The Northwest Voice asked Baltimore County Delegates and Senators in Districts 10, 11 and 44B, the areas that cover most of the northwest, to provide information on key legislation for which they were the primary sponsors. The summaries below have been excerpted. While the legislators introduced and co-sponsored hundreds more bills than are listed, the roundup primarily includes those that passed the General Assembly. You can find more details from the individual legislators and from the Maryland General Assembly website at mgaleg.maryland.gov.
DISTRICT 10
Sen. Delores Kelley
Senate Bill 241, Senior Apartment Facilities, requires that a landlord who has marketed and leased an apartment residence as a senior building and who subsequently decides to convert the building to serve the general public must provide the elderly and/or disabled residents with 180 days advance notice before such a conversion. The landlord cannot withhold any part of the elderly tenant’s security deposit if the tenant moves out because of notice of the building conversion.
Senate Bill 336, Designation of Lay Caregivers, requires Maryland hospitals to seek to identify a patient’s post-discharge home caregiver so the caregiver can be prepared for the after-care duties, but only if the patient or guardian signs up for these free services.
Senate Bill 417, Individuals With Disabilities, follows recent revisions of a 1938 federal law, which for decades authorized the payment of a subminimum wage as low as $3.88 per hour for persons with developmental disabilities who work for state and local operators of sheltered workshops. For almost a century, sheltered workshop operators had no legal obligation to individually evaluate the productivity or capabilities of their employees with developmental disabilities. The bill requires a plan to phase out the subminimum wage in Maryland by July 2020 and to determine the training and other resources needed for proper placement of these persons, as the federal government phases out its “14(c)” certificates for sheltered workshop operators. The bill, also known as the Ken Capone Equal Employment Act, was named for a young adult who uses a computer screen and pointer from his wheelchair.
Del. Ben Brooks
House Bill 1054, Income Tax Penalties, reduces income tax penalties and limits the amount of penalties the State of Maryland can assess on underpayments of income taxes. Currently, Maryland can charge a 25 percent penalty. This is excessive, especially for taxpayers who are burdened with financial challenges. When you compare our state penalty assessment to that of surrounding jurisdictions, Maryland has been an outlier. HB 1054 will reduce the assessment to 5 percent for the first month the payment is delinquent and 10 percent for the second and succeeding months.
House Bill 1404, the Construction Education and Innovation Fund, makes sure that Maryland has a readily available pipeline of workers who can perform trades in the construction industry. The bill requires the Governor to put $250,000 in the budget to fund the Maryland Center for Construction Education and Innovation.
House Bill 1600, Baltimore Humane Society, is a bond bill that provides funding to the Baltimore Humane Society in Reisterstown for an animal safety and energy efficiency plan.
Del. Jay Jalisi
HB 360, Maryland Loan Assistance Repayment Program for Orphans and Foster Care Recipients. Awards from this program will be granted in renewable three-year incremental amounts, with the annual awards equaling 10 percent of the individual orphan or foster care recipient’s total college loan debt for undergraduate and graduate education.
HB 1476, Shelter and Transitional Housing Facilities Grant Program, requires the Governor to include in the annual budget $3 million for capital expenditures of homeless shelters. This is a 100 percent increase from 2016 budget allocation. The Department of Housing and Community Development would make this available to local governments and nonprofit organizations in order to develop or repair and maintain emergency shelters and transitional housing for homeless individuals and families. This funding was frozen at $1.5 million for almost the last 10 years and the Governor did not have any allocation in the 2017 budget.
HB 1634, Task Force to Study the Restraint, Searches and Needs of Children in the Juvenile Justice System. This task force would limit the Department of Juvenile Services’ use of handcuffing, shackling and strip searches of a child under detention. Children in juvenile jails should be afforded every chance possible for their rehabilitation, and should not be treated the same as gang members or repeat adult offenders.
Del. Adrienne Jones
House Bill 1014, College Affordability Act of 2016, prohibits a public institution of higher education from referring a delinquent student account or debt to the Central Collection Unit except under specified circumstances; requires the College Savings Plans of Maryland Board to develop and implement a marketing plan regarding the availability of a State contribution; requires the Maryland Higher Education Commission and the Department of Legislative Services to hire a consultant to evaluate the effectiveness of the Office of Student Financial Assistance.
In Jones’ capacity as House chairwoman of the capital budget subcommittee, she provided funding for several projects in the southwest and northwest Baltimore County projects. See Capital Budget story.
DISTRICT 11
Sen. Bobby Zirkin
SB 359, Divorce-Corroboration of Testimony, repeals a provision that prohibits a court from entering a decree of divorce on the uncorroborated testimony of the party seeking the divorce. It also authorized parties to jointly file a complaint to initiate divorce proceedings on the ground of mutual consent. Under this legislation, witnesses would no longer be needed to confirm a couple hasn’t lived together for a year when someone is seeking an uncontested divorce.
Del. Dana Stein
House Bill 741, Higher Education-Consumer Protection Provisions, provides protections for students who attend for-profit colleges and private career schools from a variety of misleading practices. Such colleges and schools cannot enroll students in a program intended to lead to employment in a field requiring licensure or certification, if successful completion of the program will not meet the State educational requirements for licensure or certification, and in other circumstances. The bill also creates a Guaranty Fund for students that will provide full reimbursement if the institution breaches a contract or closes.
House Bill 136, Financial Education and Capability Commission. Over the past two years, the commission has examined the issue of student loan debt. Central Scholarship, a storied Owings Mills-based non-profit that provides financial aid to low-income students, has provided invaluable advice on this issue. The bill adds a position to the commission for a non-profit such as Central Scholarship.
