By Amanda Hamid
How well do you know your state representative?
Do you know what their duty is, and what they have done for you so far? A state representative introduces bills that they believe would best fulfill the interests of the people who live in their district.
Today, I’m writing to inform you about state Rep. Jason Dawkins, who serves the 179th Legislative District (includes Frankford, Wissinoming, Olney and Northwood). Dawkins is a very passionate man who seems to be fully aware of current issues — and has strong views on them.
Dawkins is most passionate about education. He believes that all children should have the best educational opportunities available and wants it to be equal for all. Despite that, Dawkins has not sponsored any bills relating to this.
Dawkins also cares about small business and families. He sponsored a bill that would provide tax incentives to businesses that provide child care services to their employees. This motivates businesses to provide for their employees’ children in order for them to pay less in taxes. This helps employees by giving them the opportunity to not pay for daycare. They could now use that money toward other things.
Introducing tax incentives does open room for us to ask the question of where we will be getting money from to provide for our district/city. I have not seen any bills sponsored by Dawkins, but I have seen an attempt with HR 571, which was encouraging Amazon to choose a location in Pennsylvania to place their second headquarters. This would have been a major economic powerhouse.
It may seem that Dawkins cares only about the economy, but that’s not true — he also cares about gun violence. Gun violence is something that is seen too often in this district, and it’s very important that steps are taken in attempt to control it. Dawkins sponsored a bill that would prohibit those who have committed domestic abuse from owning or buying a firearm. This will be helpful in reducing gun crime on our streets.
Overall, Dawkins seems to care about his job, and is well aware of issue that need to be addressed; however, he has not done much about them. Dawkins has passed few bills that actually impact the people, and I personally would like to see more. ••
Amanda is a senior at Julia R. Masterman High School. In her social sciences class, she has been assigned a project to write an op-ed on her local state representative.
