My name is Sam Arora, and I want to have a discussion about what is happening in our community. Our area is a wonderful place to live, and I count myself lucky to have lived and gone to school in Silver Spring and now live in Derwood, where I grew up. But I think everyone who has lived in District 19 for a while knows that we still face many of the same challenges that we have known for years—challenges like maintaining excellence in public education, taking care of our seniors, and securing our energy future. On top of that, the state is in major financial trouble. It is going to be harder than ever to solve our problems—I am under no illusion of that—but they are not going away. They are just getting bigger and demand more creative solutions. And so it is time to look at these challenges in a different way. I want the community I grew up in to tackle tough challenges and be a better place for our families.
Keeping Arsenic off the Dinner Table
As you may know, for years I have been working to try to take arsenic out of the foods that make it to our dinner table—chiefly chicken.
For years, many poultry growers added an unnecessary arsenic-containing product to poultry feed known as Roxarsone. Much of the arsenic passed through chickens grown in Maryland as manure, which is used to fertilize farmland and often runs into waterways, and some of the arsenic remained in broiler chickens destined for the dinner table.
Delegate Arora Offers Revenue-Raising Tax Loophole Closing Bill
Maryland State Delegate Sam Arora today introduced legislation to close an arcane state tax loophole that has inadvertently placed millions of dollars in state income tax revenue outside the reach of the Comptroller.
Delegate Arora Calls on Congress to Overturn Supreme Court Decision Allowing Unlimited Corporate Cash in Elections
In advance of the second anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, Delegate Sam Arora and many other Maryland state and congressional lawmakers joined activists today at the State House to call on the U.S. Congress to overturn the ruling and help make elections more democratic. The Citizens United decision opened the floodgates to corporate cash in elections by allowing corporations to spend unlimited sums from their treasuries to influence voters.
Governor's FY 2013 Budget Proposal Introduced
Today I received Governor O’Malley’s proposed budget for FY 2013.
The governor’s proposed budget aims to eliminate Maryland’s $1.8 billion structural deficit by FY 2015 by proposing more than $650 million in cuts and generating $311 million in new general fund revenue, $104 million in redirected revenue, and $78 million in revenue from the anticipated extension of the federal payroll tax cut.
The budget we received today appears to call for some very significant changes, including but not limited to:
Delegate Arora, State Legislators File Supreme Court Brief Defending the Affordable Care Act
Thursday, Delegate Sam Arora and over 500 state legislators filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in defense of the Affordable Care Act. In the brief, drafted by the Constitutional Accountability Center, Arora and other state legislators defend the constitutionality of the individual mandate provision of the landmark health care reform legislation challenged in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services v. Florida.
The brief is posted below:
$18 Coming in the Mail?
The Montgomery County Office of Consumer Protection sent out an unusual alert today to let you know that you may get a letter that might appear to be junk mail be actual could be a check for $18. As part of the Currency Conversion Fee Antitrust Litigation case, more than 10 million checks valued at $18.04 are going out to credit card holders to settle claims over the improper setting and disclosure of foreign currency conversion fees. Consumers who filed claim forms and provided documentation may be entitled to more. The problem? The envelope looks like junk mail, making it likely that many consumers may unknowningly toss the check in the garbage. What does the mailer look like?
County Executive Forum on County Budget
Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett is sponsoring a budget forum in our community next week:
Tuesday, January 17 at 7:30 p.m., Mid-County Community Recreation Center, 2004 Queensguard Road, Silver Spring.
Leggett is encouraging residents to attend the forums to provide input in light of budget shortfalls predicted in the coming fiscal year.
Sign language interpreter services will be provided only upon request with notice as far in advance as possible, but no less than 72 hours prior to the event. If these or other services or aids are needed to participate in this activity, please call 240-777-6507, TTY 240-777-6505 or email a request tokaren.falcon@montgomerycountymd.gov.
Top 10 Scams Targeting Seniors
Odile Brunetto, Montgomery County's hardworking Director of the County Department of Health and Human Services' Area Agency on Aging , Aging and Disability Services, has compiled an excellent list of the top scams targeting our area senior these days and sent it around via email. Since I cannot find it online to link to it for you, I will past the content of her email so that we all can be on guard:
1. Health Care/Medicare/Health Insurance Fraud
Every U.S. citizen or permanent resident over age 65 qualifies for Medicare, so there is rarely any need for a scam artist to research what private health insurance company older people have in order to scam them out of some money.
How Your Md. Business Can Do Business in India
Following up on all of our work during the trade mission to India to open the doors of that country for Maryland businesses, I wanted to share with you invaluable information about how to do business in India. Opening the market to Maryland businesses was one step, and now I want to make sure our businesses are equiped to move forward.
Prior to our mission to India, Vinod Jain, President & CEO of the India-US World Affairs Institute and a professor at the Smith School of Business at the Univesity of Maryland, compiled an informative seminar that thought Maryland companies how to get a piece of the action in the growing subcontinental market.
State Legislative Redistricting
As you may have seen in the news, the General Assembly will take up state legislative redistricting when the 2012 session convenes on January 11. Earlier this year, we completed congressional redistricting pursuant to 2010 census data, and the next part of the process is redrawing state legislative lines—those boundaries that delineate the 47 state Senate and House of Delegates districts.
Activity Stream
January 27, 2012 - 9:59am
Sam tweeted "MoCo Delegation just passed MC 2-12, 3-12, 6-12, 7-12 & 17-12. You can read the bills here http://t.co/ZeFRodJc #fb" 9:59am#- Sam tweeted "Montgomery County Delegation being briefed on a bus rapid transit plan." 9:11am#
January 26, 2012 - 4:31pm
- Sam tweeted "Keeping Arsenic off the Dinner Table http://t.co/4qmEiqdq #fb" 4:31pm#
- Sam tweeted "Happy Indian Republic Day -- Desis out there know what that is. Reminds me that it's been some time since I've had Indian food." 4:30pm#