Senator Jamie Raskin

 

Dear Friends:
 
I am back from Annapolis and, after getting a good night's sleep, I wanted to share with you some key highlights of a successful and exciting legislative session, in which we defended the values of both freedom and solidarity, even in the midst of this grim recession.
 
Senate's Best Moment Resisting Censorship: This came when we stood up to right-wing Republican Andy Harris in his effort to stampede the Senate into a moral panic over pornography. Harris proposed cutting off all funding to the University of Maryland, from the Nobel Prize-winning Physics, Economics and English Departments to the Women's Basketball Team, if a student group showed an x-rated midnight movie that Harris disapproves of. Although everyone was cowed at first and the University shut down the original showing, Senators came to their First Amendment senses and remembered that no one has to see any movie they don't want to see and, while it's easy to tolerate speech that we like, the test of our commitment to the First Amendment is whether we can tolerate speech that we dislike. The students went ahead and screened part of the movie a few days later (no state funds involved) and had a discussion with professors about the First Amendment and pornography. On the floor, I pointed out that Harris' grandstanding made this adult pirate movie the #1 pornographic film in America, demonstrating the eternal truth that pornographers and censors thrive off of each other's attention. We expressed our confidence in the University of Maryland leadership and resolved to get back to work. No money was cut off but the Regents are supposed to report back to us on their "policy" on pornography. Of course, we already have a policy: it's called the First Amendment.
 
Best Act Ending Orwellian Law Enforcement Tactics: We passed the Freedom of Association and Assembly Protection Act of 2009, which I introduced in the Senate and which is set to become a national model for protecting civil liberties against police overreaching against political reform groups. It provides that no law enforcement entity in the state, including the State Police and campus police, can infiltrate or spy on political groups without the chief first certifying "reasonable, articulable suspicion" that the groups are engaged in criminal activity. It forbids the collection of political or ideological files on citizens outside of these requirements. We added a host of other civil liberties protections to prevent the kind of waste of public resources and naked trespass on people's rights that took place under Governor Ehrlich when progressive groups like Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Equality Maryland and anti-death penalty and anti-war groups were the subject of an open-ended fishing expedition that brought undercover agents into our community to spy.
 
Best Assist from Outside Maryland in Defending the Security of Our People: President Barack Obama, who so many of you worked day and night to elect, delivered us a stimulus package that prevents further brutal cuts in education, health care, and the tattered safety net of services for the poor and disabled. It allowed us to maintain the tuition freeze at the University and preserve Project Open Space funding. We extended unemployment compensation benefits to part-time workers, who have been hit hard. We emerged from a ghastly budget scenario with our core solidarity values intact.
 
Best Civil Rights Act Rejecting the Pinched Jurisprudence of the Rehnquist Court: We passed the Lilly Ledbetter Civil Rights Restoration Act of 2009, which is the state counterpart to the very first bill signed into law by President Obama. It establishes that, in cases of employment discrimination, each new discriminatory paycheck resets the clock on the statute of limitations so that the statute does not run after 180 days after the first act of discrimination. This Act thus guarantees that the statute of limitations does not run out before some victims of employment discrimination even find out about the fact that they have been treated unfairly. That's what happened to Lilly Ledbetter, but both Congress and now Maryland have legislated to make sure this is not the law. I am proud to have introduced the bill in the Senate.
 
Sunshine in the WSSC! I introduced a package of three bills to improve the transparency and effectiveness of the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) and two of them passed. One establishes comprehensive whistleblower protections for all WSSC employees so that they know they cannot be fired or punished for alerting the public to fraud, negligence or misconduct taking place at the WSSC. The other requires the WSSC to submit financial audit statements to the Montgomery and Prince George's delegations to bring greater transparency and oversight into this vast billion-dollar enterprise.
 
Expanding the Rights of the Disabled. The General Assembly passed SB 670, which expands civil rights protections for disabled Marylanders by requiring employers to make "reasonable accommodations" for disabled employees and forbidding discrimination against those who have a "record" of having a disability or are "regarded" that way. These provisions, which I introduced in the Senate, strengthen our law and make it a powerful counterpart at the state level to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
 
(State) Capital Punishment: Almost Doing the Right Thing. . .The brilliant work of the Civiletti Commission made a compelling case for the General Assembly to repeal the capricious, error-prone, ineffectual and racially permeated death penalty, but conservative Democrats in the Senate derailed us at the last minute. We did end up passing the only law in America that requires specific DNA evidence or a videotaped confession to a crime before the death penalty is handed down. After centuries of use of capital punishment, this is dramatic progress in the big picture.
 
