services. This includes care at home. It also includes care for a short time in a facility. Young people who need care should get services too. Advice about care should get better.

The SPD wants to work with the federal government to ease regular immigration, especially for workers and skilled professionals, and to grant asylum to those in need of protection. People with no prospect of asylum are to get help with voluntary departure; deportations required by law are to be as humane as possible.

The SPD wants people to be able to immigrate legally more easily. This applies above all to skilled workers. People who need protection should get asylum. People who cannot stay get help to leave voluntarily. Serious criminals should be deported first.

The SPD wants to offer integration courses to all newcomers from the start and give children and young people quick access to education. Migration counseling is to be funded permanently and adequately because the party sees it as indispensable locally for integration and participation.

All newcomers should be able to take integration courses right away. Children and young people should get into school quickly. Counseling for immigrants should get enough money permanently. The SPD sees this counseling as very important.

The SPD wants to firmly establish queer realities in education and raise awareness among students, parents and teachers. The platform's reason is that sexual orientation and gender diversity are often grounds for bullying and discrimination in schools.

The SPD wants queer topics to be part of school. Queer means, for example, gay, lesbian or trans people. Children, parents and teachers should learn more about this. This should lead to less bullying.

The SPD wants parliaments to be made up equally of women and men and will work on a constitutionally sound parity model for Lower Saxony. An SPD-led state government is to have equal numbers of women and men.

There are far fewer women than men in the state parliament. The SPD wants to change that. It wants to develop rules for this. The rules must fit the constitution. An SPD government should have as many women as men.

The SPD wants to expand childcare for children under twelve and make it more flexible. Remote work is to be designed in a gender-equitable way so that women are not overburdened by paid work and family duties.

Parents should be able to combine work and family more easily. There should be more care for children under twelve. Working from home should not put extra strain on women. Further education should also be easier for parents.

The SPD wants to expand the support network for women affected by violence and give women's shelters reliable funding by law. It backs a nationwide legal right to a place in a shelter. Counseling for perpetrators is also to grow.

Women should be better protected from violence at home. Women's shelters should get secure funding. Every woman should have a right to a shelter place. Offenders should get counseling too. Police and courts should learn more about the issue.

The SPD wants to develop Lower Saxony's Equal Opportunities Act further, with binding equality plans and sanctions. Half of the leadership positions in the state administration are to be held by women.

Women should have equal chances in state agencies. Every agency should get a fixed plan for this. The head of the agency is responsible. Half of the bosses should be women. Women should also have a say in planning cities and transit.

The SPD wants to remove the word “Rasse” (race) from the constitution of Lower Saxony. In addition, the public and the police are to be made more aware of everyday racism and antisemitism.

The constitution of Lower Saxony contains the word “race.” The SPD wants to delete this word. People should get better at noticing everyday racism. This also applies to the police.

The SPD wants to pursue hate crime more consistently, especially against queer people. To this end, such offenses are to be fully recorded in statistics, weigh more heavily in sentencing, and be better recognized by the police.

Some people are attacked because they are queer. Queer means, for example, lesbian, gay or trans. The SPD wants to pursue these crimes more strictly. The police should spot and count them better.

The SPD wants to increase the share of women in local politics. To this end, shared mandates and parental leave for officeholders are to be anchored in law.

Few women sit on local councils. The SPD wants to change that. Two people should be able to share one seat. Parental leave should also be possible on the council.

The SPD wants to achieve accessibility in all areas and strengthen the participation of people with disabilities, including in the regular labor market. A state competence center is to advise public agencies and businesses, and more accessibility is to be demanded of private companies.

People with disabilities should be able to take part everywhere. So the SPD wants to remove barriers. A new state center will advise agencies and companies on this. Private companies should also do more for accessibility. People with disabilities should find regular jobs more easily.

The SPD wants to add sexual and gender identity to the anti-discrimination clause of the state constitution. A state action plan against homophobia, transphobia and hostility toward queer people is to be launched, and queer centers and associations are to receive support.

The SPD wants to protect queer people better. Queer people include lesbians, gay men and trans people. The state constitution should name their protection clearly. A state plan should help against hate and violence. Queer centers should get support.

