As Speaker Pro Tem, I had the honor of presiding over the second House floor sessions on March 14th and March 15th. Here is a link to the floor session on March 14th. This past Monday was "Crossover Day" - the day by which any bill must be passed in one chamber for it to be guaranteed a hearing in the other chamber. | - Speaker's Decency Agenda
- Dana’s Legislation
- Key Session Legislation
| - Constituent Meetings in Annapolis
- Resources
- Legislative Scholarship Applications
| In her opening speech on the first day of session this year, Speaker Adrienne Jones spoke about the need to restore decency to our society. “To me, decency is about respect,” Jones said. “Respect for our communities, coworkers, friends, and families. Unfortunately, over the past few years, that respect has been jeopardized by political disagreements that have literally pulled us apart.” These are the final three bills of her agenda (see previous newsletter for more on the Speaker's Decency Agenda): House Bill 602 – Employment Discrimination - Sexual Orientation - Sponsored by Speaker Jones and co-sponsored by Del. Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore), Chair of the House Judiciary Committee. The bill would ensure that employees do not discriminate against a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity in Maryland. The legislation passed the House by a vote of 137-2.
House Bill 1386 – Education - School Employee Anti-Bias Training - Requirements - Sponsored by Del. Vanessa Atterbeary (D-Howard), Chair of the Ways and Means Committee, this bill would require each county and the City of Baltimore Boards of Education to provide employees with annual training “on the prevention of antisemitism and islamophobia.” The bill passed the House 124-10. House Bill 1287 – State and County Superintendent of Schools - Employment Contracts - This legislation was sponsored by Speaker Jones and co-sponsored by Chair Atterbeary and Del. Jheanelle K. Wilkins (D-Montgomery), Vice Chair of the Ways and Means Committee and Chair of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland. As part of rewarding an initial contract, this legislation would require an incoming State Superintendent of Schools or local Superintendents of Schools to complete a school leadership course or program during the course of their contract. As of March 168, this bill had passed Second Reader with some amendments. | This graph is from the Share UMD Manufacturing Study. For more information, visit the full study here. | The 2009 Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act authorized Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) to regulate GHG emissions from all sectors of Maryland’s economy with one exception: the manufacturing sector. When those reduction goals were expanded in 2016 and 2022, we maintained the manufacturing exemption. This bill would modify the exemption on manufacturing and is based on a recommendation made by the Maryland Commission on | Climate Change that was approved by a vote of 18 to 1. It’s also one of six legislative actions proposed in the Maryland Climate Pollution Reduction Plan released by MDE in December 2023. It gives MDE the authority to regulate emissions from manufacturers that come to the state after 2023 and regulate emissions from existing manufacturers at their 2023 levels. By removing the manufacturing exemption from emissions reduction standards, this bill ensures that Maryland meet its goal for “an all-of-society approach” to meeting our GHG Reduction goals. As ofMarch 18, this legislation had passed the House 103 - 35. | HB 1446 has four provisions related to the safe operation of railroads throughout Maryland. The first provision is the two-person crew requirement that is very similar to legislation the House has passed five times. It requires a minimum of two people on freight trains operating in the state. The other rail safety provisions | For more information on similar legislation, visit this website here. | include the following: - A requirement that the Commissioner of Labor develop a database of hazardous material being shipped by rail and provide that information to the Maryland Department of Emergency Management to ensure first responders are prepared if they were to be dispatched to an accident site;
- A requirement that wayside detector systems capable of alerting train crews when a train defect is detected be placed at intervals along a track;
- Authority for a designated railroad union representative be allowed on railroad property to inspect safety violations of federal or state laws.
