One Pa. rep’s stands
My name is Reifon Chiu, a high school senior at Julia R. Masterman in Philadelphia. I’m writing this op-ed for a couple of reasons: for a project in my Civics class, to better understand how my state representative (which happens to be Rep. Tom Murt) has been tangibly changing the lives of those in Pennsylvania, and to also suggest a couple of ideas that could potentially help Rep. Murt tackle some issues that are seen today.
There are two main topics that I’d like to discuss: Murt’s bills on education, and Murt’s stance on gun control. In 2008, Murt supported the Omnibus Education Bill, which dealt with school bullying policy via increasing awareness of bullying in schools and assisting in the development of protocols deterring future bullying issues and violence. The next year, Murt co-sponsored HB 704, a bill that created an equation to help set aside funding for those with special needs to receive education suited to their needs. In 2013, Murt co-sponsored HB 1411, which required schools to make their annual financial report public. Clearly, Murt’s previous experiences as the director of Upper Moreland’s School District, combined with his degree in education shine through his supportiveness of educational safety, equality, and transparency as a state representative.
There are many more pressing issues that must be addressed, including HB 1448, which he’d signed just last year, which required that schools test for lead in their water systems. I liked Murt’s vote, however, I don’t believe that this is enough. I think that many more searches and tests must be conducted within school buildings, on a much more regular basis than just once or twice a decade, especially in school buildings built before the 1980s.
There is no reason why children should have to be concerned about their longterm health in an educational environment. Although I am not sure exactly how much action has been made in an effort to combat the specific asbestos issue, I believe that there should be a bill to address this general issue of health risks involving infrastructure of older educational buildings while also providing funding for what should be mandatory testing and fixing which should take place as soon as possible. I beg that Murt consider the potential amounts of detrimental impact on the health of the next generations to come.
The next issue I’d like to address is gun control.
Murt’s approach toward gun control might sound foreign to some people, but I believe that his decision to tackle problems concerning mental health issues is legitimate and it should be better recognized as a valid approach toward this issue that has sparked a nationwide debate for decades. I believe that since Murt sponsoring HB 1233 (which essentially increased the accessibility of treatment facilities for aiding with mental health) unanimously passed by the House in 2017, is a solid step in the right direction toward reducing the unbelievably high number of fatal shootings in the U.S. Since the accessibility of these resources has increased, the logical and most impactful next step would be to improve the affordability of these resources. Even if the right help for people who struggle with mental health is close by, it means nothing to those who struggle financially. Maybe Murt can try to reallocate some funds towards this issue to alleviate this problem.
Thank you for your time, and I encourage you to also take some time to really look into what your own state representative is really doing beyond just what they say that they’re doing. You never know what solutions you might come across that could benefit the entire state!
“There is no reason why children should have to be concerned about their long-term health in an educational environment.”
— Reifon Chiu