The SPD wants to quickly build facilities for importing liquefied natural gas to get away from Russian gas. They are later to handle climate-neutral gas. The party rejects fracking.

The SPD wants to build plants for liquid gas quickly. Then Lower Saxony will no longer need gas from Russia. Later, climate-friendly gas should arrive there. The SPD does not want fracking. Fracking is a way to get gas out of deep rock.

The SPD wants to speed up the expansion of solar and wind power sharply so that Lower Saxony covers its energy demand entirely from renewables, on balance, by 2040. To do so, it plans to make land available, speed up permits and expand the grids.

The SPD wants much more power from sun and wind. By 2040, all energy in Lower Saxony should come from these sources. There should be more land for the plants. Permits should come faster.

The SPD wants municipalities and residents to benefit financially from the expansion of renewable energy. According to the program, this creates local acceptance and local economic value.

Towns and local people should earn money from wind and solar plants. The SPD says this makes more people support them. Power shared between neighbors should also get cheaper.

The SPD regards the exit from nuclear power as irreversible. It wants to accompany the search for a final repository transparently, have the nuclear waste retrieved from the Asse mine and dismantle the Gorleben mine.

The SPD wants no more nuclear power. The search for a nuclear waste site should be open. The nuclear waste in the Asse mine should be taken out again. The Gorleben mine should be taken down.

The SPD wants to make Lower Saxony a pioneer in green hydrogen and switch the steel industry to climate-neutral production. Infrastructure, research and key projects are to receive state support.

Lower Saxony should make and use a lot of green hydrogen. Hydrogen is a gas that stores energy. Steel plants should use it to work in a climate-friendly way. The state should help with money.

The SPD wants Lower Saxony to be climate neutral by 2040 if possible and sets fixed interim targets. Bogs and forests are to be restored so that they bind more greenhouse gases.

Lower Saxony should be climate neutral by 2040. That means the state no longer harms the climate. The SPD names goals for the years before. Bogs and forests should take up more harmful gases.

The SPD wants the state administration to lead by example and be fully climate neutral by 2040. This includes solar panels on state buildings, an emission-free vehicle fleet and climate criteria in purchasing and funding.

The state's offices should set an example on climate. By 2040 they should work in a climate-neutral way. All state buildings should get solar panels. The state's cars should give off no more exhaust.

The SPD wants to create a climate fund that finances climate measures permanently and over several years. For towns and cities, climate protection is to become a mandatory task.

The SPD wants to start a climate fund. This is a pot of money for climate action over many years. Towns and cities will then have to take care of climate protection. The districts should get advice offices for this.

The SPD wants to support homeowners financially with renovation, energy efficiency and heat pumps so that energy and heating stay affordable. All new buildings are to be required to have solar panels.

People who own a house should get money for climate-friendly heating. For example for a heat pump or better insulation. Every new building must have solar panels. Heating should stay affordable.

The SPD wants to promote the circular economy in order to conserve raw materials and reduce waste. Products and building materials are to become easier to recycle.

The SPD wants less waste. Materials should be reused more often. Products should be made so they are easy to recycle. There should be the same rules for this across Germany.

The SPD wants to protect bogs as natural CO2 stores and found a conservation foundation that buys and rewets bog land. New sealing of soil is to end by 2050.

Bogs store a lot of CO2. The SPD wants to make dry bogs wet again. A new foundation should buy bog land for this. Also, less ground should be built over.

The SPD wants to secure the water supply for the long term under climate change and expand protection against floods and storm surges. It plans a master plan for managing water volumes and stronger dikes.

Climate change brings more drought and more floods. The SPD wants a plan for the water in the state. The dikes should get better. Rivers should get more room.

The SPD wants to reforest woodlands damaged by drought and pests in a way that suits the changing climate. In the state forests, ecology is to take priority over economic goals.

Many forests are sick from drought and pests. The SPD wants to plant new trees that fit the climate. In the state's forests, nature should matter more than profit.

The SPD wants to improve animal welfare and animal health in all forms of husbandry. It backs the proposals of the Borchert Commission, an expert panel on restructuring livestock farming, and wants to push at the federal level for their funding.

