Dear Friends,
Every new term in the legislature has its own distinct character and this 445th term proved that once again. This year we had 974 Senate Bills, 1301 House Bills and nearly 400 Bond Initiative requests in each House.
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There was a reorganization of the Senate standing Committees, creating “Triple E” – Education, Energy and the Environment Committee, removing energy from the Finance Committee and some new health issues and alcohol regulation. I was fortunate to remain on the Finance Committee! We gained five new members including a new Chair, Senator Melody Griffith. The committee worked well together under Chair Griffith’s leadership. She invited our input on every difficult subject and was inclusive and respectful of our opinions. The Committee membership is very diverse - business owners, medical doctor, CPA, attorney, social worker, banker, hospital director and insurance agent - we have experienced Senators on almost every bill that was heard. This is truly the best committee I have ever been apart of!
I was appointed the new Chairman of Executive Nominations Committee. My committee reviewed 999 new appointments. Interviewing the nominees and reviewing their resumes prior to the Committee meetings was a huge time commitment. It made for an extremely busy session.
We tackled many difficult issues during our 90 day session. We heard, debated, amended and voted bills including the new Cannabis legislation, various pharmaceutical bills, long wait times for Emergency Rooms, accelerating the $15 minimum wage to January 1, 2024, expanding mental health services, expanding dental services, limiting spam calls, protecting children on the internet, many labor related bills, expanding the Maryland Aviation Commission to include four citizens, extending many boards and commissions and reconstituting the Nursing Board. I will share with you here details on a few of them, you can find information on all the bills on the General Assembly website.
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Responsible and Balanced Budget for Fiscal Year 2024 |
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The core role of the Maryland General Assembly in any legislative session is passing a balanced State budget for the next fiscal year. Even as federal funding from the COVID-19 pandemic goes away and the Board of Revenue Estimates projects lower revenue through Fiscal Year 2024, we were able to make responsible investments to benefit our State’s residents and economy. We ultimately enacted a $63.1 billion budget (HB200 and HB202) that invests heavily in Maryland values, including:
- $14B in Medicaid funding to provide healthcare coverage to 1.5 million residents;
- $8.7B for Maryland public pre-k to 12 schools, an increase of 9.1%, in addition to another $900 million as a down payment on the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future;
- $250M to combat the climate crisis, including $160M to support State parks and forests, $60M for Chesapeake Bay restoration, $15M for tree planting, and $15M for projects under the Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022;
- $200M available for new mass transit and transportation infrastructure throughout the State to allow flexibility should Maryland be awarded competitive federal grants;
- $200M for tax relief for Maryland’s veterans and working families;
- $86M in public safety and victim services enhancements, including an additional $46M above the statutorily required amount to fund police aid and to $40M in increases to support domestic violence victims and rape crisis centers; and
- $2.85B in cash reserves, including $2.5B in the Rainy Day Fund and over $350M in the General Fund, with ongoing general fund revenues projected to exceed ongoing expenditures by over $150M in FY24.
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The County Executive, the County Council and the Board of Education frequently need enabling State legislation to implement future plans. As Chair of the Senate Delegation, I request the legislation on their behalf and shepherd it through the process. The bills this year were:
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Reestablishing Maryland as a Leader on Offshore Wind: Offshore wind is a vital component of a diverse renewable energy generation portfolio that will create grid resilience and lead to lower energy prices for ratepayers. The benefits of offshore wind go far beyond greenhouse gas reductions and include economic benefits ranging from job creation to manufacturing investments. The Promoting Offshore Wind Energy Resources (POWER) Act that passed the General Assembly this Session has the potential to spur billions of dollars of investment in the emerging green economy, thereby creating thousands of family-sustaining jobs, and establishing Maryland as an economic hub for the entire East Coast (SB781).
Lowering Energy Costs for Marylanders: Energy costs are continuing to rise globally and in Maryland due to inflationary pressures and the war in Ukraine. One of the most effective mechanisms for lowering the amount that Marylanders spend on monthly energy bills, while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions, is through energy efficiency improvements. We also made the existing community solar pilot program permanent,(SB613/HB908). Finally, the General Assembly passed the Net Metering Flexibility Act to allow customers generating excess energy to accrue the benefits of that energy for an indefinite period of time.
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During the 2022 General Election, the recreational use of cannabis was approved by the voters. SB 516 and HB556 were introduced to provide the framework for the transition. Although SB516 had passed the Senate, we worked with the House amended HB 556 and added 16 additional amendments to put it in the same posture as SB516.
The bill was dually assigned to Budget and Tax and Finance, my committee, the Finance committee worked carefully on the bill to add important amendments as a result HB 556 is now 100 pages. It passed both the House and Senate and will be sent to the Governor’s desk for his signature.
The provisions in HB 556 apply to Growers, Processors and Dispensaries. Here are a few of the major issues addressed by bill:
- All Medical Cannabis facilities must convert to be both Medical and recreational cannabis. There is a cost to convert, 8% of the most recent gross receipts. The payment can be made over 18 months and the cost of the renewal license is deducted from the amount due.
