The County Council passed two bills in early June that will greatly benefit the environment and our politics, both of which GAN supported and advocated for.
The Bring Your Own Bag bill greatly reduces the number of one-time-use plastic bags in circulation. These bags choke animals, pollute our waterways, and last at least a thousand years in our dumps and landfills, released the petroleum and other chemicals into the ground and groundwater for forever. This is a BIG win for the environment! You can read the bill and its amendments at:
The Public Campaign Financing Bill enables candidates for county executive and county council to apply for public financiing of their political campaigns. Not all candidates will be willing to forego corporate sponsorship in order to qualify. Not all can raise the money required to qualify. Not all will be able to garner enough signatures in order to qualify. The bar is set fairly high, to make sure that candidates are well organized and have a reasonable chance of success before receiving tax payer dollars, as it should be. But it also allows candidates who are not well funded by special interests but who have successfully hustled and created a substantial base of support in the community to have a voice and be heard in a marketplace of ideas that is dominated by big money. This is a BIG win for democracy! You can read the bill and its amendments at:
And there is much more to come, including an important bill ensuring the adequacy of public schools in the county, and on housing, and on development. Watch this space!