Farm animals should have better lives. Experts have made proposals for this. The SPD wants to carry out these proposals. Animals in circuses and on transports should also be better protected.

The SPD wants to keep conflicts between pasture farming, people and wolves low as the wolf population grows. The states are to be able to manage wolf numbers differently by region, in line with EU law.

More and more wolves live in Lower Saxony. This causes conflict, for example over sheep on pastures. The SPD wants the states to be allowed to manage wolf numbers by region. Wolves should be counted more exactly.

The SPD wants to secure the quality of groundwater and surface water by implementing the EU Water Framework Directive. Pollution is to be prevented at the source where possible, and wastewater treatment is to be upgraded.

The SPD wants clean water in rivers, lakes and the ground. It wants to follow the EU rules for water. Harmful substances should not get into the water at all. Sewage plants should become more modern.

The SPD wants to put the agreement between farmers, conservation groups and politics for more species protection, known as the Niedersächsischer Weg (Lower Saxony Way), into practice across the state and fund it for the long term. The dialogue format is to be extended to more topics.

In Lower Saxony, farmers, conservation groups and politics made a deal for more species protection. It is called the Niedersächsischer Weg. The SPD wants to keep it going and pay for it long term. New topics should be added.

The SPD wants more fairness and transparency in the food chain so that producers and workers earn an adequate income. In the program's view, food retailers have had too much control over prices so far.

The SPD thinks supermarkets have too much power over prices. Farmers should get more money for their products. Shoppers should see where food comes from. Harvest workers and slaughterhouse workers should be treated fairly.

The SPD wants to raise the share of organic farming to 15 percent by 2030 and promote regional direct marketing. This is meant to create local economic value and strengthen rural areas.

There should be more organic farms. By 2030 they should make up 15 percent of farming. Farmers should find it easier to sell their goods directly in the region. There should be a bonus for cattle kept on pasture.

The SPD wants to advance digital technology in agriculture because it saves resources and benefits the environment and climate. At the same time it wants to prevent a few providers from controlling the data and small farms from being overwhelmed.

The SPD wants to support digital technology on farms. This saves water and fertilizer. Farmers should be allowed to use their own data. Small farms should get advice.

The SPD wants charging options for electric cars everywhere in the state by 2030 at the latest. To get there, it plans an expansion pact with municipalities, public utilities and the energy industry.

The SPD wants charging stations for electric cars everywhere. This should happen by 2030 at the latest. The state should work with towns, cities and energy companies. People in apartment buildings should also be able to charge their cars easily.

The SPD wants to expand bus and rail service, especially in rural areas, so people can get around without their own car. Municipalities are to be allowed to levy charges to fund fare-free transit, and students and trainees are to get a statewide ticket for one euro a day.

The SPD wants more buses and trains, above all in rural areas. People should get everywhere without a car. Students and trainees should get a ticket for one euro a day. It is valid across the state. Cities and counties should be allowed to collect money for transit without tickets.

The SPD wants to raise cycling's share of traffic from about 15 to at least 25 percent by 2030 and put more money into bike paths. Municipalities are to get more say, for example over lower speeds in built-up areas.

The SPD wants more people to ride bikes. There should be more and better bike paths. People on foot should also be safer. Towns and cities should more often set lower speeds themselves. Nobody should die in traffic.

The SPD wants to bring disused rail lines and stations back into service and launch a new program for this. Existing lines are to be upgraded and electrified because, in the party's view, rail travel helps the climate.

The SPD wants to strengthen the railway. Old rail lines and stations should open again. Existing lines should get better. More trains should run on electricity. More goods should also travel by train.

The SPD wants to keep planning and building the A 20, A 26 and A 39 highways. To renew road bridges, it plans to hire specialists and set up an investment program.

The SPD wants to keep building three highways. They are the A 20, the A 26 and the A 39. Many road bridges are old. They should be renewed. The SPD wants to hire experts and provide money for this.

The SPD advocates free local public transit for students in the upper secondary grades. This is meant to ease the burden on parents and young people. The tickets should ideally also be valid for trainees and people doing voluntary service.