This legislation would prevent rail tragedies before they happen, rather than after a tragic accident causes injury, death, or destruction. | This legislation will reduce the number of uninsured Marylanders, lower health insurance premiums, and save the state money by reducing the amount of uncompensated care by enabling Maryland’s undocumented population to purchase individual health insurance plans from the state’s insurance marketplace. Before that can happen, however, the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange (the state’s insurance marketplace created by the national Affordable Care Act) must file a federal waiver to | permit these individuals to purchase health care plans. This bill does not provide state subsidies for undocumented individuals. It simply allows them to purchase health insurance through the Health Benefit Exchange. This bill expands the original purpose of the Affordable Care Act—to enable low-income people to purchase healthcare so they do not have to resort to emergency rooms for care, which adds to higher insurance premiums for those who already have health insurance. The House bill passed 101-34 and the Senate Bill 34-13. | For more information, please see this article. | Faced with the unfortunate reality that active shooter drills are a part of life, this bill establishes procedures to help reduce the potential mental health impacts these drills have our students. The bill requires: - Age-appropriate drills and conversations with students;
- Notification before and after drills sent to families;
- Drills designed with trauma-informed care; and
- A requirement that schools send home safe gun-storage information annually and provide additional support for students/staff with a disability or who have experienced trauma.
This bill passed the House 138-0. | HB39 supports homecare/personal care aid workers who are overwhelmingly women, women of color, and immigrants. The bill focuses on residential service agencies who are reimbursed through Medicaid and who should be classifying their workers as employees. At present, some residential service agencies classify them as contract workers, which means there is no oversight over how they are paid. Under state law, personal care workers should be classified as employees. These are the people who are at the front line of our healthcare crisis, and they are overworked and underpaid. This bill ensures that agencies get reimbursed by Medicaid only when homecare aids are classified as employees and can receive benefits. The House bill passed 101-37 and the Senate bill 33-13. | This bill requires personal care agencies to report to the Department of Labor regarding the wage rates of personal care aides each year. Currently, there is no data on how many personal aides/homecare workers are in the workforce, where they work, what their wages are, where there are shortages, or where the State should be investing to increase capacity, etc., because there is no reporting on this population of workers. This legislation passed the House by a vote of 106-30, and will now be considered by the Senate. | CONSTITUENT MEETINGS IN ANNAPOLIS | 2024 Tiger Pride Day! Towson University and Student Government Association students visited our office to advocate for legislation and matters of the TU community. Julie enjoyed hearing of their future plans and we wish them much success. Go Tigers! | Members and staff of the Arc Baltimore visited on Developmental Disabilities Day to discuss a number of bills, including HB 60, which changes the definition of “disability” to remove outdated language and conform to federal law; and HB 1163, which would ensure funding for the Division of Rehabilitation Services (DORS) to maximize its ability to receive federal funds. | I met with doctors from the Baltimore County Medical Association (MedChi) about important health care bills. | Julie and Ian meet with the Maryland State Dental Association to talk about health insurance and pediatric care. | It was a privilege to meet with the Baltimore - Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church. This group represents over 600 geographical congregations across the State of Maryland and came to voice their support for safe and affordable housing for all. | | IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO GET HEALTH COVERAGE FOR 2024 | The Easy Enrollment program runs through tax season. Marylanders are eligible for their own special enrollment period when they file their taxes any time before April 15, 2024. To do that, they need to check the box! In-person help is available: Find a Navigator in your area. | LEGISLATIVE SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS | UPDATE: Our office is aware of the delay with FAFSA Student Aid Indexes (SAI) reports. When submitting applications, if your SAI is still outstanding, please make note of it in your application and we will accept your SAI at a later date. Thank you. | The applications for my H. Allan Lipsitz Memorial Legislative Scholarship are now available on my website www.danastein.com Students who received my scholarship last year need to re-apply for the 2024-2025 academic year. Download the application from my website. Students can get additional information about state financial aid—including how to navigate the new FAFSA process—by going to the Maryland Higher Education Commission website. To be considered for state financial aid, you must file FAFSA by June 1, 2024. To be notified of scholarship eligibility for Maryland Scholarships, you are encouraged to file by March 1. | I'm proud to represent District 11B in the Maryland General Assembly House of Delegates. If I can ever be of assistance, please contact me at dana.stein@house.state.md.us or call my Annapolis Office at 410-841-3527 | Dana Stein Delegate, District 11B, Maryland General Assembly | |
