2017 Update—November 19th to December 17th

OK, I am a little behind on my legislative updates.

On Monday November 20th I attended the local chapter meeting of the Coalition to End the New Jim Crow. On Tuesday evening the 21st I attended the annual Newark Thanksgiving interfaith service, at St Thomas Episcopal Church. On Thanksgiving the 23rd I joined the annual Newark Thanksgiving breakfast at the Newark Senior Center.

On Monday November 27th I met with DHSS Secretary Walker to discuss current and upcoming healthcare issues and priorities. On Tuesday evening I attended a Medical Aid in Dying town hall in Claymont and after this I attended a meeting with the Medical Society of Delaware leaders regarding their priorities. On Wednesday the 29th I held my monthly coffee at Caffe’ Gelato. I had lunch at Delcastle High School to discuss the state’s votech programs. That afternoon I met with DNREC/Parks personnel to discuss projects at the White Clay Creek State Park. On Thursday the 30th I attended a training with many legislative colleagues on how to improve collaboration, even (and especially) when some issues are very contentious.

I traveled out of the country from the 2nd to 9th.

On Monday December 11th I participated in the monthly meeting of the Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence, on whose board I sit. That evening I had a meeting with a legislative colleague in Dover to discuss HB 160, the medical aid in dying (end of life options act) legislation. I attended a portion of the Newark City Council meeting afterwards. On Tuesday the 12th I joined a monthly conference call with Compassion and Choices, the leading national organization that promotes improving care and expanding options for the end of life. For the rest of the week I attended the annual Council of State Governments (CSG) conference, exploring policy topics including marijuana regulation, health care, economic incentives, and cybersecurity.

Emails

I have had many emails over the past month. Several have dealt with newly introduced and not-yet-introduced legislation, on manufactured housing, on public education, on personal income taxation, on healthcare.

Senator Sokola and I completed our plans to direct the allocation of over $445,000 of Community Transportation Funding to projects throughout the 23rd Representative District (which is completely within the 8th Senate District). Communities with projects funded for 2018 include Chapel Hill, Christine Manor, Fairfield, Estates of Corner Ketch, and Nonantum Mills.

I have had emails regarding a very wide ranging of topics, including safer communities, the Amazon pitch, the relationship between the state and the University of Delaware, a drainage problem in Nonantum Mills, whether the City of Newark needs legislative action to amend its charter, the proposed Regulation 225 regarding public school students who identify as transgender, the issue of past imprisoned citizens reentering our communities, term limits for statewide offices, the property that had housed the orphanage in Ogletown, traffic signal timing on Christina Parkway, pedestrian safety at the Newark Day Nursery, constitutional conventions to amend the Constitution, safety of the intersection of Thompson Station Road and Pleasant Hill Road, the collaboration between the Christina School District and the Governor’s office to improve our Wilmington schools, questions from two groups of local students on civic issues (smoking, and distracted driving), UD policy on student groups conducting phone banking in public spaces on campus, DART service to the Shoppes at Louviers, DHSS’ plans for residents whose supplemental prescription drug program was eliminated in June in the state budget, providing a better mechanism for Delaware public schools to obtain teachers for Mandarin immersion classrooms, damage to a resident’s mailbox from a snow plow, DelDOT/DMV’s policies on securing personal data, the City of Newark’s policy on sidewalks which are shoveled, only to be snow covered from snow plow activity, real estate tax exemption for a local swim club, and Delaware’s policy on medical malpractice lawsuits.