2018 Update—January 21st to February 17th

On Sunday the 21st I attended a worship service at the New Ark UCC Church noting the 40th anniversary of the Roe vs Wade Supreme Court decision. Afterwards, I attended a symposium at the Masjid Isa mosque in Newark, which focused on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. On Monday I attended the monthly meeting of the 23rd Rep District Democratic Committee. We had session in Dover this week, on Tuesday through Thursday. On Tuesday I stopped by the Kids Caucus, received training in the administration of narcan for heroin overdose situations. After session I attended a community meeting at Maclary Elementary School. On Wednesday the 24th I attended Senator Sokola’s monthly coffee. Later that morning I attended the LIFE conference in Dover, which addresses concerns for those living with disabilities. After session I attended a roundtable discussion on successful practices that Delaware schools have adopted to address mental health and trauma support.

On Monday the 29th I joined a call on strategizing for House Bill 160 (Delaware End of Life Options Act) and that evening I participated in a film showing and discussion on the topic at the Brandywine Hundred Library. I had a call on Tuesday on data breeches, had lunch discussion on proposals to overhaul Delaware’s criminal justice code, and joined a dinner focused on international exchanges, specifically the University of Delaware’s Global Scholars Program. I hosted my monthly coffee at Newark’s Greene Turtle on Wednesday the 31st.

Emails—In the past four weeks I have had many emails with many parties.

There were emails about legislation, including HB 160 (End of Life Options Act), HB165 (Direct Shipment of Wine), draft legislation to provide medical coverage for treatment of PANDAS/PANS, HB110 (Adult Use Marijuana Regulation/Taxation/Legalization), improving animal welfare protections (during very cold and hot weather), HB278 (school board member maximum length of term), HB106 (additional personal income tax bracket), HB300 (prohibit bump stocks on firearms), a resolution calling for Congress to preserve net neutrality, HB239 (filling New Castle County Executive if the office is vacated), animal welfare in poultry farms, SB65 (conversion therapy), cyber security versus DE’s freedom of information act, plug-to-grid vehicle regulation, national popular vote, raising the legal age to buy and use tobacco to 21, and home-based medical care regulations.

There have been emails about manufactured housing matters, as I chair the House Manufactured Housing Committee. One related to the notice by Artesian Water that it was going to cut off water service to the residents of the Glasgow Court community due to the community owner’s failure to pay his bills.

There were emails on many miscellaneous issues (AI DuPont Hospital’s policy related to application of medical marijuana oil), pot holes, proposed changes to the Thompson Station/Hopkins Road intersection, an unclaimed property claim, airBnB taxation/regulation, joining a national effort to request that the Trump Administration reverse its offshore oil drilling program, convention of the states to amend the constitution, safer communities through improved relations between Delaware law enforcement and our immigrant communities, student admission processes at Newark Charter School, electrician requirements for the home building industry, consecutive vs concurrent sentencing, block chain regulations, a road repair concerns raised in Chapel Hill, the Opportunity Zone program, voting machine upgrade status, the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) between the Christina School District board and the Governor’s office, and DUI enforcement.

There were emails on some City of Newark issues, including shoveling sidewalks, reporting to residents when their smart meter identifies a spike in usage, bicycle safety on Old Paper Mill Road, and city council meeting agenda items.

I also reviewed the GRB, Governor’s Recommended Budget, created an executive summary as I have done annually since my election, and shared it with many members of the Joint Finance Committee.