Legislating Justice - Issue #13
Legislating Justice - Issue #13
Maryland Politics
This past week, Maryland legislators entered the Annapolis legislative chambers to execute, what appears to be, a measure of justice for the most vulnerable. Maryland's legislators met to veto Gov. Hogan's bills that harmed immigrants and Black people. However, before the legislative session took place this past week - Maryland Matters put together a list of those bills. See this list for context (link: t.ly/hzKC).
A list of vetoes:
Maryland overrides Immigration Bill.
Excerpt: "The House and Senate, which are controlled by Democrats, also overrode the Republican governor’s veto of a bill that requires state employees to deny inspection of records or use of facial recognition technology by any federal agency seeking to enforce immigration law unless provided with a valid warrant."
Maryland Remove Governor From Parole Process.
Excerpt: Maryland’s governors will no longer have a role in parole decisions and counties will be banned from entering into agreements with the federal government to hold detainees in their local jails, after a series of veto override votes in the General Assembly on Tuesday. The Maryland House of Delegates voted 92-46 to override Republican Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr.’s veto of Senate Bill 202 Tuesday evening, one day after an override vote in the Senate, officially removing the governor from the parole process for people serving life sentences.
Legislators Override Gov. Hogans Redistricting Maps
Excerpt: The Maryland General Assembly voted to override a veto from Gov. Larry Hogan, R, to officially pass a congressional redistricting plan favored by Democrats. On a 96 to 42 vote, the House overrode the veto on HB1, while the Senate voted 32 to 14.The plan was submitted to the General Assembly by the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission, a group put together by the Legislature’s Democratic leadership and with a Democratic majority. The plan would create seven likely Democratic congressional seats and one competitive seat in District 1, according to the Princeton Gerrymandering Project, a redistricting research group. District 1 is the only area of the state, out of eight congressional seats, currently held by a Republican, Rep. Andy Harris, R-Cockeysville. Democrats outnumber Republicans approximately 2-1 in voter registration in Maryland. In House debate over the veto override Thursday, Minority Whip Del. Christopher Adams, R-Caroline, Dorchester, Talbot and Wicomico Counties, spoke in favor of sustaining the governor’s veto.
House Votes To Enact USM Collective Bargaining Bill.
Excerpt: On Monday evening, Maryland House lawmakers voted to enact several bills that were overridden by the Senate earlier in the day, officially putting them on the books. In a 95-41 vote, delegates voted to override Senate Bill 9, which would change the collective bargaining process within the University System of Maryland. More specifically, it would require the chancellor of the University System of Maryland to act on behalf of all the system’s institutions in all aspects of collective bargaining, consolidating the process at the top. Unions have been fighting for a consolidated bargaining process for years. Previously, across USM’s 12 institutions, there were 16 different contracts that were negotiated. When an individual campus reaches an agreement with a bargaining unit, it must then get approved by the system-wide chancellor. If rejected, the bargaining process starts over again.
Excerpt: Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) railed against Democratic lawmakers Thursday afternoon for not passing his crime bills for the third year in a row. The General Assembly convened in a special session earlier this week to take up congressional redistricting legislation and enact a series of bills that Hogan vetoed following the 2021 regular legislative session. Hogan introduced two bills from his crime package Monday, which have been introduced in the legislature in the last few years but did not get far. Senate Bill 5, or the Judicial Transparency Act of 2021, would require the Maryland State Commission on Criminal Sentencing Policy to track judicial sentencing information for violent crimes to be published in its annual report provided to the governor and legislature. Senate Bill 6, also known as the Violent Firearms Offender Act of 2021, which would increase the length of and impose mandatory sentences for people who have been repeatedly convicted of firearms offenses.In response to Hogan’s dismay Thursday, Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) told his chamber that the General Assembly convened to achieve three constitutional priorities: pass redistricting legislation, address vetoed bills from the 2021 regular session and elect a new state treasurer to replace Nancy K. Kopp (D), who announced that she will retire at the end of the year. Ferguson added that the Senate “stands ready to assist the governor and using the $42 billion that the state has to improve communities to reduce violence, today.”
“I wish there were a piece of legislation we could pass that would solve the problems,” he continued. “What we know is this is complex and we have a lot of resources to bear and we all stand willing and ready to help with that challenge because it’s something that’s got to change for Maryland’s future.”
Keeping Cops From Speaking To Children.
Excerpt: Advocates and two state lawmakers announced Thursday that they plan to prioritize bills during the 2022 legislative session that would bar police from questioning kids without their parents’ knowledge and reform the juvenile court system. “We’ve passed a lot of legislation to protect children,” Sen. Jill P. Carter (D-Baltimore City) said. “We’ve passed anti-bullying legislation, we’ve gotten legislators pushing for ending child marriage, but the same children they ostensibly want to protect from bullies and from marriage are the same children they allow to be automatically prosecuted as adults and sent to prison for life.”At a news conference held at Lawyer’s Mall on Thursday morning, Carter and Del. J. Sandra Bartlett (D-Anne Arundel) announced that they plan to reintroduce the Juvenile Interrogation Protection Act, which would require law enforcement to notify a child’s legal guardian before they are questioned in custody.
Alex Hughes, Chief of Staff To The House Speaker, Steps Down.
Excerpt: So when Del. Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County), who had been Busch’s loyal, low-key speaker pro tem for the entirety of his tenure, emerged as the Democratic caucus’ compromise choice to replace him that May Day, it wasn’t surprising that she chose to keep Hughes as her chief of staff. Jones said it never occurred to her that Hughes might leave. “As pro tem, I dealt with her a lot,” Jones said. “We really had a good rapport. Plus, we’re both Scorpios. Scorpios have this sense about people, so we really connected early on,” Jones said, referring to their shared astrological sign. But now, Hughes is packing up her State House office for real. She plans to step down as Jones’ chief of staff at the end of the year and set up her own public affairs shop in Annapolis. Jones is expected to announce — perhaps as early as Friday — that Jeremy P. Baker, a senior adviser who has been Hughes’ deputy, will become chief of staff in the New Year. Hughes, a 44-year-old single mother of a 3-year-old daughter, said she’s ready for something new — and less all-consuming.“I’ve been a part of huge transformational change,” Hughes said. “Front-row seat. I don’t know what more there is for me at this stage of my life to do in the House. I don’t feel like I’m walking out with unfinished business.”
Prince George's County Education
Education activist, Anthony Tilghman, who hosts a weekly show called Prince George's County Education Roundtable, had former Board of Education council member Edward P. Burroughs on his show. They talked about his time as a board member and all his accomplishments. Burroughs is running for a county council seat, formerly held by Monique Anderson-Walker.
He critiqued the structure of the BOE (a hybrid of appointed council members and elected council members), saying that appointed council members don't represent a district. He also said the structure needs to change.
He talked about all the policies that he managed to change while in office. Not only that, but he also shared some things he wished the council would put their energy towards, like helping students that live in impoverished neighborhoods.
Watch the full interview here.
Rethinking The Structure of the Board of Education
The Prince George's County School Board Transformation Workgroup met has met two times this month, Dec 1 and 8. County Executive Angela Alsobrooks assembled this team to look at the current structure of the Board of Education, which is a hybrid of appointed and elected members, a unique structure only found in Prince George's County's education system. The goal is for the group to study the current structure and to provide recommendations for a better structure. Some activists, community members, and BOE members said they prefer a BOE that is elected by the community - one where BOE council members can elect its vice-chair and chair. Both meetings can be viewed online. Dec 1 meeting, and Dec. 8.