Use the Attorney General--It's Free: The Maryland Stadium Authority in Baltimore bypassed its own free lawyers-the Attorney General of the state and his staff of more than 500-and hired private lawyers at $600 an hour to research a farfetched lawsuit against Washington D.C. to stop the Nationals baseball team from coming to the District. This fool's errand cost us more than $100,000. I introduced legislation to say that agencies have to use our own AG for legal representation unless they get explicit authorization from the General Assembly or the Attorney General to hire outside counsel. It passed and is now the law.
 
Warming Up to Climate Change Legislation: We finally passed the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Act to dramatically lower greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade. This is a sweeping win for the environmental movement-and the environment.
 
Can You Believe This Was Even Controversial? We voted to order the removal of firearms from abusers when their victims obtain protective orders against them. We rejected a "poison pill" amendment to give courts the power to grant firearms to victims as so much testimony suggested that the rapid infusion of new firearms into the situation only makes matters that much more dangerous and volatile.
 
We'll Get ‘Em Next Year: Several of my bills passed the Senate but got stuck in the House in the crush of last-minute business or were otherwise stalled. They include: the Fairness in Negotiations Act to establish a Public School Labor Relations Board to resolve impasses  between local school boards of education and public school employee organizations;  an important bill to require counties and municipalities to fix a fee for storm water repair based on actual impervious surfaces; a life-saving bill to require convicted drunk drivers to use an ignition interlock device (a self-breathalyzer test) for at least a one-year period before they drive their cars; a bill to establish a critically needed Food and Hunger Policy Council to promote healthy nutrition across the state; and the "three-foot rule" for Bike Lane Safety to make bicycling safe and to promote it as a transportation and environmental imperative.  I, of course, continue to champion the rights of all my constituents and will return to fight for both marriage equality and the civil rights of the trans-gendered population.  We did pass a Domestic Partners Inheritance Tax Exemption, which is an important bread-and-butter victory for many constituents. I will also concentrate a lot of energy next year on passing a Health Care Fraud Act so the state can recover money from health providers engaged in fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid schemes.
 
Finally, a sad note: Our friend Steve Carson, who was 66 and an archivist, writer, editor and leading expert on the life of Abraham Lincoln, died on March 27 at his home in downtown Silver Spring. Steve was a significant and exuberant force in my 2006 Senate campaign, organizing tenants and writers, and I will always treasure his luminous historical insight and passion for fairness.
 
I will have many opportunities over the next several weeks to flesh out the above report in greater detail and to interact with constituents. Below you will find descriptions of some upcoming events where I will be that may interest you. Also, I am going to be doing some walking tours and random door-knockings in Silver Spring and Takoma Park over the next month so if you would like to be my guide in your neighborhood, by all means let me know!  As always, it is a high honor and privilege to serve the people of Silver Spring and Takoma Park. 
 
All best wishes,
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
APRIL EVENTS AND MEETINGS
 
 
Thursday, April 16, 9:00 AM-4:00 PM: The 40th Anniversary of Tinker v. Des Moines School District: Freedom of Expression At School and Its Meaning for American Democracy, a conference sponsored by the Program on Law and Government and the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project at American University Washington College of Law, 4801 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. For more info, go to www.wcl.american.edu.
 
Friday, April 17, 10:30 AM at Savory Café in Takoma Park (7071 Carroll Ave.): A planning meeting for All the Right Moves, a new community "chess movement" that we are planning to launch in our community with Thomas Nephew, Fernando Moreno, Impact Silver Spring and other people bringing chess thinking to young people in Silver Spring and Takoma Park. It will culminate with our First Annual Tai Lam Invitational Chess Tournament at Blair High School on Saturday, May 30. Join us! For more info, please contact Thomas Nephew at thomasn528@prodigy.net.
 
