Business advocacy groups converged on Annapolis on Monday to protest legislation that would expand Maryland’s sales tax to services not currently taxed and raise an estimated $2.9 billion over the next five years to help fund the recommendations of the Kirwan Commission. They spoke prior to a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on the legislation.
The legislation would authorize “certain agencies to place distracted-driver monitoring systems on certain highways under certain circumstances,” according to its text. Members of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee had questions about privacy concerns and how the technology would work.
“This is a vital piece of legislation that seeks to ensure that those who have been wrongly accused and convicted are provided with the means to re-enter society and can have compensation and begin to alleviate the financial burden that that wrongful incarceration has placed on not only themselves but also their families,” Baltimore City State’s Attorney Mosby said at a Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee hearing on Tuesday.
Bipartisanship was on full display Tuesday as Maryland lawmakers and environmental advocates came together to support legislation that would phase out the burning of coal at the state’s six coal-fired power plants and provide money to take care of workers who would be affected by the transition.
A recent study ranked Maryland No. 13 for the states with the highest African American political engagement. Former Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening said: “Being number thirteen is good but it’s certainly not great. I think it illustrates the opportunity for us to expand participation significantly.”
Former Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler weighed-in on Friday on the battle between Gov. Larry Hogan and Democratic leaders in the General Assembly over legislation that would increase mandatory minimum sentences for those who commit gun crimes — saying such punishment is appropriate for repeat offenders.
Calling violent crime in Baltimore a crisis, the governor re-designates his violent-crime package as emergency legislation and begs the General Assembly to immediately pass the bills so he can quickly sign them into law. “We don’t want to hear any more excuses. There cannot be any more delays. We need to stop playing politics. Pass these bills.”
Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher, D-Montgomery, said Maryland’s indecent exposure laws must be expanded to include touching oneself sexually in public while fully clothed
The American Heart Association said Tuesday that recommendations in a report newly released by Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot’s office aimed at curbing underage access to electronic smoking devices (ESDs) are good but do not go far enough because they do not call for an outright ban of flavored nicotine products.
A day after federal prosecutors called for sending former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh to prison for nearly five years, state Sen. Jill Carter, D-Baltimore City, said she does not believe there is any “public utility” to locking up the disgraced politician. Pugh’s attorneys echoed that sentiment, asking for a sentence of one year and one day in a sentencing memorandum filed with the federal court on Friday, according to the Baltimore Sun.
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