As we enter the final stretch of Summer 2020, I am still fascinated by how much our lives have changed in the few months since COVID-19 first hit New Jersey and the rest of our nation. Lockdowns on our businesses and activities continue, social distancing rules are keeping us apart and our daily routine involves a constant measuring of how deeply the virus is cutting into our social fabric. As we move forward, I remain committed to restoring life as we knew it as quickly and safely as possible, particularly in terms of a booming national economy, full employment and confidence in our political process. I’ve spent the spring and summer working with colleagues to prevent the pandemic from becoming an excuse for some leaders to dispense with our state and federal constitutions — our rights. For example, because of the mishaps and fraud posed by pure vote-by-mail elections, I have insisted that the Governor restore in-person voting this fall while allowing absentee balloting to continue for people who cannot get to the polls. We cannot let the pandemic change who we are as Americans. We also should not allow it to erode our ability to treat each other with dignity and respect or scrap the civility and order necessary for conducting our self-governance.

To that point, my District 26 office in Parsippany has remained open throughout the various levels of shutdowns ordered by the Governor. My staff and I have worked, while alternating our office schedules and practicing social distancing, to attend to constituent needs, including assisting hundreds in navigating the broken Unemployment Insurance system. I also have continued to introduce and push legislation that is important to our quality of life in New Jersey. Please visit the “NJ26 News” section of this newsletter for a sampling of those efforts, particularly our work to protect the Senior Freeze program and to upgrade official websites to be more accessible to people with disabilities. It is especially important now for everyone to have swift and easy access to information posted on the Internet and social media by elected and appointed government officials assisting our constituents.

As always, I also would like to hear more from you about what you believe is important. Feel free to reach out to me and my team; let us know how we may help.

Warmest Regards,

Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce