With the State Senate and Assembly starting their annual legislative session soon, State Senator Cheryl Kagan outlined her priorities:

• Enhancing our 9-1-1 Emergency System: Continuing the the work I began last year in memory of wonderful Rockville resident and activist Carl Henn to make our 9-1-1 system more reliable (this bill died in committee in a battle over security and accountability, alas)
• Protecting Consumers: Prohibiting “bait and switch” at the gas pump and restricting the swiping and storing of personal data from our driver’s licenses.
• Increasing Election Access and Transparency:  Modifying our election laws to provide for greater access and transparency.
• Supporting Non-Profits:  Providing short term micro-loans to bridge funding gaps that many organizations experience.

Successes from her first year as the senator from our district include Language Access (the first bill of its kind in the nation!), “Fertility Parity,” informing voters about ‘closed’ primaries, and funding for worthy local projects (such as the Rockville Swim Center improvements). She provided an overview of her legislative agenda to Gaithersburg’s Mayor and Council on January 3, 2017 (YouTube, starting at 41:00).

I’ve just requested Delegates Kumar Barve, Jim Gilchrist, and Andrew Platt in District 18 for their legislative priorities for this year and will share them as soon as they’re available.