Posted by Mark Koenig on Monday, April 19, 2010
Thomas Celona from Montgomery News writes:
State Rep. Josh Shapiro, D-153, held a town hall meeting at the North Hills Community Center April 14, speaking about the work he is doing in Harrisburg and addressing residents’ concerns on both state-level and community issues.
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He touched on four acts of legislation he has actively been supporting, the first of which was a ban on the use of hand-held cells phones and texting while driving. The bill, which Shapiro authored, passed in the House Jan. 26 and now awaits Senate approval.
“We’ve all seen it — someone driving down the road, talking on their hand-held cell phone, texting while driving,” he said. “I didn’t give up, and the representatives, driven by their communities, saw the need.”
Shapiro also discussed how he worked with other state legislators and Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman to create a PennDOT policy change that requires the release of bus drivers’ driving records to their employees.
Much of the other legislation Shapiro has helped push through involve health care issues.
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Posted by Mark Koenig on Thursday, April 15, 2010
Monday, May 10 | 8:00-9:30PM
The Drake Tavern
304 Old York Road
Jenkintown, PA 19001
Admission is $15 per person, or $40 per team of 4*. The game will start promptly at 8:15. Drink specials and appetizers will be available. For more information or to RSVP, email mark@joshshapiro.org or call
(215) 886-7376.
* Please note you must be 21 years or older with a valid ID to attend. See you there!
Posted by Mark Koenig on Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Kaitlyn Foti of Montgomery Media writes:
A crowd of local residents gathered Monday night for a town hall meeting with state Rep. Josh Shapiro, D-153, where he discussed a multitude of local issues from speeding to taxing natural gas drilling companies.
Shapiro spoke at the VFW Post 676 in Glenside about both the accomplishments the House has made recently, as well as the challenges it faces, particularly the looming budget.
“There are more than 40 states that face budget deficits. Compared to other big states, Pennsylvania, according to Wall Street Journal, fares better than other states on most indicators,” Shapiro said.
“But that doesn’t help Pennsylvanians who are out of work, who rely on government programs that were cut last year, when we were facing a $3.5 billion deficit. We face again this year a deficit of around $1 billion.”
Balancing a budget around fixed costs and growing incarceration rates — each person in prison costs the state about $32,000 a year, Shapiro said — is not going to be easy. And while Shapiro said a solution is not yet apparent, the state House and Senate are going to do all they can to get the budget finished by the June 30 deadline.
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Campaign finance came up frequently throughout the meeting, as Shapiro has been working on a bill with two other representatives to reform campaign finance laws in the commonwealth.
Some of the other pieces of legislation Shapiro has worked on in Harrisburg include getting a bill passed that reimburses primary care and ob/gyn doctors for their student loans if they agree to practice in Pennsylvania for 10 years. Shapiro said starting to encourage doctors to stay in-state after graduation now will solve a looming crisis 10 years from now when a large percentage of doctors in those fields are retiring, without enough new doctors to take their places.
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Posted by Mark Koenig on Monday, April 12, 2010
Posted from Montgomery Media:
State Rep. Josh Shapiro, D-153, will be holding six town hall meetings to discuss the upcoming state budget, health care, education and other issues important to the community. Meetings will be held:
April 7, 7 to 8:30 p.m., at McKinley Fire Co., 893 Jenkintown Road, Elkins Park;
April 12, 7 to 8:30 p.m., North Penn VFW, 2519 Jenkintown Road, Glenside;
April 13, 7 to 8:30 p.m., Roslyn Boys and Girls Club, 2818 Hammond Ave., Roslyn;
April 14, 7 to 8:30 p.m., North Hills Community Center, 212 Girard Ave., North Hills;
April 15, 7 to 8:30 p.m., Upper Dublin Township Building, 801 Loch Alsh Ave., Fort Washington;
April 17, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Abington Township Building, 1176 Old York Road, Abington.
Posted by Josh Shapiro on Tuesday, April 6, 2010
When I learned in February that a school bus driver in Montgomery County drove his school bus into oncoming traffic killing a person, I was naturally upset and began asking questions. I was disturbed when I learned that the same bus driver was involved in another fatal crash back in 1999 when, while using his handheld cell phone, he crashed his car killing a little 2 year old girl. I was outraged when I found out that PennDot knew he had this driving record but failed to disclose it to the school district and bus company because their regulations didn’t require that it be turned over. In this case, the right hand didn’t know what the left hand was doing.
I got to work on this and am pleased to report that after just a few weeks pressing my case, PennDot agreed to change their policy and now provide a full driver history on school bus driver applicants to the school districts and bus companies. We can never bring back those who lost their lives at the hand of this reckless driver, but we sure can try to make sure this type of driver with such a record doesn’t get hired to drive our children again. The change we fought for and made happen will help keep our kids safe.
This is a big part of what I try to do–see where government is broken and try to make it work. Thanks for your support in empowering me to bring about this kind of important change.