- The tax will be 9%, like the alcohol tax. The tax will be distributed, 50% to the General Fund, 5% to the County/municipality where the facility is located. 35% to the Community Reinvestment and Repair Fund, 5% to the Cannabis Public Health Fund and 5% to the Cannabis Business Assistance Fund.
- One person or organization cannot own more than 4 locations. We want to keep this business in the hands of our local residents as much as possible.
- The canopy that grows the cannabis is limited to 300,000 square feet. That is a little less than 7 acres.
- Employers can use the same rules for drug testing that are currently in State Law.
- The only advertising allowed will be a sign on the building.
- Reasonable local zoning rules will be permitted. However, a licensed dispensary may not be located within 500 feet of an existing primary or secondary school, a registered family childcare home, a playground, recreation center, library, park or within 1000 feet of another dispensary.
- Delta 8 and Delta 9 will no longer be permitted for sale in CBD stores.
- There will be an office of Social Equity
- Maryland Chartered banking institutions will be permitted to take deposits and hold funds under the direction of the Office of Financial Regulation.
- A recreational cannabis business may not be sold before it has been in business for 5 years.
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We passed an Income Tax Subtraction modification bill for military retirement income. Specifically, the bill increases the maximum value of the subtraction modification from $5,000 to $12,500 for individuals younger than age 55 and from $15,000 to $20,000 for individuals age 55 and older.
The Governor and Legislators became concerned when complaints of abuse and neglect were reported at Charlotte Hall, a nursing home housing veterans and their spouses who are unable to care for themselves. SB 974 requires a contractor at a State-owned nursing home to provide notice of a deficiency or enforcement action by a monitoring agency. It also requires the contractor to provide specific plan of correction along with all of the communications from the monitoring agency. |
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We passed several bills to assist our senior citizens. SB 351 e stablishing the Affordable Life, Wills, and Estate Planning for Seniors Grant Program in the Maryland Legal Services Corporation to provide eligible seniors access to affordable civil law-related services primarily wills, powers of attorney, special needs trusts, advance health care directives, and life estate deeds.
We also expanded the services of the Department of Aging to require each area agency on aging (AAA) to develop a long-term care and dementia care navigation program (SB 228). The Maryland Department of Aging (MDOA) must oversee and train navigation program staff and establish best practices and collect interaction data to ensure statewide program integrity. MDOA annually must submit a report on navigation services and publish the report.
I continue to work on issues involving the acquisition of nursing homes by “for profit” companies and was pleased to cosponsor SB509. It provides for a notice of acquisition or transfer of interest of a nursing home and specifies what the MHCC must include in their findings and recommendations.
SB665 was requested by the Attorney General, it requires the Maryland Department of Health (MDH) or the Office of Health Care Quality (OHCQ) to investigate whether assisted living residents have been subjected to neglect, exploitation, or abuse if MDH finds a credible allegation that a person is operating an assisted living program without a license.
SB 797 requires appoints a task force to study ways to prevent and counter elder abuse. Maryland’s laws on elder abuse are outdated and need to be reviewed and updated.
As our population ages, I am certain many of us have thought how convenient it might be to have an “accessory dwelling” on our property. SB 382 establishes an Accessory Dwelling Unit Policy Task Force to study the issue. The task force would:
- study the placement of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) on land zoned for single-family residential use, including laws or policies focused primarily on owner-occupied properties;
- survey and document a representative sampling of the variety of ordinances, laws, codes, and policies regarding ADUs at the State and local level; and
- make legislative or other policy recommendations, including a list of best practices for local governments in the State, that includes impacts on local housing markets, neighborhood livability, and other policies and projects related to ADUs.
The task force must report back by June 1, 2024.
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As the increasing number of mass shootings in Maryland and throughout the United States demonstrates, addressing senseless gun violence is one of the most urgent issues we face.
That’s why the MGA passed several bills prohibiting individuals from carrying firearms in public sensitive locations (SB1); strengthening standards for obtaining a concealed carry permit and penalties for those illegally possessing firearms from three to five years (HB824); ensuring gun owners properly store firearms unloaded and away from children (SB858); and enabling the Maryland State Police Gun Center to track firearms surrendered under protective orders (SB185/HB3).
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Coming into Session, we knew that one key area we had to address was the Maryland 529 Prepaid College Trust. Families who invested in that type of Maryland 529 account received incorrect and confusing information that led many of them to make once-in-a-lifetime college enrollment decisions based on that faulty data. That is why we reformed the Maryland 529 program.
We passed legislation overhauling Maryland 529 by abolishing the board and transferring administrative authority to the State Treasurer’s Office; creating a claims process for impacted account holders; and incentivizing the phase out of the Prepaid College Trust in favor of other Maryland 529 plans that have consistently performed without issue (SB959).
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Improving Behavioral Healthcare & Health Issues |
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The COVID-19 pandemic led to an undeniable and acute behavioral health crisis in Maryland and throughout the entire country. An increased sense of isolation and disruptions to healthcare services have put a strain on the entire healthcare system, but nowhere has that been more evident than in Marylanders seeking behavioral care.