House Bill 276, Income Tax Credit. A top environmental priority in Maryland is to conserve as much open space as possible. Conservation easements, landowners’ commitments not to develop their land, are one of the most-effective means for preserving land from development. Easement donors also benefit from state tax credits. This bill broadens the category of potential donors to include members of pass-through entities, such as S corporations and LLCs.
House Bill 331, Program Open Space. Another means for conserving land is through Program Open Space, a State program that acquires and improves outdoor recreation and open space areas for public use. This bill corrects an error in the law that would severely limit the amount of Open Space funding that can be used for improvements on Department of Natural Resources property and public use facilities.
House Bill 523 – E-ZPass Accounts. Theft of EZ pass transponders is on the rise. Transponder thefts are becoming more common at truck stops and sites where trucks are parked. If someone’s transponder is stolen, the thief can use the transponder to rack up significant tolls quickly. This bill provides for reimbursement to the transponder owner for fraudulent transponder use in certain circumstances.
Del. Shelly Hettleman
House Bill 1488, Maryland Corps, establishes a program to provide youth who have completed high school with a year of community service in a non-profit or government agency. I’m hopeful that the Governor will permit start-up funding in the budget to support stipends and scholarships for successful completers. Participants in the program would be marketable for future jobs and academic opportunities, creating a long-term investment in Maryland’s economy and workforce, while performing valuable service to the community.
House Bill 727, Horse Racing. There was much controversy surrounding the Timonium Fairgrounds and the expansion of off track betting. Senators and Delegates from District 11 and District 42 introduced legislation and facilitated a memorandum of understanding to prohibit the future development of casino gambling at the racetrack. The bill will ensure that communities must be notified about future off track betting expansion plans before they occur.
In other action, budget language requires that “net price calculators” be posted on college and university websites with the most accurate and updated information. Prospective college students need to know how much it will cost to attend school.
Del. Dan Morhaim
House Bill 91, National HealthCare Decisions Day. With the passing of House Bill 91, Maryland will join other states and organizations in recognizing National Healthcare Decisions Day on April 16. This will help educate Marylanders on the importance of advance directives and address a significant health disparity among disadvantaged communities. House Bill 1385, Advance Directives Procedures, takes us closer to this goal, with the creation of an electronic advance directives service.
House Bill 403, State Procurement Change Order Fairness Act, will help businesses get paid in a timely manner when doing work for the State. Not only will this support local jobs and companies, it will encourage more competition for state contracts, thus saving taxpayer dollars.
House Bill 990, Liability of Disability Insurer, creates a remedy for citizens if their disability insurance policy company has acted with a lack of good faith in denying a claim.
House Bill 908, Medical Cannabis, allows health practitioners, such as dentists, podiatrists, and advanced nurse practitioners — all of whom have the same authority as physicians to prescribe controlled dangerous substances — to recommend medical cannabis to their patients under Maryland’s medical cannabis program. This will take effect in 2017.
DISTRICT 44B
SEN. SHIRLEY NATHAN-PULLIAM
Senate Bill 198, Neonicotinoid Pesticides. This important environmental measures greatly diminishes the widespread use of these pesticides to stop the decline of honeybees. Bees pollinate 71 of 100 crops that make up 90 percent of the world’s food supply and are critical to the success of agriculture and the stability of our food supply. These pesticides have a tremendous economic impact on the beekeepers.
Senate Bill 393, Maryland Nurse Practice Act, reinstitutes the misdemeanor penalty for posing as a registered nurse. The Board of Nursing may now establish peer advisory committees like the Board of Physicians.
Senate Bill 494, School Behavioral Health Accountability Act. This measure requires that a standardized reporting mechanism be established for schools to account for the use of behavioral health specialists. Learning experiences are impacted not just by the school environment, but also by what’s happening in students’ lives outside the classrooms, whether the result of violence in the community, family trouble, trauma, psychological disorder or drug/alcohol issues. This measure will help teachers focus on educating our children.
DEL. CHARLES SYDNOR
As chair of conference committees for House Bill 636 and House Bill 637, bills I co-sponsored, I was responsible for leading Senate and House conferees in negotiations. The result is that HB 636 modifies the Maryland Tort Claims Act and HB 637 modifies the Local Government Tort Claims Act by repealing measures commonly used to prevent Marylanders who have been injured by the State or local governments from their day in court. Both bills change the law so the government can no longer have a legitimate case dismissed if the government has actual or constructive notice of the alleged harm.
DEL. PAT YOUNG
House Bill 1288, Tuition Waivers, would expand the eligibility of tuition waivers to youths in the foster care system who are enrolled in college. Providing our disadvantaged and struggling youth with every opportunity to succeed is the least we can do. While there are many more challenges they may face, access to a quality education (whether it be a four-year course or a technical school degree) should not be one of them.
House Bill 1533, Sales and Use Tax Exemption-Redevelopment Areas, directly impacts Baltimore County. We are all aware of the Sparrows Point Steel Mill that experienced a slow decline over the last two decades and the affect it had on employees and the surrounding community. Despite the overwhelming task ahead, Trade Point Atlantic has committed to redevelop the 3100-acre property and bring back jobs to Baltimore County. This legislation gives them a tool to make their commitment a reality by giving them an exemption on the sales and use tax for construction materials making the site more attractive to outside investment.
House Bill 1458, Maryland College Collaboration for Student Veterans Commission, will enable current veterans’ programs at Maryland universities and colleges to better understand and support the needs of their veteran student population as they graduate and seek employment. Legislation also passed that authorized employers to grant a preference in hiring and promotion to certain eligible veterans, spouses of specified eligible veterans who have service-connected disabilities, and spouses of deceased specified eligible veterans.