Not just the classroom, Food stamp app, and Vaping with Juuls

I’m running for reelection to the House of Delegates so that I can help make good public policy.

This week, I found some time between door knocking, community meetings, and candidate forums to get the process started on some issues.

The American Federation of Teachers took the lead in reinvigorating the poorest county in West Virginia. This model could be used for the community served by Pimlico Elementary Middle School, a 21st Century school that will be reopening this fall. Such an effort could be part of the redevelopment of the Pimlico Race Track and Park Heights communities now being studied by the Stadium Authority, the City, and the Maryland Jockey Club.

The link to the article where I learned about the West Virginia initiative is not yet available. I will share it when I get it.

There’s an app that allows people receiving food stamps to make smarter and healthier use of the program. Should we encourage its use in Maryland?

I’ve written an advocate to get her thoughts.


This past session, I introduced House Bill 1094, which will impose the same penalties for the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors that we impose for the illegal sale of tobacco products. HB 1094 was enacted.
At the federal level, the Food and Drug Administration began undercover sting operations this month targeting retailers of Juuls, smoking/vaping devices that resemble thumb drives, produce little plume, and are concealable – even in a classroom.
How should Maryland cut down on their use? I’ll talk to both school and health officials.

Wait ‘til next term

If you don’t get your bill passed by midnight next Monday, it’s wait ‘til next term.

At the hearing on my bill to make the penalty for the sale of e-cigarettes to minors identical to that for tobacco products, one Senator was concerned that police would be arresting juvenile smokers.

I asked one of our reference librarians to research the question.

These are not arrests; civil citations are issued.

I emailed this information to all of the members of the committee, with a link to a New York Times article today about the “vaping explosion” among high school students. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/health/vaping-ecigarettes-addiction-teen.html.

In addition to this digital lobbying, I will talk to two members of the committee and ask them to look out for my bill.

A lobbyist for a non-profit spoke to me about a Senate bill in my committee.

He wants to amend it.

“Would this be considered a friendly amendment by the Senate?” I asked him.

If not friendly, we agreed, it won’t be offered.

Don’t risk a bill dying because a compromise could not be reached before next Monday midnight.

Focusing on Vaping

Responding to constituent emails on your laptop can be a distraction during committee hearings.

But certain issues do catch your attention.

As when a Department of Health official testifies, “We are battling with vaping these days.”

Vaping is smoking electronic cigarettes.

There is a great deal of evidence that this is now the entry point of choice for many youth.

Preventing teenagers (and younger kids) from picking up the deadly habit of smoking cigarettes is one of the priorities of the state’s Cigarette Restitution Fund.

The Fund allocates the money Maryland receives from its share of the settlement from the lawsuit 48 states brought against the tobacco industry. Delegate Pete Rawlings and I were the lead sponsors of the bill that created the Fund.

Last year, the General Assembly passed HB 523, Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems and Vaping Liquid – Licensing. It became law without the Governor’s signature.

I’m now concentrating on what we should do next.

  • My Key Issues:

  • Pimlico and The Preakness
  • Our Neighborhoods
  • Pre-Kindergarten
  • Lead Paint Poisoning