Gov. Hogan, lawmakers angered over UMMS report, news that four board members on leave have been invited to return; Maryland Matters reports that ex-House Speaker Clay Mitchell has died at 83; BSO musicians descend on Annapolis to urge Hogan to free funding to save their jobs; county leaders focus human trafficking prevention; state funds aid Preservation Maryland to ID historic sites with significance to LGBTQ community; Hogan seeks say in Baltimore city-Stronach talks on Pimlico but continues to oppose state-funding for facility rehab; Baltimore city nixed state help with government computer hack; Climate Change Part 5: state mounts efforts to aid those left in the cold; Carroll expected to get new early vote site; city councilman to introduce plastic grocery bag ban; and John Delaney makes cut for first Dem prez debate.
Meg Tully
Senator questions security breach at courthouse by Howard County Register of Wills
State Sen. Gail Bates is asking for answers about a breach of security at Howard County Courthouse involving Register of Wills Byron Macfarlane at the end of September. Howard County Sheriff’s Office deputies found a group of 15 to 20 in the courthouse with an access pass from Macfarlane, said Major Donald Knott, chief deputy. At the time the courthouse was closed and Macfarlane was not present.
New Maryand laws take effect Monday, Oct. 1, 2018 — spoofing phone calls, rookie drivers, vaping
Scores of laws passed during this year’s General Assembly session go into effect Monday. Some key new laws Oct. 1 include measures to: ban spoofing phone calls; stop the distribution of electronic cigarettes to minors; create a new extreme risk protective order (red flag) that will take guns away from alleged abusers; shrink the period required for driving learner’s permits from nine months to three,
Maryland grapples with national crisis of mental illness in jails
Responding to a report by the National Conference of State Legislatures about mental health and the criminal justice system, Sen. Will Smith, D-Montgomery, said more effective initial encounters with people in mental health crisis and offering pretrial services are two ways in which the state and local governments need to act. The NCSL report calls for “codifying specialized training requirements for law enforcement on how to respond to mental health, substance use and behavioral disorder issues” as well as “funding for community-based mental health services such as crisis stabilization units designed to reroute individuals prior to entry into the justice system,” among other recommendations.
Many state employees don’t get evaluated, auditors find, citing poor training of supervisors
Not enough supervisors are getting training in the state government’s employee performance evaluation training program, state auditors have found. State law requires every state government employee to have twice yearly performance evaluations. A June report by Office of Legislative Audits found that on average 5,600 were not evaluated at all from fiscal 2012 to 2016, according to the Department of Budget and Management, amounting to 10% to 16% of the executive branch workforce. Some agencies evaluated almost all employees, but others, such as Public Safety, evaluated less than 70% of the people who work there.
Lax enforcement by state of background checks on child care workers, auditors find
The State Department of Education hasn’t been doing enough to make sure Maryland daycare workers have the required criminal background checks, and sometimes missed following up on criminal alerts for those workers, state auditors found. The department disputed some of the findings, but the auditors held their ground.
Audit finds multiple money problems at Md. education agency
The Maryland State Department of Education kept more than $12 million of federal reimbursements for its own programs rather than return it to the state as required by state law, state auditors found in a report citing multiple problems with the department’s financial dealings..
The Office of Legislative Auditor’s report released Tuesday raised issues across the agency including improper handling of checks, spending that didn’t follow procurement guidelines, faults the business office for improperly handling funds and checks; and states MSDE neglected to report possible criminal or unethical activity of its employees for possible prosecution.
IRS data again shows taxpayers leaving Maryland
Recently released data from the IRS shows that about 5,500 more taxpayers left Maryland in 2012 than moved to the state.
Long-cited by tax critics as annual data that show the migration of taxpayers to lower-taxed states, some experts caution that not too much should be read into year-to-year changes.
Assembly roundup: GOP gains 2 senators, 7 delegates for a record 50 House members
Maryland Republicans won big in the General Assembly as well as governor’s mansion, and will be sending seven more members of the House of Delegates and two more in the state senate.
Joe Cluster, executive director of the state GOP, said they won about 90 percent of their targeted seats.
“I think the people voted against a tax and spend administration,” Cluster said. “They took it out on the members of the House and Senate.”
Md. road system again ranked low, but highway officials strongly counter ratings
Maryland continues to hover toward the bottom of rankings by a nonprofit organization evaluating state road systems, but the State Highway Administration continues to take issue with the ranking methodology.
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