Legislative Update – March 6, 2020
As we get closer to ‘cross-over’ date more bills are passing through
one of the chambers of the Maryland Legislature. Crossover date is the date that almost all
the bills have to pass either the Senate or House of Delegates so they can be
heard in a timely fashion by the other legislative body. Cross-over date this year is March 16th
I am listing some of the bills that passed one of the legislative
bodies this week and then other bills I am tracking. All bills have to be passed by both the State Senate and the
House of Delegates and then signed into law. At the end of the bill I also list bills that will not pass this
year.
Bills That
Have Made Progress This Week
·
Blueprint for Maryland’s Future (Kirwan
Commission Recommendations) HB 1300/SB 1000 - Passed House of Delegates
o
The
bill will
·
Expand
pre-kindergarten programs;
·
Increase
funding to schools with a high percentage of poor, special education or
limited-English students;
·
Add
more programs to ensure that students are prepared for college and careers.
·
Raise
teacher pay;
·
Hire
thousands more educators to increase individual attention for students
·
Expand
teacher planning and individualized instruction time;
·
Expand
career technical education and community schools
·
Providing
more support and staffing for special education and mental health services
·
Create
an independent, seven-member “Accountability and Implementation Board” to
oversee the overhaul. Local school systems would be required to submit plans
showing how they are implementing the law. In addition to scrutinizing how
schools are spending state taxpayers’ money, the board would be required to
study student performance and how well the policies are closing an achievement
gap among students of different races.
·
The bill was amended to provide relief from some of the
financial obligations facing local governments. The amendment will result in
the state absorbing a greater proportion of the increased education funding in
17 jurisdictions including Prince George’s County. Prince George’s will have to
pay $183 million more by 2030, down from $386 million. Prince George’s schools
will receive the most new state funding: $724 million more annually by 2030.
·
The big question is how it will be funded. The bill requires the state to pay $2.9 billion more annually to local
school systems by 2030. Local jurisdictions would have to pay a combined $863
million more by 2030. A package of revenue
bills was voted out of the Ways and Means Committee but the legislature has not yet voted on the
package to fund these improvements
·
Debt Collection – HB 365 -
This bill increases the amount of money a person can
keep in his/her pay check protected from a judgment. Too many people can’t
buy food and clothes for their family because of the money that is taken out of
their check because of debt obligations. Passed House of Delegates
·
Public Financing of School Board
Candidates – SB 298 / HB 337 – Passed State Senate
·
Prohibiting an
employer from taking adverse employment action against an employee for
inquiring about the employee's wages. HB 14 Passed
House of Delegates
·
Removes
prohibitions on prosecuting an individual accused of having raped or committed
a sexual offense against their own spouse. HB 590 Passed House of Delegates
·
Extends
insurance coverage for in vitro fertilization services to unmarried
women in order to prevent discrimination on the basis of marital status. HB 781 Passed House of
Delegates
·
Requires
authority line to be used in campaign robocalls. HB 216 Passed House of Delegates.
·
Prohibition on Use of Chlorpyrifos – The pesticide Chlorpyrifos has been
proven to cause brain damage in children, harm our environment, and kill
wildlife.
HB 229/SB 300 Prohibiting the use of chlorpyrifos in the State - Passed the Senate
Status of Other Important Bills
Consumer Rights
·
Bans the Use of Credit
History in Rating Policies SB 17/HB 431- Prohibits
an insurer, from pricing insurance based
on the credit history of an applicant; Senate Hearing Held
·
Motor Vehicle and Homeowner's Insurance -
Use of Claim History in Rating Policies – HB 431 / SB 470 Prohibits
an insurer, with respect to private passenger motor vehicle insurance, from
increasing the premium for an insured based on a homeowner's insurance claim;
and prohibiting an insurer, with respect to homeowner's insurance, from
increasing the premium for an insured based on a private passenger motor
vehicle insurance claim. Passed House of Delegates – Senate Hearing
Held
Criminal Justice
·
Maryland
Second Look Act – HB 323/SB 591 This bill authorizes inmates serving a
lengthy term of incarceration to file a petition for modification of sentence
after serving greater than 25 years in prison.
The judge may modify the sentence if he/she determines that retention is
not necessary for the protection of the public. Hearings Held
·
Pre-release Unit for
Women – HB 608/ SB 682– MD has four pre-release facilities for men but none for women. Hearings Held
·
Taking the Governor Out
of the Parole System - HB 1219/SB 817 The independent Parole Board
recommends whether long term prisoners should be released but for the last
twenty years Maryland’s Governors have not followed up on the recommendations
of the Parole Board because of politics. Hearings Held
·
Possession of small Amounts of Marijuana – HB 550 Increases from 10 grams to 1 ounce,
the amount of marijuana below which possession is a civil offense, rather than
a criminal offense and provides that a person may not be charged with
possession with intent to distribute marijuana based solely on the possession
of less than 1 ounce. House Hearing Held
·
Partial Expungement SB 589/HB 1336 This bill expands
Maryland’s current expungement law to apply to charges which did not end in a
conviction even when other charges from the same incident end in a conviction.
Senate Hearing Held. House Judiciary
Hearing – March 10
Education
·
Blueprint for
Maryland's Future HB 1300/SB 1100 – In 2016, the Maryland Legislature formed the Commission on
Innovation and Excellence in Education, popularly known as the Kirwan
Commission. The commission issued a report earlier this year with an aggressive
plan to improve Maryland’s schools. This
is the bill Implementation of the plan requires increased spending of up to $4
billion per year. The big question this year is how are we going to raise the money to fund
this bill. There are a lot of good bills
that have been introduced to raise revenue.
These bills have also have to be passed to fully implement the
recommendations outlined in HB 1300/SB 111. Hearings Held
o Build to Learn Act of 2020 HB 1/SB This bill provides more money to repair and build
schools to ease crowding and replace aging buildings The legislation authorizes
the Maryland Stadium Authority to issue up to $2.2 billion in school
construction bonds, beginning in fiscal 2022, giving priority to districts with
the oldest buildings, the highest number of classroom trailers and the most
students from poor families. Passed
House of Delegates
·
Funding for HBCU
Colleges HB 1260 / SB 1043 – Requires
the Governor, in each of fiscal years 2022 through 2031, to include in the
annual State operating budget $57,700,000 to be allocated to certain
historically black colleges and universities.
House Hearing Held
·
Ban Lunch Shaming – SB
760 /HB 1173
This bill bans the practice of ‘lunch shaming’ where students have their
lunches thrown away and replaced if they have unpaid bills. Hearings Held
Environment
·
Plastics and Packaging Reduction Act – HB 209/SB 313 Prohibits a store from
distributing plastic carryout bags to a customer at the point of sale;
requiring a store to charge and collect at least 10 cents for each durable
carryout bag the store provides to a customer Hearings Held
·
Community Choice Energy –
SB 315/HB 561 Allows local jurisdiction to aggregate the residents in their
community to negotiate with energy providers for lower rates and a greater
percentage of energy from renewable sources.
purchase energy at a lower rate. House Hearing Held
·
Banning Single Use
Plastic Straws HB 296 – Prohibiting a food
service business from providing a single-use plastic straw to a customer Hearing Held
·
MTA Conversion to
Electric Buses HB 432 – Mandates that new buses purchased
by the state be electric powered. Hearing
Held
·
Consideration of
Environmental and Labor Concerns in Public Service Commission Rate Decisions HB
531 Requires
the Public Service Commission to incorporate the evaluation of the impact of
electric power plants on the environment in their decision making process.
Also, when they are considering regulating and servicing public service
companies that they consider maintenance of fair and stable labor standards for
affected workers. House Hearing Held
o Clean Jobs Building Act - HB 1490 – Net zero standards for new
government buildings and new commercial buildings by 2025. Hearing Held
o Coal Transition Bill – HB 1545/SB 887 Shutting
down the six existing coal plants in MD while compensating employees who will lose
their jobs because of the plant shutdowns. Hearing Held
o Carbon Tax HB 1543/SB
912- Establish a greenhouse gas (GHG)
pollution charge on all GHG-producing substances distributed or used in the
State. House Hearing Economic Matters
– 3/12
·
Climate Solutions Act
of 2020 - SB 926/HB 1426- Greenhouse Gas
Reduction Act Increases
the greenhouse gas reductions that the State must achieve by 2030 to 60% and
requires the State to achieve net-zero statewide greenhouse gas emissions by
2045 and establishes a Climate Jobs Workgroup Senate Hearing Held/ House Hearing March 9
·
Taking Incineration out
of the Renewable Portfolio Standard – HB 438 / SB 560 - Hearings Held
·
Prohibition From
Intentionally Releasing a Balloon Into the Atmosphere – SB 28 –Balloon releases are popular for celebrations and
memorials. But proponents of balloon bans argue that what goes up, must come
down — and the deflated balloons and strings that land miles away pose a danger
to wildlife and contribute to a litter problem.
Passed the Senate
Gambling
·
Referendum
on Sports Betting – HB 169 / SB 325 –Hearings Held
Gun Control
·
Rifles and
Shotguns: Secondary Transactions – HB 4 /SB 208 Maryland law requires the regulation of
the “sale, transfer, rental, and possession of regulated firearms, which
consist of handguns and assault weapons,” However, this regulation does not
currently apply to rifles and shotguns,
Under the bill, a third-party licensed gun dealer would be involved, and
the transfer must be done under three conditions: The sale must be from the
owner; there must be a background and
the transfer must comply with all federal and state law that would apply to the
transfer. Passed House of
Delegates Senate
Hearing Held
Health Care
·
Study
on Universal Health Care – SB 228 Establishes a Commission on Universal Health
Care to develop a plan for the State to establish, a universal health care
program to provide health benefits to all residents of the State through a
single-payer system Hearing Held
·
·
End of Life Option - HB
643/SB 701 Allows
terminally ill patients (specifically patients who have been certified as
having six months or less to live) to request medication to end their
lives. There are many safeguards in this bill, such as ensuring that only
the terminally ill patient can make the request; that they have to make it
three separate times and then have it notarized; that a separate doctor has to
certify that they qualify as terminally ill; and that the medication be self
administered. This is an option only. It will allow those who are
suffering to end their suffering. Hearings
Held
·
Legalization and
Taxation of Cannabis - HB 1400 – Hearing
Held
·
Hospitals - Financial
Assistance Policies and Bill Collections – HB 1420/ SB 875 Increasing
the family income threshold to between 200% and 500% of the federal poverty
level at which a hospital's financial assistance policy must provide free
medically necessary care to patients; requiring that a certain financial
assistance policy include a certain payment plan and a certain mechanism for a
patient to request a certain reconsideration.
Hearings Held
Housing
·
Housing Opportunities
Made Equal Act – HB 231/SB 530 – Provides
fair housing to all citizens regardless of source of income; provides
additional opportunities for tenants utilizing public subsidies to live in
certain neighborhoods and prohibits a person from refusing to sell or rent a
dwelling to any person because of source of income;. Passed State Senate -
House Hearing Held
Immigrant Justice
·
Restricting Cooperation
with ICE in Civil Matters - HB 388 Prohibits law enforcement agents from making
inquiries about an individual's immigration status, citizenship status, or
place of birth or transferring an individual to federal immigration
authorities, without a warrant. Hearing
Held
·
Safe Areas For Immigration
Enforcement – HB 403 To allow public schools, hospitals, and courthouses to draft
policies that limit civil immigration enforcement activities on their premises
in order to ensure these facilities remain safe and accessible to all; Hearing Held
·
Dignity not
Detention – HB 677 - Prohibits state and local jurisdictions (or
sheriffs) from entering into any agreement for the detention of individuals in
an immigration detention facility owned or managed by a private entity. Additionally, no state or local entity can
approve zoning for the construction of an immigration detention facility
without public notice or comment. Hearing
Held
·
Motor Vehicle
Administration - Warrant for Personal Information and Reporting HB 892 / SB
649- Denies access to ICE to the part of a
Motor Vehicle Administration record that contains personal information without
a valid warrant. Hearings Heard
Revenue
• End Ineffective Business Subsidies –
HB 223 - Ends ineffective business tax credits. Hearing
Held
•
Digital Advertising Gross Revenues SB 2/HB 695 This is the first proposal
introduced that produces revenue to fund the new educational initiatives
proposed by the Kirwan Commission. This
bill adds a tax on digital advertising, The tax, would apply a 2.5% to 10% tax
(depending on size) to businesses that make money from digital advertising. Senate Hearing Held
• Taxing Electronic
Smoking Devices – SB 3/HB 695 This bill will make e-cigarettes taxable (they are
currently exempted) Senate Hearing Held
• Combined
Reporting HB 295- Requires large, multistate
corporations to pay their fair share in corporate taxes for profits generated
from subsidiaries in Maryland. House
Hearing Held
·
Throwback Rule HB 473 -Requires
large, multistate corporations to pay their fair share in corporate taxes for
profits generated related to sales in Maryland. House Hearing Held
·
Corporate
Tax Fairness Act (Combined Reporting & Throwback) – SB 311 A
combination of Combined Reporting and the Throwback rule in the same bill. Senate Hearing Held
·
Carried
Interest HB 439/SB 216- Apply a 19% state income surtax on the distributive or
pro-rata share of a pass-through entity’s taxable income that is attributable
to investment management services provided in the State. Senate and House Hearings
Held
·
Estate Tax
Giveaway Reversal HB 256- Reverses
handout to wealthy given in 2014 by resetting the estate tax exemption limit at
$1 million instead of $5 million. House Hearing Held
·
Sunsets All Business Tax Credits – HB 565 – This bill sets dates for certain business tax credits to end