Going into the 2023 Legislative Session, one of our top priorities was to pass policies that accomplished dual objectives of improving access to care and modernizing the system of delivery. The Senate advanced a bipartisan behavioral healthcare package, including:
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Fully funding the 9-8-8 crisis hotline with $12M per year (SB3/HB271);
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Extending collaborative care between primary and behavioral healthcare providers (SB101/HB48);
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Expanding wraparound services for children and youth most at-risk (SB255/HB322);
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Creating systems for comprehensive community behavioral health clinics (SB362);
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Preserving affordable access to telehealth services (SB534);
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Allowing for creative healthcare for Maryland’s highest-need patients (SB581); and
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Planning for a 21st century behavioral care delivery system (SB582/HB1148).
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We worked on expanding the duties pharmacists can perform, reconstituted the Board of Nursing, extended the sunset provisions on other health occupation boards, and extended the commission that is studying the high cost of pharmaceutical drugs. Maryland has the longest Emergency Room wait times in the Country. SB387 organizes a fifteen member task force to study and make recommendations on ways to reduce emergency room wait times.
I was disappointed that SB 916, that would prohibit the emission of Ethylene Oxide, did not pass. It was a late filed bill, but I will continue to work on this issue that is affecting thousands of my constituents.
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Expanding Opportunity for Working Families |
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Maryland’s working families continue to bear the brunt of inflationary pressures and a slowing economy. Although federal funding and the temporary expansion of benefit programs to support vulnerable Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic are ending, Maryland is stepping in to alleviate the burden that these families and individuals face.
That is why the legislators set our State on the path to a $15 an hour minimum wage in 2019 and expedited its statewide implementation to January 1. (SB555/HB549).
In addition, the General Assembly made the expansion of Maryland’s Earned Income and Child Tax Credits permanent (SB552/HB547), understanding that equitable tax relief will help to eliminate childhood poverty in our State.
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The ongoing issues at the Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant demonstrate the urgency in creating a more collaborative and comprehensive approach to our water utility system. The staffing issues at Back River and similar treatment facilities impacts customers throughout the entire Greater Baltimore Region, including Baltimore City and Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Carroll, Howard, and Harford Counties. It is long past time to reevaluate its governance structure.
Legislation passed this year will create a task force to recommend structural changes to our region’s water utility that ensure the safety and affordability for all Marylanders who rely on this critical resource (SB880/HB843).
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One of the most important issues of this four-year term will be transforming Maryland’s transportation sector and infrastructure to meet 21st century needs. Car manufacturers are ramping up the production of electric vehicles over the next decade and it is critical that we build out a system of incentives and charging infrastructure to meet that increasing demand.
The General Assembly passed legislation to adopt the Advanced Clean Truck Rule to reduce emissions from medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, provide incentives to mitigate the cost of those zero emission trucks, and increase funding for the electric vehicle recharging equipment rebate program (SB224/HB230 and HB550).
Further, we required that newly constructed homes or those undergoing significant renovations include electric vehicle charging capability (SB477/HB830).
Finally, as Marylanders minimize their reliance on gasoline, we recognize that the State must have a long-term discussion to maintain transportation infrastructure funding that is currently provided through a tax on motor fuel. The legislature is planning for a 21st century transportation sector by creating the Maryland Commission on Transportation Revenue and Infrastructure Needs, which will guide our work to stabilize funding for critical transit infrastructure as vehicle electrification increases (SB24/HB51).
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Input Needed on New MDOT Long-Term Transportation Plan |
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Marylanders deserve a safe, equitable, convenient, and connected multimodal transportation system and the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) needs your input to help us deliver it. MDOT is kicking off the new Maryland Transportation Plan (MTP), Maryland’s long-range transportation plan, that will guide the state's vision and corresponding policy and investment priorities for the next 20 years.
A public survey is available for Marylanders to provide input on the proposed 2050 MTP guiding principles, goals, and priorities. Please click HERE to take the short survey by May 5, 2023, and help us make transportation work even better for you.
The 2050 MTP proposed guiding principles, goals and priorities will be modified and adapted throughout the planning process that will run through 2023 by incorporating input received from Maryland's residents and visitors. MDOT plans to finalize the 2050 MTP by January 2024.
To learn more about the state's long-range transportation plan, click HERE.
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My office is continuing to receive inquiries about Unemployment claims. If you or anyone you know needs assistance with their Unemployment Insurance claim, please click the link and fill out our Unemployment Insurance Assistance Form. We will contact our District Liaison regarding your claim.
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General Assembly Office Schedule |
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Once again there will be a great deal of work to do in the interim, to serve on oversight committees and task force studies. My office remains open year round to help you with issues and answer your questions.
During the interim, my Chief of Staff, Nancy Lipin Crawford and Legislative Aide, Ash-Lynn Randolph will be in the office on Wednesdays and Thursdays and will be working remotely on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays.
Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns. Email is the best way to reach us, be sure to include your name, address, phone number, and a description of your issue. We are happy to assist you.
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Thank you for allowing me to serve as your District 32 State Senator!
Pamela Beidle
Senator, District 32
Finance Committee
Chair Executive Nominations
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