On Dec. 8, community members were able to call in and share their concerns about the meeting, and solutions. Board of Education council member Shayla Adams-Stafford spoke at the Dec. 8 meeting. She spoke to highlight the importance of elected members and to highlight that the BOE structure isn't a normal political structure nationally or even statewide. She said, "there is no school board found in Maryland that can't select their board chair and vice-chair." The County Executive appoints those positions. To show the relevancy and effectiveness of having elected board members, who represent their communities, Adams pointed out the BOE's policy accomplishments. As an example, she said she introduced policy - solutions that came from community members - that helped students who struggled, for multiple reasons, with online learning during the pandemic and to address mental health needs among students. Adams-Stafford said they set up equity learning hubs for students to attend during the summer months. As a result of attending the learning hubs, according to Adams-Stafford, students became more proficient in math and English Learning Arts. In addition, she said, council members set aside over 3 million dollars to hire more mental health professionals.
Residents Protest School Closings
Prince George's County Schools could potentially close several elementary schools because they are not currently being used to full capacity. See link below.
Omicron And Prince George's County
Covid-19 is still spreading and mutating. Three Maryland residents have been contracted Omicron, the new variant. The DCist report.
All three cases are reported to involve Maryland residents from the Baltimore region, according to Hogan, though none of the individuals have been hospitalized. The news comes just a week after the World Health Organization designated Omicron as a variant of concern.
Maryland is experiencing high hospitalizations, according to recent reports. Due to this, the health sector is changing protocols.
The full Maryland Department of Health order includes hospitals being directed to update emergency plans and maximize use of regional hospitals and alternate care sites. A request is being considered to re-activate the licenses of recently retired doctors and to allow out of state health care professionals to practice in the state.
Under the order, health care providers are strongly encouraged to offer monoclonal antibody infusions to COVID-positive people, and hospitals are directed to set up infusion sites in communities and do infusions in patient’s homes.
Note: Over the summer, The Intersection talked to Dr. Ray Stuart, vice-chair of medicine for data integrity and analytics at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Stuart shared his worries about the increase of transmission during the fall and the possible spread of a new variant.
Ray is worried about the fall. In the fall of 2020 — Covid -19 cases spiked. The delta variant could also spike during the fall or another kind of variant. Ray said now is the time for people to take advantage of getting vaccinated.
“I don’t think we can wait until things get bad to start vaccinating people,” he explained. “That is not how the vaccine works. You need to give it time to work.”
Health professionals continue to say that vaccines are effective against the virus. Prince George's County has been severely impacted by the virus. Thousands of people have died, and thousands of P.G. County families have suffered due to it. There has been steep job loss, and non-profits have not been able to get the money needed to stay afloat. But the county, as well as the state, as I have reported before, must not only encourage vaccinations but also social distancing and mask-wearing. County officials must continue to educate communities about the virus, how it spreads, and mitigation practices.
The World Health Organization held a press conference earlier this week addressing the spread of the new variant. Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist, Covid-19 technical lead at The World Health Organization, said vaccines are not the only effective mitigation tool that we have to combat the virus. She said we must use all mitigation tools available to us to lower the spread (transmission) of the virus. Lowering the spread of the virus helps to lower hospitalizations and deaths. Kerkhove said that we need to be very careful during the holidays because there is little known about this particular variant. She said the Delta variant is still something to be concerned about.
What Do We Know About the Variant
Kerkhove said, based upon the research coming out of South Africa, the WHO has labeled the variant a "concern." The reason, she said, is that this particular variant has "a large number of mutations, and some of these mutations have some worrying characteristics." She also added that there needs to be more research on the new variant. Watch the video below.
Covid Links
Religion
In an open letter published on Wednesday, 62 Muslim staffers said that US Representative Lauren Boebert's recent Islamophobic comments against Omar had created "a feeling of anxiety and fear" on Capitol Hill.
"Witnessing unchecked harassment of one of only three Muslim Members of Congress - and the only visible Muslim Member - we feel that our workplace is neither safe nor welcome," read the letter which was also signed by 378 allied staffer
Tech
The Environment
Blue Water Baltimore and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation filed petitions Monday in city and county Circuit Courts seeking judicial review of stormwater discharge permits that were finalized in early November by the Maryland Department of the Environment.
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