(they can always be renewed). Many of
these credits are not effective and they need to be reviewed before they are
automatically renewed – House Hearing
Held
·
Enabling Counties to Enact Progressive
Taxes – HB 1494 – Counties are going to have to pay more
money to support education. This bill
enables Counties to change their income tax from a flat tax to a progressive
tax. Counties would still have to enact
legislation to implement this. Hearing
Held
·
Shut the Revolving Door Act of 2020 – HB 315/SB 206 – Stops senior members
of the executive branch from immediately getting jobs as lobbyists after their
leave their job. Passed State Senate - Hearings Held
Social Justice
·
Sex, Gender Identity or
Sexual Orientation – HB 488 -Establishes that the discovery or
perception of, or belief about, another person's sex, gender identity, or
sexual orientation, whether or not accurate, does not constitute legally
adequate provocation to mitigate a killing
or an assault from the crime of assault.
·
Hate
Crimes Act HB 5- This bill prohibits a person from inscribing or placing an
item or a symbol, including nooses or swastikas, on any public or private
property without express permission of the owner with the intent to threaten or
intimidate Passed the House of Delegates – Passed State Senate (now both bills have to pass the other chamber
and if there are differences between the two bills they have to be reconciled)
·
Repeal of Anti-Sodomy Laws:
HB 81
Repeals the crimes of sodomy and unnatural or perverted sexual practice; Passed
the House of Delegates
Transportation
·
County Consent for Expansion of Toll
Roads – SB 229 HB 292 - Prohibits the State construction of new toll roads without
the consent of a majority of the affected counties. Hearing House Environment
and Transportation Comm. House Hearing
Held
·
Transit
Safety and Investment Act - HB 368 -
Governor Hogan has been removing money from the Maryland Transit Administration
for the past 5 years and they are in such dire straights that they can't afford
maintenance of buses and light rail.
This bill will allow them to receive funding for all of their
outstanding maintenance items. House
Hearing Held
Workers Rights
·
Wage History Act - HB 123/SB 217 Requires an employer to
provide to an applicant for employment the wage range for the position for
which the applicant applied; prohibits an employer from taking negative actions
against an applicant for employment because the applicant did not provide wage
history or a wage range; prohibiting an employer from relying on wage history
and from seeking an applicant's wage history from former employers or their
agents. House Hearing Held
·
Graduate Assistant Collective
Bargaining Fairness Act – HB 214 Grants collective
bargaining rights to graduate assistants within the University of Maryland
system, Morgan State University, and St. Mary's College of Maryland; House Hearing Held
·
Heat Stress Standards HB 722 / SB 434 Establishes a health and safety standard for heat stress levels and requires employers to
develop, implement, and maintain a certain excessive heat-related illness prevention
plan for employees Senate Hearing Finance – Feb 20
·
Family Medical Leave
Act – HB 839/SB 539 Bill
establishes a private sector family and medical leave insurance fund to provide
partial wage replacement for employees who take unpaid leave to care for a new
child or a family member with a serious health condition. House Hearing Feb 24
Voting Rights/Democracy Initiatives
·
Special
Election to Fill a Vacancy in the General Assembly - SB 10/HB 103 This bill requires a special
election if there is a vacancy in the first year of the term. The special election would occur on the dates
of the Presidential Primary and General Election and would not cost any extra
money. Passed
the Senate! House Hearing Held
·
Election
Law - References to Absentee Voting in Communications - Mail-In-Voting - HB0037 - This bill requires
changing the reference to Absentee Ballots to 'Mail-In' Ballots. Hearing Held
·
Election
Law - Individuals Released from Correctional Facilities - Voter Registration - HB0051
– HB 568/SB91
- This
bill requires correctional facilities to provide inmates who have completed
their sentence with a voter registration form before releasing them and
informing them that they will have the right to vote but must register to do
so. Hearing Held
·
Prohibition
on Foreign Contributions to Campaigns HB34/SB87 Prohibits a foreign-based corporation from
making a political contribution to a campaign or making an independent
expenditure to the campaign. House Hearing Held
·
Authorizing Counties to Allow Public Financing of Local School
Board Elections HB 337/SB 298 Hearing
Held
o Small Donor Incentive Act for State
Legislators – HB 1494 Expands
public finding to members of the General Assembly – Hearing Held
o Prohibition
on Developers Making Contributions to County Execs – HB 1544 - There
are complaints that Prince George’s County is the only County that forbids
developers from making contributions to the County Executive. This bill would make that prohibition state
wide. Hearing Held
o Special
Election to Fill a Vacancy in the General Assembly - SB 10/HB 103 This
bill requires a special election if there is a vacancy in the first year of the
term. The special election would occur
on the dates of the Presidential Primary and General Election and would not
cost any extra money. Passed the Senate!