Older high school students should ride buses and trains for free. The SPD wants to introduce this. It should help parents and students. Trainees and young volunteers should get the ticket too.

The SPD wants fast fiber internet reaching every home and full mobile coverage with 5G. Lack of profitability is no longer to be a reason for leaving areas unserved, which is why the state is to invest in the infrastructure.

Everyone in Lower Saxony should get fast internet. Fiber cables should reach every house. The mobile network should also be good everywhere. The state should help where companies do not build on their own.

The SPD wants to make the digital transition social and inclusive. Accessibility is to be a criterion in every digital project, and no one should be forced to use digital channels.

The SPD wants everyone to be able to use digital services. Digital projects should have no barriers. Older people should get help. No one should be forced to do everything online.

The SPD wants better data because it sees benefits for climate protection, public transit, business and public administration. Publicly generated data should benefit everyone, and companies should share data more often too.

The SPD wants data to be used better. Data created by the public should help everyone. Companies should share more data too. Open data means that data is open for all to use.

The SPD wants the most important government services to be available online and plans a broad digitalization strategy for this. Data security is to improve as well; the state's central office for information security is to become a cybersecurity center.

The SPD wants people to handle important government matters online. People's data should be safe. A center for cybersecurity is to be built for this. The state should help towns and cities with the technology.

The SPD sees both opportunities and risks in artificial intelligence. Employees are to be involved before AI is used at their workplace, and important decisions about people should not be left to algorithms alone.

The SPD wants rules for artificial intelligence, or AI. Workers should have a say before AI comes to their job. People should make the important decisions about people. It must be possible to check these decisions.

The SPD wants to develop digital solutions for cities and regions from pilot projects and roll them out quickly statewide. Rural areas in particular are to get strong digital services.

The SPD wants digital solutions for cities and villages. Some places are already testing them. Good ideas should reach everywhere quickly. Rural areas above all should get more digital services.

The SPD wants to detect extremism on the internet more often and limit the reach of deliberately spread false information. Media literacy is to become a mandatory part of education.

There is hate and fake news on the internet. The SPD wants to do more against it. Helpers online should help people spot fake news. Everyone should learn at school how to handle media.

The SPD wants crimes on the internet to be prosecuted just like crimes elsewhere, using constitutionally sound tools such as the "login trap." More cyber investigators are to solve cases and have illegal content removed.

The SPD wants to go after online crime more effectively. There should be more investigators for the internet. Illegal content should be deleted. The methods must fit the constitution.

The SPD wants to modernize police technology, create additional positions and renovate police buildings with a 300 million euro program. Against crime on the internet it plans a training drive and more IT specialists.

The SPD wants to equip the police better. Every workplace is to get mobile devices. There are to be more positions. 300 million euros are planned to renovate police buildings. The police should also solve internet crime better.

The SPD wants to make fighting sexual violence a priority of police work and commit more staff, technology and money to it. It points to rapidly rising case numbers and data volumes in child abuse and child pornography.

The police should do more against sexual violence. They should get more staff, technology and money for this. Computer programs should help sort through data. Investigators in this field should get extra pay and support.

The SPD wants to protect women better from violence and improve police procedures for doing so. It wants to press the federal government to amend the criminal code so that femicides are punished more severely.

The SPD wants to protect women better from violence. The police should step in more effectively. Femicide should be punished more harshly. Femicide means killing a woman because she is a woman.

The SPD wants to raise the pressure on organized crime and consistently confiscate illegally acquired assets. Police are to cooperate more closely across borders, and Europol is to get considerably more resources and powers.

The SPD wants to act harder against organized gangs. The state should take away money they earned illegally. The police should work more closely with other states and countries. Europol, the European police agency, should get more resources.

The SPD wants to make police service more attractive through faster promotions, higher allowances and a police allowance that again counts toward pensions. The background is that, by its account, more than 4,000 hires are needed in five years to offset retirements.

The police need many new people. So the SPD wants to make the job more attractive. Officers should be promoted faster and get higher allowances. More people with immigrant backgrounds should join the police.