Saturday, April 18, Celebrate Earth Day: 9-11am Friends of Sligo Creek's Annual Spring Sweep the Creek for more information, including where to meet visit http://www.fosc.org/SweepTheCreek.htm (additional clean-up event 1-3p on April 19th)
AND
 
9am-noon, Long Branch Earth Day Clean-Up, 8700 Piney Branch Road Silver Spring, MD 20901
for more information and to pre-register contact lynn.vismara@mncppc-mc.org
 
AND
 
9:30am-12:30p Broad Acres Park Clean-Up sponsored by Northwest Park Oakview Weed and Seed,
710 Beacon Road Silver Spring, MD 20903for more information contact victor.salazar@montgomerycountymd.gov
 
 
Saturday, April 18 at 2:00 PM and 3:00 PM in Northwest Branch Park, Northwood High School juniors and seniors in the Student Trail Program will lead two hikes on the Rachel Carson Greenway Trail in Northwest Branch Park to teach hikers how to reduce their impact on the natural environment by following the seven principles of "Leave No Trace." As a devoted District 20 hiker, I have been invited to join them and am excited to do so. We will receive free Leave No Trace bandanas! For more info, visit www.studenttrailstewards.blogspot.com.
 
Sunday, April 19, at 11:00 AM, District 20 Democratic Breakfast Club 2009 End-of-Session Wrap-Up. I will join our distinguished Delegates Sheila Hixson, Tom Hucker and Heather at Los Arrierios Restaurant, 7926 Georgia Avenue, in Silver Spring to recap what happened in Annapolis this year. RSVPs REQUIRED: Call Monica Ettinger at 301-891-0671. Breakfast Club dues are $5 and can be made payable to the "20th District Democratic Breakfast Club." Brunch served at the restaurant is $10 a person.
 
Sunday, April 26, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Montgomery Blair High School,
51 University Boulevard East in Silver Spring, I will be joining my friend Attorney General Doug Gansler to have a Shred-A-Thon event where you can bring no-longer-needed sensitive and confidential documents to be shred freely, definitively and permanently. Beat the identity thieves! Each family is limited to two, standard sized paper grocery bags. Arrive early--Shredding will be done on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information visit http://www.oag.state.md.us/Press/2009/040909.htm
 
The County Executive's Tenants Work Group is having a public meeting on Tuesday, May 5 from 7:00-9:00 PM to hear from residents who live in rental housing. This information will help inform the Group's final report to the County Executive. Please come and share your experiences, concerns and ideas.
Long Branch Community Center, 8700 Piney Branch Road, Silver Spring, MD 20901. For more information visit http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgtmpl.asp?url=/content/exec/twg/home...
 
 
 

For a copy of Senator Raskin's Washington Day Speech, please click here

February 16, 2009

Dear Friends:
 
Greetings and Happy President's Day-a holiday we have special reason to celebrate this year!
 
The Obama administration's success in creating a meaningful stimulus package for America is good news for Maryland.  With the aid headed our way, we will be able to shore up the tattered safety net for our most vulnerable people and accomplish long overdue investments in our physical, educational and economic infrastructure.  Our people are hurting badly and the aid cannot come a moment too soon. Specifically, we can expect to see approximately 16,000 new jobs in our immediate area, with the addition of 66,000 new jobs across the state.  The legislation channels $150 billion into the nation's infrastructure, including a $17 billion investment in public transit and high speed rail; an $87 billion temporary increase to the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage so that no state has to cut eligibility for Medicaid and SCHIP because of budgetary woes; and billions more for investment in school construction, renewable energy, and smart grid technology.
 
Meantime, I have been hard at work in Annapolis for the people of Silver Spring and Takoma Park and the progressive values and priorities of our community.  In my capacity as Vice-Chairman of the Montgomery Senate Delegation, I have been working hard against efforts to shift the cost of teacher pensions from the state level back to the counties, a misguided idea that would raise no money but simply force our local school systems to cut curriculum and teachers and increase class size.  I am happy to report that the Governor's budget does not try to balance the budget on the backs of our county school systems and retired teachers.  Education Week magazine reports that we have the best public schools in America, a success that results from steady and serious investment in education--not fiscal game-playing. 
 
I am also happy to report that the Governor's budget includes for the first time domestic partner benefits for state employees.  It's not marriage equality but it's a big step forward for gay and lesbian Marylanders who work for the state, and it marks major progress in symbolic terms too.  I will be fighting hard to protect and pass the Governor's proposal.
 
