SENATE OKs BLUEPRINT AMENDMENT AFTER TUSSLE OVER TRANSGENDER ATHLETES: The Senate gave final approval Tuesday evening to a bill to amend the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future — but not without addressing a controversial amendment regarding transgender children in sports. The Senate approved both cross-files of Gov. Wes Moore’s bill intended to reduce spending on the state’s landmark Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform program Tuesday. Hannah Gaskill/The Baltimore Sun.
- The 33-13 vote sets up a conference committee with the House, which has approved its own version of the Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act. The Senate also amended the House bill Tuesday to mirror its own version and now sends both bills to the lower chamber. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
STATE’s POOREST SCHOOLS HAVE MOST TO LOSE FROM FEDERAL FUNDS LOSS: The loss of more than $400 million in federal education funds announced this week could have an outsized impact on Maryland’s high-poverty schools, experts say. Those schools received more money from the coronavirus relief program that’s being targeted. The funds were just starting to show improvement in academic achievement after schools shuttered amid the pandemic, according to experts. Bridget Byrne and Dan Belson/The Baltimore Sun.
HOUSE OKs MOORE’s REVAMPED HOUSING BILL: The House voted 104-15 Tuesday for what started as Gov. Wes Moore’s (D) priority housing legislation but which was so heavily amended that not even the original name remains. What began as the governor’s “Housing for Jobs Act” will now head to the Senate as the “Housing Development Act” – with nearly every component of the bill that tied housing development to job growth stricken. Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters.
SENATE NEARS PASSAGE OF UTILITY RATE RELIEF BILL: The Maryland Senate gave preliminary approval Tuesday to legislation that aimed at addressing rising utility costs and the state’s energy independence. Hannah Gaskill/The Baltimore Sun.
- The package of energy reform bills would set in motion a variety of electricity generation projects — from solar to nuclear to natural gas — start long-term energy-supply planning efforts and give ratepayers a slight rebate. Christine Condon/Maryland Matters.
IMMIGRANT ADVOCATES PUSH FOR BILL TO BAN COUNTIES FROM WORKING WITH ICE: With only days left to get their legislative agenda passed by the Maryland General Assembly, immigrants and advocates Tuesday morning staged a stakeout at the statehouse in Annapolis, searching for lawmakers. They were seeking to get the Maryland Values Act passed. It would ban counties in the state from entering into collaborative agreements with U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement that make it easier for the agency to arrest and deport people it says are in the country illegally. Katie Mettler/The Washington Post.
HOUSE PANEL TO VOTE ON BILL TO LIMIT STATE LIABILITY FOR INSTITUTIONAL ABUSE: The House Judiciary Committee is set to vote Wednesday on an amended version of a bill that could limit the state’s financial liability stemming from claims of institutional abuse. The amendments to House Bill 1378 would lower the maximum payout claims for thousands of plaintiffs who said they were abused as children while in state custody. Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
HOUSE OKs BILL TO CREATE REPARATIONS STUDY COMMISSION: The Maryland House of Delegates gave preliminary approval Tuesday to legislation creating a statewide reparations commission to study and make recommendations on benefits to Marylanders whose ancestors were enslaved or impacted by inequitable government policies. Natalie Jones/The Baltimore Sun.
- But the House first had to beat back two amendments to Senate Bill 587, including one on school choice that sparked heated back-and-forth after its sponsor said Black children’s problems today are the result of the “modern Democrat plantation of public education.” William Ford/Maryland Matters.
HARRIS CONTENDS DEPORTED MARYLANDER ‘PROBABLY MS-13’ MEMBER: Republican Rep. Andy Harris is not happy with how some media outlets have reported on the “administrative error” that caused a Beltsville man to be mistakenly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador. “Well it turns out that that person was probably an MS-13 gang member,” Harris said. Carson Swick/The Baltimore Sun.
SCOTT’s B’MORE BUDGET COULD STILL BE SCRAMBLED BY TRUMP: Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott’s proposed $4.6 billion budget accounts for millions less in state and federal dollars next year, but the plan could still change substantially depending on the whims of President Donald Trump, officials said this week. Emily Opilo and Lee O. Sanderlin/The Baltimore Banner.
SCOTT HIRES CLOSE FRIEND AS CHIEF OF STAFF; GIVES HIM A 79% RAISE: In just over four years in office, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott now has his fourth chief of staff: Calvin Young, a longtime friend who took months to file a mandatory ethics form after joining the mayor’s office last fall, is being promoted from his advisor role — and is getting a 79% raise. Carson Swick/The Baltimore Sun.
MARYLAND IMMIGRANTS LIVE IN FEAR: More than 1 million immigrants live in Maryland. But they are not all here under the same terms and conditions. An estimated 225,000 are undocumented, a prickly term that could be used to describe someone who crossed the border illegally and hasn’t sought a status; a person in the process of applying for status that is yet to be granted; or someone whose status has expired, like when overstaying a visa. John-John Williams IV and Daniel Zawodny/The Baltimore Banner.
WIFE OF SALVADORAN IMMIGRANT MISTAKENLY SENT TO PRISON SPEAKS OUT: “Since our family has been separated, I have been devastated and confused. I lost my life partner, my children lost their father, and all of our family, neighbors, co-workers, and friends have been devastated due to this unjust family separation,” said Jennifer, the wife of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran residing in Beltsville with his spouse, who is a U.S. citizen, and their 5-year-old special-needs child. Daniel Zawodny and John-John Williams IV/The Baltimore Banner.
