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The Maryland Primary Election Day is Tuesday, July 19. But for those who requested vote by mail, your ballots have already started to arrive. And according to statistics from the Board of Elections, District 16 far surpasses any other legislative districts with the volume of vote by mail ballots requested, almost 14,000. If you still want to receive your ballot in the mail, you can fill out this form and send it to the local Board of Elections by Tuesday, July 12: If you do not want to mail your ballot back, you can use any convenient drop box around the county between now and 8pm on July 19. The complete list is available here. Some of the most convenient for District 16 residents are the boxes at Walt Whitman High School, Walter Johnson High School, the Montgomery County Conference Center (Marriott Bethesda North), and the Friendship Heights Village Center, And just outside of the district. there are drop boxes at Winston Churchill High School, the Potomac Community Center, the Lawton Center, and Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. Early voting is also available from July 7 to July 14 between 7am and 8pm and you can vote at any of the 14 sites in Montgomery County. Those most convenient to District 16 are the Lawton Center in Chevy Chase, the Potomac Community Center, and the Executive Office Building in Rockville. More information is available here. On Election Day (July 19), you can vote at your local polling place between 7am and 8pm. You can click here to find your local polling place. Yes, after being unavailable during COVID-19, your local polling place will be open on Election Day. If you have any questions about where or how to vote, please reply to this email and we are happy to direct you to resources. THE DISTRICT 16 TEAM    -----
I serve on the Joint Committee on Fair Practices and State Personnel Oversight which today released its Final Report on Maryland Environmental Service Personnel and Board Practices, which involved the Governor's former chief of staff. You can read it here: https://tinyurl.com/hbn3b4fx This particular situation is now in the hands of the professionals (the State Prosecutor and U.S. Attorney), but the experience demonstrates that legislative oversight can work. You can read about the issues in the Baltimore Sun. BUDGET NEWS Maryland State Treasurer Derek Davis recently shared the good news that Maryland has retained its AAA bond rating. The bond rating agencies are certainly fallible, but these decisions help determine how far the dollars of our construction budget can go so this is positive news. You can read the detailed reports of the rating agencies assessing Maryland on the Treasurer's website. TRANSPORTATION UPDATE Our community received another heartbreak when a student was killed on his bicycle along Old Georgetown Road, a sadly familiar event in Bethesda. When a similar event occurred a few years ago, the State Highway Administration painted bike lanes that provide some separation and buffer between pedestrians and bicyclists and motorists on a short portion of Old Georgetown Road. They also conducted a Needs Analysis, which you can read here. The District 16 Team and our local member of the County Council, Andrew Friedson, have met with the State Highway Administration and their will be further announcements about further improvements and a public process soon. ----- As I noted in last month's update, Metro recently announced a failure to re-certify its rail operators. Combined with other recent safety lapses including a wheelset problem that has put most of the rail car fleet out of service and power restorations to the third track that are endangering workers' lives, the issues with Metro are disappointing to say the least. The Subcommittee I chair held an oversight hearing on the issues with Metro last month, which you can watch here. Some press outlets covered the hearing including Maryland Matters and WTOP. ----- The Maryland Department of Transportation recently announced an initiative to encourage safer driving around construction sites. This builds on work my Appropriations Subcommittee did to require the State Highway Administration to study this issue, a report you can read here. ----- Two years ago, Senator Craig Zucker and I sponsored legislation to transition Maryland's municipal bus fleet to zero emissions. I led a bipartisan letter of my colleagues in the House of Delegates in support of a federal grant application to help support that transition. You can read the letter here. COMMUNITY NEWS
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August 2023
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