As you know, I have a busy legislative agenda, which you can review by clicking here  http://www.senatorjamieraskin.com/legislation   But I have three very important hearings coming up on some key bills and I would love to have your support and your testimony if you can make it to Annapolis.  Each citizen is invited to sign up to testify for three minutes (though questioning can make it longer).  If you are interested in testifying or otherwise supporting any of the following bills, or if you seek more information, please contact my legislative aide Alice Wilkerson at awilkerson@senate.state.md.us or me at Jamie.Raskin@senate.state.md.us.
 
** Join me this Wednesday, February 18 at 12:30p at the hearing in my committee, Senate Judicial Proceedings, on our bill to repeal the death penalty.  You will recall that the bill I introduced last year to create a Commission on Capital Punishment passed and the Commission, headed by Ben Civiletti, overwhelmingly recommended repeal of the death penalty, which it found to be exorbitantly expensive, unfairly administered, infected with racial and geographic bias, prone to serious error and not a deterrent to crime. Come participate in this key hearing as to whether Maryland should follow New Jersey in trading the death penalty for life without parole.
 
** Also join me this Wednesday, February 18 later in the afternoon (perhaps at around 3 PM) in the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee where I will be presenting my bill to give Marylanders the right that Americans enjoy in 35 other states-the right to have wine shipped to their homes.  This bill, cross-filed with Delegate Tom Hucker in the House, would generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax revenue for our state and give Maryland's own emerging wineries and vineyards the right to ship wine both in-state and out-of-state, a right that is essential for our wine industry to take off.  If you are a wine-lover, a consumer rights advocate, or just someone who objects to the costly tyranny of the special-interest liquor lobby in Annapolis, come testify!     
 
** Come join me on March 3 at 12:45 back in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee where I will be presenting the Freedom of Association and Assembly Protection Act of 2009 and we will be having a hearing on the bill.  This is the legislation I have drafted-along with House Delegates Sheila Hixson, Tom Hucker, Heather Mizeur and Sandy Rosenberg-to assure that we never see a repeat of the outrageous covert surveillance tactics used against Maryland's citizens and political movements over the last several years.  Under Governor Ehrlich, someone tried to turn the State Police into the State Thought Police.  Our bill, which has tons of cosponsors across the political spectrum, will make certain that the police work on real crime, not thought-crime. If you have been affected by the spy scandal, please come and join us.
 
I have some exciting event announcements too, which you can check out in detail here http://www.senatorjamieraskin.com/node/146
 
** One is a campaign event for my amazing friend Jason Judd, who you will recall was a key mover in my 2006 campaign and is now set to run for Mayor in Frederick, where he was born and grew up.  Jason has been a visionary community organizer, creative labor activist and civic activist.  I am sending him a first down payment check for $100 and hope you will join me and we will also have the chance to take a road-trip to beautiful Frederick for his campaign.  He is precisely the kind of creative and progressive person we need in Maryland politics!
 
** I am working with Fernando Moreno, the chess coach at Broad Acres Elementary, and citizen activist Thomas Nephew, as well as other friends in the Impact Silver Spring network, to launch a "chess movement" in Silver Spring and Takoma Park and all of our schools.  It will culminate in the Tai Lam Chess Invitational Chess Tournament at the end of the school year.  As you know, Tai was killed in an act of senseless gang violence. He was in the 9th grade at Blair and was a student of chess.  If you have chess skills, passion or interest, please join us!
 
** AARP is doing an excellent and free tax preparation for seniors on February 28, so spread the word.
 
** Check out the "Buy Local" T-Shirt Contest if you love art and all things local, as I do!
 
            Finally, I want to thank all of my wonderful constituents and friends for your visits, emails and letters, with a special thanks to Girl Scout Brownie Troop #379 of Takoma Park for leaving a note in my desk on the Senate floor and bringing me Girl Scout cookies!
 
 
                                                                 All best wishes,
 
                                                                 Jamie
 
P.S.  Let us know if you are coming to Annapolis!

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January 14, 2009
 
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness . . ." 
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

 Dear Friends:
 
     It's the best of times and the worst of times.
 
     It's the best because we have dynamic new political leadership in America and abundant progressive energy for change in Maryland.  We have a mobilized population that has rejected the ruined politics of the Republican Party.
 
     But it's the worst because Bush, Cheney and Co. have nearly bankrupted us.  The collapse in the housing market, the stock market debacle, the obscene and drunken deficit spending, the frauds and rip-offs, the hundreds of billions spent on war, the terrifying erosion of bridges, roads, water lines, and the sharp rise in poverty: they all add up to a staggering challenge that has flowed steadily downhill to state and local government.
 
