Maria Horn

Last night my family pried all of my devices out of my hands and made me go outside and watch the meteor shower for a few minutes.  It was a reminder that there is still, indeed, a big picture out there, and that we will move through all of the obstacles that have been thrown in front of us, with the help of our neighbors, friends, family, and loved ones: with the help of our communities. 

We have been hit with yet another serious set of challenges this week, with massive power and connectivity outages caused by Tropical Storm Isaias hitting our area hard: as of this morning, five towns in the district were still more than 80% without power.

My desk at home looks onto our patio and garden, where my husband and I have just finished taking down the umbrellas and moving the potted plants and a few folding chairs into safer spots in preparation for the high winds and heavy rain that may be coming our way courtesy of Tropical Storm Isaias.

July’s special legislative sessions have now adjourned, with the House and Senate having passed all four bills under consideration, expanding access to absentee ballots for the November election, capping insulin and related costs, making telehealth more widely available, and increasing police accountability and transparency. These bills are now on their way to the Governor, who has indicated he will sign them.

This morning the Senate begins deliberation on the four bills that the House passed last week in special session. Three of those bills (re capping insulin costs, extending telehealth services, and making absentee ballots available in the November 3 general election) passed with no more than 5 votes in opposition, but the fourth, on police accountability, was much closer, with the final bill passing by 86 to 58.

A look behind the scenes of one of the toughest votes I've taken.

Starting yesterday at 11:00 am, the House held a historic, socially-distanced special session, including many firsts. It was certainly a first for a lot of new technology put in place so that we could conduct business.

There is a lot happening in state government this week. Leading into special session, which we expect to begin on Thursday morning, July 23, there are a number of “listening sessions” and informational hearings. The first of those took place last Friday, when the Judiciary Committee held a twelve-hour long listening session (via Zoom) on “An Act Concerning Police Accountability” (otherwise known as AACPA, or LCO No. 3471). I listened to the entire hearing (shout out to my family for bringing meals and snacks to me at regular intervals) and found it invaluable.