House Hearing Held
Local Bills
·
Prohibiting a State
agency from acquiring or constructing any toll road, toll highway, or toll
bridge in Prince George’s County unless authorized by Prince George’s County HB 258 –
Hearing Held
·
Repealing a prohibition on a develop from making a
contribution to the County Executive of Prince George’s
County or a slate that includes the County Executive HB 282 (This is not a bill
that I support) Hearing Held
·
Tax credits for small
businesses Impacted by the Purple Lane – HB 540 /SB 645 - Creates a
tax credit for a business that is
impacted by the construction of the Purple Line light rail project. The credit
is equal to the amount of business income lost during the taxable year as a
result of the Purple Line construction Hearomgs Je;d
Bills that Will not Pass
this Year
·
Constitutional
Amendment for Environmental Right – HB 517 Enable voters to choose to amend the state’s constitution to include a
right to a clean, safe and healthful environment as a way to protect
individuals and communities against the worst possible cases of environmental
degradation. Withdrawn
·
Prohibition of State Funds for MAGLEV – HB 715 Prohibits the State from using any
appropriation for a magnetic levitation transportation system in the State;
House Hearing Appropriations Committee – Unfavorable Report by Appropriations
Committee – Withdrawn
·
Lifeline Low-Cost Auto Insurance Pilot for Prince George’s and
Baltimore – HB 660/SB 934 This bill lowers the
minimum liability coverage for good drivers.
MD has the highest minimum liability coverage in the US. – Referred
to an interim study after session
·
Medical Debt Protection
Act – HB 1081 This would increase protections including
ensuring that a person couldn’t lose his/her home because of medical debt. Withdrawn
·
Allowing Prince George’s County to Charge A Fee for Use of Disposable
Bags HB 321 – Hearing on this bill was cancelled. (There is a state-wide ban on disposable bags
that is being considered in the legislature)
·
Capital Gains Tax Increase – HB 222 Providing for an additional State individual income
tax rate of 1% on net capital gains of individuals. Will not be voted on by
the Ways and Means Committee
·
Close the pass-through/LLC loophole HB 507- Apply a 4% entity-level tax on
profits over $1 million for LLCs. LLCs
are limited partnerships which do not pay a corporate business tax Will not be voted on by the Ways and
Means Committee
There
is a good website that tracks bills. You
might want to look at the Maryland Legislative Coalition: http://mdlegislative.com
Please
remember, the reason I inform about these bills is so they can contact their
state legislators and let them know how you feel about legislation they’re
going to vote on.
General Information
If
you want to know any more about any of the bills go to the Maryland General
Assembly web-site: www.mgaleg.maryland.gov and type in the bill
number.
If you want to contact your representatives in District 47 about any of the bills, you should email or call:
Senator Malcolm Augustine Malcolm.augustine@senate.state.md.us 410-841-3745
Delegate Diana Fennell (47A) Diana.fennell@house.state.md.us 301-858-3478
Delegate Julian Ivey (47A) Julian.ivey@house.state.md.us 410-841-3326
Delegate Wanika Fisher (47B) Wanika.fisher@house.state.md.us 410-841-3340
If you do not know who are your representatives, you can go to www.mdelect.net .
