As Speaker Pro Tem, I have the distince honor to represent Speaker Adrienne Jones at many events. In early February, I represented her at the Maryland Arts Day, when hundreds of residents came to Annapolis to advocate. | - Decency Agenda
- Dana’s Legislation
- Recent Events
- Constituent Meetings in Annapolis
- Dana’s Legislative Scholarship Application
| Dear Friends, We are now more than halfway through the 2024 legislative session. That can make some legislators a bit stressed. For example, I have seven more bills still to be heard in the next 2-1/2 weeks! This year, the Senate will hear 1,176 bills and the House 1,514. Hundreds of bills still have to be heard by Committees before Crossover on March 18. One of the toughest issues this year is the cuts needed in the state budget. Although this year it is being worked on initially in the Senate (chambers alternate years), the House Appropriations Committee has been holding hearings to learn how the budget cuts may affect various programs. The budget cuts have also been a major topic for many of the advocacy groups that have visited Annapolis this year. Of course, everyone is concerned with how the cuts will negatively impact their programs. It’s a tough issue, and many groups are going to feel some impact this year as we balance the budget. | 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.” A little over two weeks ago, on February 15, Speaker Jones announced her “decency agenda” for this session. In a video she released that day, she focused on five bills that had recently been introduced that illustrated what she meant by “decency.” Last week, two of the bills on the Speaker’s Decency Agenda had hearings. HB 785 – Freedom to Read Act This bill will protect Maryland’s library collections and the librarians who curate them. This past year, we’ve seen numerous attempts to ban books in school libraries and public libraries around the State. This legislation will protect school and public library employees by ensuring they “may not be dismissed, suspended, disciplined, demoted, reassigned, transferred or otherwise retaliated against” for following state library standards. For additional information see these articles from Maryland Matters and the Washington Post. HB 602 – Employment Discrimination – Sexual Orientation This legislation would prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation by expanding the State’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Law. See some of the Speaker’s testimony from the hearing here. Delegate Rosenberg introduced a bill in early February to combat election disinformation on social media platforms. HB 333 – Election Law - Election Disinformation on Large Social Media Platforms and Influence Related to Voting The legislation would require each social media platform of more than one million monthly active users in the country “to make reasonable efforts to prevent, detect, and remove accounts and posts that communicate election disinformation in the state.” | This bill is supported by the Maryland Sierra Club, the Baltimore City Department of Public Works, the Maryland Recycling Network, the Mayor's Office, and Baltimore County. | As a nation, we spend more than $160 billion on consumer electronic products every year. These are great products that we can’t live without, but their core materials must be managed safely. Some materials are toxic, most are reusable. Unfortunately, too many electronic products end up in landfills or worse. In 2005, Del. Dan Morhaim established a program that charged manufacturers fees that were to fund electronic recycling efforts. Over time, these fees have proven to be grossly inadequate. As a result, most counties aren’t able to recycle all electronics that arrive at their landfills, although some do with fees charged at public drop-off centers. This bill would change that. It would set up a program for the collection, recycling, refurbishment, and reuse of electronic devices. Fees would be assessed at point of sale and would cover the cost of collecting and recycling TV’s, laptops, monitors, cellphones, and other products. MDE would administer the program or could delegate it to a third party. Retailers could keep 3% of the proceeds. The bill also sets up an advisory council to make recommendations on all aspects of the program. | This bill would allow volunteers who are fire police to add white lights to their vehicles so they can be better seen at night. Right now, these volunteers can only use red lights that can blend into the background of an emergency scene. The fire police are volunteer fire department members who assist the local fire company with traffic control during an emergency. They also report to the local sheriff and can be called upon to assist with many different emergencies from traffic control to looking for lost people. By adding the ability to use white lights, fire police can respond appropriately to any emergency scene. | This bill is supported by the Maryland State Firemen's Association. | Har Sinai-Oheb Shalom Congregation's Sisterhood | I had a really nice time presenting upcoming legislation at Har Sinai-Oheb Shalom Congregation's Sisterhood in January. We discussed the legislative session, the establishment of the Maryland Jewish Legislative Caucus, and consumer protection legislation. There was lots of good discussion and Q&A! | Legislator of the Year Award | I was honored to receive the Legislator of the Year Award from Larry Kasecamp of the Maryland State Legislative Board, Smart Transportation Division. It's a pleasure to work with the Smart Transportation Division on measures that protect the safety of workers and the public! The Award was given to me at a memorial honoring long-time Maryland Labor leader Ernie Grecko, who passed away earlier this year. | CONSTITUENT MEETINGS IN ANNAPOLIS | My staff and I have met with a number of groups over the past seven and a half weeks. We learned a lot of valuable information about legislation happening in other committees that I wouldn’t know about until they came to the House Floor for a vote. Meeting with constituent advocacy groups is one of the highlights of the session. Pictures clockwise from the top left: - Senator Shelly Hettleman and my staff met the fifth-grade students from Roland Park Country School on the steps of the Capitol. Later, in meetings with the students, we heard about their ideas for new policy initiatives.
- Delegate Michele Guyton (Dist 42B), my intern Ian Gould (holding Ralph, the UMD Student Government mascot who was also visiting that day), and I met with members of the Maryland State Arts Council on important statewide legislation.
- Ian and I met with students representing the Community College of Baltimore College who advocated against reducing cuts to the community college budget.
- It was a pleasure to meet representatives of the Maryland Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and learn of their commitment to improving and protecting the health and wellness of all Marylanders. Their advocacy will help provide valuable insight into several nutrition and health-related topics this session.
- A group of members from the American Physical Therapy Association (“Choose PT”) met with me to discuss how PT can help people live better lives while saving the health care system (and consumers) millions of dollars.
| LEGISLATIVE SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS | 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 | |