The SPD wants to revise the fire protection law early in the term and equip fire departments and disaster response better. As a lesson from the 2021 floods, special vehicles and pumps are to be bought and a statewide siren network rebuilt.

The SPD wants a new fire protection law. Fire departments and helpers should get better equipment. This includes vehicles for floods and strong pumps. There should be sirens everywhere again. Volunteer helpers should get more recognition.

The SPD wants to expand central units and specialized prosecutors' offices for clan crime, internet crime, and economic and tax offenses. Crimes committed online are to be prosecuted just like offline crimes.

Some prosecutors work only on certain crimes. Examples are internet crime and tax fraud. The SPD wants more of these expert units. Crimes on the internet should be punished too.

The SPD wants to expand the state's crime prevention programs and give more weight to the victims' perspective in criminal proceedings. The platform argues that investigations and trials have so far been strongly focused on offenders.

The SPD wants to do more to prevent crime. There should be more programs for this. Crime victims should get more rights and more help. They should face less stress in court.

The SPD wants to equip the prison system with more staff, renovated and new prison places, and digital technology. At the same time, programs for the rehabilitation of prisoners are to grow.

The SPD wants to improve prisons. There should be enough staff. Prisons should be renovated and new ones built. Prisoners should get more help to live without crime later.

The SPD wants to fund the support centers for offenders permanently and strengthen probation services. Default imprisonment, meaning jail for unpaid fines, should in the future be eligible for suspension on probation.

Some people cannot pay a fine. Then they must go to prison. The SPD wants to avoid this more often. Help centers for offenders should get lasting funding.

The SPD wants to strengthen and expand the Häuser des Jugendrechts (juvenile justice centers), where state and municipal agencies work together against youth crime. In cases of school refusal, courts and youth welfare services are to cooperate earlier.

In juvenile justice centers, several offices work together. They deal with young people who commit crimes. The SPD wants more of these centers. When children skip school, someone should step in faster.

The SPD wants to revise Lower Saxony's law on forensic psychiatric detention (Maßregelvollzug). The aim is for mentally ill offenders to receive a placement as quickly as possible.

Some offenders are mentally ill. They go to a special clinic instead of prison. The SPD wants to change the law on this. The people affected should get a place faster.

The SPD wants to strengthen the public sector as an employer in order to attract and keep skilled staff. This includes good pay, more training, investment in buildings and an entitlement to educational leave for civil servants.

The SPD wants more people to enjoy working for the state. Pay should be good. There should be more training. Civil servants should get up to five days off a year for education.

The SPD wants to examine, together with municipalities, how processes between them and the state can be made simpler. The state is also to enable municipalities to invest in social issues of the future.

The SPD wants less red tape between the state and local governments. Local governments should more often get money as a fixed sum. Then they need to file fewer applications. Small municipalities should get simpler rules.

The SPD wants to fund 14 partnerships across the state by 2027 in which cities and counties work together on innovative topics. The platform argues that individual municipalities cannot handle some tasks well on their own.

The SPD wants cities and counties to work together more. A program called "Zukunftsregionen" is meant for this. The state should fund 14 such partnerships by 2027. Some tasks are too big for one town alone.

The SPD wants to lower the voting age for state elections to 16. Children and young people are to have more say in schools, municipalities, and at the state level. The platform argues that young people should experience democracy firsthand.

Young people should be able to vote in state elections at 16. That is what the SPD wants. Young people should also have more say at school. Every town should let young people help decide. They should get their own budget for this.

The SPD wants to equip courts and prosecutors' offices better and raise staffing in all services to the full calculated need. The court structure across the state, especially small local courts, is to be preserved.

Courts and prosecutors should get more staff. The state should invest in justice buildings. Small local courts should stay. All courts should have checks at the entrance.

The SPD wants to expand electronic legal filing, electronic case files, artificial intelligence and video formats in the justice system. Administrative courts are to get dedicated panels for planning and permitting law so that cases on wind energy, for example, move faster.

The justice system should work more digitally. Files should be electronic. Computer programs should help with large cases. But judges should still decide. Special panels should handle lawsuits about building plans faster, for example for wind turbines.

