Eleni Kavros DeGraw

We have a jam-packed newsletter for you this week.

First, a couple of items from recently passed or recently expanded legislation: a state grant program related to home health care safety and free community college expanded. Find all of the details in the subsections included today.

I’ve just returned from time at the Council of State Governments CSG East Conference in Baltimore, Maryland. More below on the panel discussion I participated in, but it was a wonderful opportunity to connect with colleagues from the eastern U.S. as well as getting to meet Governor Wes Moore and hear more about some of the initiatives Maryland is undertaking. Always a great way to learn and think about better ways to serve the people of District 17.

I want to call your attention to a special report provided by our non-partisan staff each year, the Office of Legislative Research Bill Tracking Report.

With heat come storms and as I have included tips yet again for staying cool and avoiding heat exhaustion or heat stroke, I also recommend keeping an eye to the skies, and perhaps to a weather app on your phone, to keep yourself and others safe from dangerous weather events like lightning and strong winds. This afternoon looks to be a little wild!

It’s a broken record already, but we continue to be under an extreme heat advisory. I hope you are taking all precautions and if you do not have access to air conditioning at your home, you are seeking out the libraries and senior centers in Avon and Canton. Keeping that water bottle handy is extremely important right now.

Thank you to all the wonderful people who came out to the coffees in Canton on Saturday and the one this morning in Avon. Special thanks to LaSalle Deli & Market and to Beanz & Co. for hosting us – two extraordinary community builders in our community.

Special Session was a bit of a whirlwind yesterday as I brought out the 137-page emergency certification bill with an assist from Representatives Maria Horn and Jason Doucette. The bill passed in a bi-partisan fashion and not unusually, Republicans and Democrats found a lot to agree on.

Tomorrow the House will be in special session as the Senate is in today. Initially, we needed a special session because of an amendment to a House bill by the Senate that was deeply flawed. It would have significantly impacted commercial vehicles and secondarily personal vehicles.