     We launched our session in Maryland a few hours ago with the sobering news that the state faces a $1.9 billion shortfall in next year's budget.  Unlike the feds, we must pass, according to our Constitution, a balanced budget; we cannot rely on deficit spending (for either foolish or prudent purposes).  Thus, we will have to make some real and painful adjustments. 
 
     You can be certain that, as your Senator and as the newly elected Vice-Chairman of the Montgomery Senate Delegation, I will be in the thick of things, defending our excellent public schools (which were just rated #1 in the nation by Education Week) and teacher pensions, standing with our neighbors who depend on basic human services, protecting our essential public safety and security programs, and guarding the other priorities that we have been pressing for the people of Silver Spring and Takoma Park.
 
     But the financial crisis is no reason for us to put the brakes on our forward-looking progressive agenda. I will be introducing legislation this Session to accomplish the following things, many of which will produce a large amount of revenue for our state:
 
** Stopping Police Spying Against Citizens Exercising First Amendment Rights.  The spying scandal has only gotten worse as we have learned that our tax dollars were spent to engage in covert surveillance not only of anti-death penalty and peace activists but the alleged "terrorists" working with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Equality Maryland, and even people fighting to add bike lanes to our roads!  These absurdities require us to commit to statute-not regulation-two major principles: (1) the police cannot use covert techniques against citizens engaged in political expression and association without having made an explicit written finding that there are identified facts to support a "reasonable suspicion" that criminal activity is afoot; and (2) the state cannot collect and keep dossiers on the political views and activities of citizens unless such a criminal investigation is actually taking place.
 
 
** Ending the Shameful Rip-off of "Employee Misclassification." Tens of millions of dollars in tax revenues are lost to the general fund every year because low-road employers are fraudulently paying their employees under the table and off the books or misclassifying them as "independent contractors."  According to recent unemployment insurance audits, 20% of Maryland employers audited were determined to have misclassified employees and the state thereby loses as much as $22 million a year from the Unemployment Insurance Fund by virtue of the practice.  Our responsible and law-abiding employers are forced to pay higher Workers' Compensation rates because of employers that misclassify or pay nothing at all.  The worst culprit appears to be the construction industry.  My bill establishes a legal presumption of an employer-employee relationship in the construction industry and creates a new enforcement mechanism in the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation to coordinate investigation and enforcement against fraudulent misclassification and conspiracy to evade labor laws. 
 
 
** Beginning the Statute of Limitations for Victims of Civil Rights Discrimination from the Point When They Learn About The Discrimination (Rather Than When the Discrimination Began).  In the now-infamous Lily Ledbetter case, the Supreme Court a few years ago rejected Lily Ledbetter's sex discrimination lawsuit against her employer for discriminating against her in pay for more than 20 years because it said that she should have brought the suit 180 days after the first act of discrimination. Of course, she did not learn of it until decades later. This bill will make certain that this is not the law in Maryland and that the statute of limitations begins to run when the employee learns that the discrimination is taking place.
 
** Promoting the Construction of Green Roofs on State Buildings and Increasing Incentives to Prevent Storm Water Runoff.  Green roofs absorb the sun's rays and dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and I am drafting a bill to promote their use in state contracts.  I am also working on legislation to adjust storm water runoff charges to reflect the percentage of impermeable surfaces that businesses  have on their property. 
 
** Providing a Homestead Tax Credit for Peace Corps Workers, Diplomatic Personnel and other Civilians Who Go to Work Overseas. Under current state law, Maryland residents in the armed forces who are deployed overseas get to continue to claim the homestead tax credit on their primary residence.  This bill, suggested to me by constituents, would extend this same right to citizens in the civilian employment of the federal government, like the Peace Corps or the State Department, when they are deployed overseas.
 
** Requiring Contractors Who Provide Voter Machines to the State to Warranty Their Products and to Make any Hardware and Software Changes Necessary to Implement State Law.  We've been burned too many times by election-machine contractors.  We deserve a money-back warranty in all these contracts and a guarantee that the vendors will provide software updates to accommodate changes in state election law, like Instant Run-Off Voting.  Our election laws should never be held hostage by private companies.
 
