Dear Friends,
I had the honor last week of beginning my sixth Session as your Delegate for the 23A Legislative District for the 437th Session of the Maryland General Assembly. I truly appreciate the opportunity to represent you in Annapolis and want to encourage you to share your thoughts and comments with me regarding what is important to you. You can contact me at
Geraldine.Valentino@house.state.md.us
or call 301-858-3101. I always take the input I have received from constituents under great consideration when voting.
The Maryland General Assembly (MGA) has some great online tutorials which you may find of interest. You can sign up to be notified on legislative action regarding specific bills of interest, listen to past hearings or floor proceedings, listen to live hearings or debate on the floor, and research many other topics of interest. You can find tutorials on how to do these action items on the MGA homepage here: http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frm1st.aspx?tab=home
As you may be aware from the news, the state of Maryland is facing some big financial considerations this year on how to address a large deficit facing the State. I believe these budget decisions will dominate much of this Session. I was newly assigned to the House Appropriations Committee last Session so I will be attending many hearings on these matters and, of course, welcome your input and suggestions.
Other areas where I intend to focus my energy include assisting mental health advocates to help improve communications channels and collecting important data, measures to combat impaired drugged driving especially with increased usage of marijuana, victims' rights legislation, measures to increase assistance for the working poor, and other initiatives designed to help stimulate Maryland's economic climate. You can see the entire list of my bills as they are introduced on the Maryland General Assembly homepage.
Other big issues which will most likely dominate the discussions this year include: the financial effects on Maryland should the Affordable Care Act be repealed at the federal level; price restrictions on pharmaceutical drugs; family day care and sick leave issues; transportation funding decisions; fracking in the state of Maryland as the current moratorium expires in 2017, and other proposals to support access to higher education.
Again, I encourage you to share your thoughts with me. I believe we all benefit from an active involvement in our government at all levels.
Please feel free to share with others
and as always, if you have additional questions or inquiries, feel free to contact me at Geraldine.Valentino@house.state.md.us or call 301-858-3101.
Geraldine
Geraldine Valentino-Smith
Delegate, Maryland House of Delegates, District 23A
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By Authority of Friends For Geraldine Valentino-Smith, Elizabeth Ryan, Treasurer |
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