The SPD wants to make the justice system more citizen-friendly and lower barriers, for instance through service desks, accessibility and digital legal application offices. It wants to defend access to justice, widen the Musterfeststellungsklage (model declaratory action) and strengthen mediation.

The justice system should be easier for citizens to reach. Courts should have service desks. People should be able to file requests digitally. Help with the cost of court cases should stay. Disputes should more often be settled without a ruling.

The SPD wants to introduce a state law to promote democracy and continue programs against extremism and antisemitism permanently. The platform names right-wing extremism and right-wing terrorism as the greatest current threats to democracy. Jewish institutions are to remain protected.

The SPD wants a new law for Lower Saxony. It should promote democracy. Programs against extremism and hatred of Jews should stay for good. Prevention should start in elementary school. Jewish institutions should keep getting protection.

The SPD wants to revive volunteer work after the COVID-19 pandemic. Plans include a coordination office in the state chancellery, a volunteering strategy, a pact with associations and municipalities, and more benefits for volunteers.

Many people help for free in clubs. The SPD wants to strengthen this volunteer work. There should be a new office in the state government. Volunteers should have less paperwork and more benefits. Youth leaders should get free courses.

The SPD wants the separation of powers and the rule of law in the European Union to be protected with every available tool. It sees the EU not just as an economic community but also as a community of shared values and solidarity.

The SPD wants to protect the rule of law in the EU. Rule of law means that the state must follow the law too. The EU should use all its tools for this. For the SPD, the EU is more than a market.

The SPD wants every young person to be able to take part in a European exchange at least once. It also backs a new exchange program between Germany and the United Kingdom.

The SPD wants more youth exchange in Europe. Every young person should be able to take part once. This can happen at school, in job training or at college. There should also be a new exchange with the United Kingdom.

The SPD regards video games as an important digital art form and wants to open media funding to them. Digital art is to receive the same protection and support as offline art.

The SPD sees video games as art. The state should support making video games. Parents should be able to learn more about video games. Esports should get support too.

The SPD wants better working conditions and social protection for people working in culture. State subsidies are to be tied to collective wage agreements, and minimum fees at theaters are to rise. The platform points to problems that became visible during the COVID-19 pandemic.

People working in culture should have better jobs. The lowest pay at theaters should go up. The state should give more money when wages rise. Artists without a steady job should be better protected.

The SPD wants a broad, diverse, and accessible range of cultural offerings across the state. State cultural institutions are to be preserved and renovated, and music schools, independent theaters, and sociocultural centers are to receive more support.

Culture should be open to everyone. The SPD wants to keep the state's museums, libraries and theaters. Old buildings should be renewed. Music schools should get more money from the state. Children from poor families should be able to take part too.

The SPD commits to independent media and wants to secure Bürgermedien (community media) for the long term and set them up where none exist. The background is the difficulty of maintaining quality regional reporting. The idea of a European media platform is supported.

Free media are important for democracy. The SPD wants to secure community media. These are local stations where citizens make the programs. New ones should be set up where there are none. The SPD also backs a European media platform.

The SPD wants to expand the Lower Saxony consumer advice center and raise its funding to the national average per resident. Consumer and nutrition education is to start with children, and food waste is to be prevented through new rules and projects.

The consumer advice center helps people with shopping and contracts. The SPD wants to give it more money. Advice should be available all over the state. Children should learn more about food in daycare and school. Less food should end up in the trash.

The SPD wants equal living conditions in urban and rural areas and intends to put rural funding on a permanent footing. Small and mid-sized towns that serve their surrounding areas are to get better access to funding.

The SPD wants to strengthen life in the countryside. Village shops and doctors' offices should get steady funding. Every place should have a meeting spot. Small and mid-sized towns should also get more help.

The SPD wants to secure state funding for organized sports in the long term through an inflation adjustment and continue the renovation program for sports facilities. Renovating swimming pools remains a focus. Inclusion, integration and diversity in sports are to receive more support.

The SPD wants to keep giving money to sports clubs. The money should rise with prices. Gyms and swimming pools should be repaired. All children should be able to learn to swim. People with disabilities should find it easier to do sports.