** Preventing Solicitation of Motorists in the Road in Montgomery County Without a Permit.  This local bill for Montgomery County would prevent people from coming into roadways and intersections to solicit money unless they have been granted a permit do so under which they agree to abide by safety regulations.  The bill authorizes the Montgomery County Council to create a permitting system for such solicitors for three-day periods and accompanying safety regulations.  I have received a constant stream of complaints from community associations and neighbors about the traffic hazards and obstacles created by solicitation in the street and this is an effort to address the problem.              
 
** Creating a Food Policy Council to improve and coordinate strategies for promoting healthy nutrition and ending hunger in the state.  Following up on the big success last Session we saw with the Farm-to-Schools Program, this bill would create the first comprehensive statewide Council to develop strategies for bringing healthy food to all of Maryland's communities and ending hunger in our state.  We have a farm policy today, but no food policy!
 
** Establishing Collective Bargaining and Union Organizing Rights for Graduate Students and Adjunct Professors at the State's Institutions of Higher Education.  I am committed to securing organizing and collective bargaining rights for thousands of graduate student teaching assistants and adjunct professors, who are too often treated as the migrant laborers of higher education.  Our universities are the pride of our state and they should take the high road in incorporating the voice and participation of people who teach and work there.  We won the right to organize for adjuncts at Montgomery College and we can do the same here.
 
** Giving Courts the Power to Deal With Hotels Whose Premises Are Used for Prostitution.  Under state law today, courts can order property owners, landlords and hotel and motel owners to take action against drug-dealing operations taking place on their premises.  Based on complaints from constituents about a thriving prostitution ring at a local hotel and their not being able to do anything about it, I have worked with Montgomery State's Attorney John McCarthy's office to draft a bill that would give courts equitable power to order such hotels to clean up their act or face fines.
 
** Giving Marylanders the right to purchase wine and have it shipped to them and giving Maryland wineries the right to ship wine to their customers.  In 37 states, wine-lovers can order wine from a store, from the Internet or on a trip and have it shipped to their homes.  Not in Maryland! This ridiculous interference with consumer choice and sovereignty costs the state millions of dollars in lost taxes as Marylanders have wine shipped to their offices in Washington, D.C., their relatives in Virginia or their friends in Pennsylvania.  These jurisdictions get to collect our sales taxes.  There is no justification for this policy other than protecting the cartel-like interests of the liquor industry.   Delegate Tom Hucker and I will be working to mobilize wine people all over Maryland to help us pass this legislation.
 
** Repealing the Death Penalty.  Last year I introduced the bill establishing the Maryland Commission on the Death Penalty, which passed overwhelmingly in both houses.  The Commission met and not only recommended repeal of the death penalty but issued specific findings that are extremely damning of the system of capital punishment in our state.  We found extreme racial disproportion since we have only executed five persons in the last 30 years and all of their victims were white; similarly, there are five death row prisoners right now and all of their victims were white.  And yet two-thirds of the homicide victims in our state are African-American or Hispanic.  We also found geographic bizarreness as the same crime is far more likely to be punished with death in Baltimore County than it is in most other counties in the state.  The Commission, whose members included Kirk Bloodsworth, the first death row prisoner in the U.S. exonerated by DNA evidence, found that the risks of executing the innocent are as "real" as ever.  We also found that the death penalty does not deter crime (if it did, our safest states would be Florida and Texas!) and that guaranteed life in prison without the possibility of parole is a far cheaper and more cost-effective way to go.  And, finally, perhaps most importantly, many of the families of murder victims have turned decisively against capital punishment, telling us that it is a kind of fool's gold as people chase after it for decades but find its promise hollow and that they would be much better off in terms of getting on with their lives to have the certainty of a life sentence with no parole.
 
     Well, it's going to be a busy session as you can tell and there are still many other bills I will be working on, both mine and others, including Senator Pinsky's Comprehensive Global Warming Solutions Act, and the local bill Delegate Heather Mizeur is introducing to give tenants protection through a "just cause eviction" law.  In these times, we need to do whatever we can to improve the well-being of our people.  
 
     It is a pleasure and an honor to represent you and to champion the values of District 20 every day.  I should say that I am blessed to work with our Delegates and that the senior member of our Delegation, Sheila Hixson, is a treasure and, as Chair of the Ways and Means Committee, a sure guide for us as we navigate the twists and turns of the budget process.  Stay in close touch and I hope you come to see us during the Session.
 
                                                                        All best wishes,
 
 
 
                                                                        Jamie