I listened to the the assembly hearings and I came away with a sense of pride in being a resident of our state. I applaud the bipartisan assembly leadership for holding the hearings. Being a skeptic I assumed that this would be a dog and pony show, but for the many residents who showed up on short notice to have their voices heard was a real credit to our state. Most residents showed up in the spirit in which the event was meant to foster a dialog between the public and their representatives in Trenton. Speaker Oliver was right on when she opined that legislators in Trenton get caught up in a bubble where they lose focus of what the people they are sent to Trenton to represent are feeling, not only were many creative ideas from the citizen’s who attended presented, citing examples from other states, federal legislation that was in the works and other creative ideas, it was remarkable. I want to leave my thoughts at praising the public and the legislators to getting off to a good start. What will come of this we shall see. I encourage you to listen to some of the hearing it can be found on the legislative website