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Yesterday, Governor Moore testified before the House Appropriations Committee regarding the Serving Every Region through Vocational Exploration (SERVE) Act, the Governor's service year initiative. Last week he testified before the Ways & Means Committee regarding the Keep Our Heroes Home Act, the Governor's proposed tax reduction for military retirees. Such testimony used to be routine in Annapolis from Governors of both parties, but the office's prior occupant refused to engage with the legislative branch of government in this way and it was symptomatic of a broader disinterest in the legislative process. I appreciate having a Governor who respects that the legislative branch elected in the same November election that he was also has a role to play as a co-equal branch of government.  LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
The bill hearings for three more of my bills have taken place over the past few days: The Maryland State Agency Transparency Act would expand certain Open Meetings Act requirements--including web streaming of meetings--to the State Ethics Commission. You can watch the hearing here. The Teacher Pay Parity Act would ensure that special education teachers at specialized schools that our public school systems route children to are paid wages comparable to the typical public schools. You can watch the hearing here. The Board of Public Works Transparency Act would establish a transparent public commenting system for the state's unique Board of Public Works, a body made up of the Governor, Comptroller, and Treasurer that approves state contracts, among other functions. You can watch the hearing here (starting at 1:11:10). COMMITTEE NEWS As I have shared before, the Maryland General Assembly is a committee-driven body and I serve on the Appropriations Committee. In addition to regular legislation, our major focus is the budget. As chair of the Transportation & Environment Subcommittee, I spend the most time on agency budgets dealing with those issues including the Maryland Department of Transportation, Public Service Commission, and similar agencies. Thus far, we have had hearings on the Maryland Department of Planning, Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund, Maryland Environmental Service, the Maryland Port Administration, the Maryland Aviation Administration, the Maryland Insurance Administration, the Transportation Secretary's office, the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA or Metro), and the Department of Agriculture. You can view the analyses on these and other agencies prepared by our Department of Legislative Services here. COMMUNITY NEWS State legislators have the opportunity to award scholarships to our constituents for their higher education. If you are interested in a scholarship, please visit https://www.marckorman.com/scholarship.html for further information about how to apply. ----- The Governor recently released his so-called "green bag" appointments, which are announcements of nominees to state boards and commissions. If you are interested in these opportunities, further information is available at the Governor's Appointments Office. A particular congratulations to several District 16 residents nominated to positions:
UPCOMING EVENTS
Just as I was completing my weekly email, my teammate Delegate Ariana Kelly was selected to fill the term of our now departed State Senator, Susan Lee. Ariana's name now goes to the Governor for further action. Congratulations Ariana! We are more than one-third of the way through the 2023 legislative session and have passed the bill filing deadline, the date by which legislation must be introduced to be guaranteed a hearing. 1,226 bills have been introduced in the House and 890 in the Senate. You can browse every House bill here. As I have shared previously, I am the primary sponsor of nine bills as well as one piece of local legislation. Six of the bills have already had bill hearings and two more will be heard later today.  LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
The bill hearings for four pieces of legislation I have introduced occurred last week.
COMMUNITY NEWS State legislators have the opportunity to award scholarships to our constituents for their higher education. If you are interested in a scholarship, please visit https://www.marckorman.com/scholarship.html for further information about how to apply. ----- In a prior update, I shared information about the Blueprint for Maryland's Future Accountability and Implementation Board. The Board now has a vacancy and if you are interested in applying, more information is available here. UPCOMING EVENTS
Last week I previewed the Governor's State of the State address. You can read the speech here or watch it here.  LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
The Governor has also introduced his legislative package, which by tradition is introduced by the Speaker by request of the Administration (yes, the Democratic Speaker would even sponsor the former Republican Governor's bills). Governor Moore's proposed bills are: Serving Every Region Through Vocational Exploration Act of 2023: Establishing a service year option program for high school graduates to perform a year of service. Family Prosperity Act of 2023: Extends the state earned income and child tax credits. Access to Banking Act: Establishes the Maryland Community Venture Investment Fund to incentivize the placement of banks and credit unions in low and moderate income neighborhoods. Fair Wage Act of 2023: Speeds up the implementation of the $15.00/hour minimum wage and links it to inflation. Clean Transportation and Energy Act: Increases the incentives for zero emission vehicles, including for trucks. Broadband Expansion Incentive Act of 2023: Exempts certain broadband related equipment from the sales and use tax. Innovation Economy Infrastructure Act of 2023: Establishes a grant program in the Department of Commerce for certain technology related infrastructure projects. Health Care for Heroes Act of 2023: Covers healthcare costs for Maryland's National Guard members. Keep Our Heroes Home Act: Increases the tax benefit for military retirement income. The committees in the General Assembly will now do their due diligence and consider these proposals. ----- Two priorities of the General Assembly have also been introduced. The first is the Speaker's constitutional amendment to enshrine reproductive freedom in the state constitution. The second is the cannabis reform legislation to implement Maryland's new recreational cannabis market, required by the successful constitutional ballot question last year. Recreational cannabis will be regulated like medical cannabis to ensure safety through the renamed Alcohol, Tobacco, and Cannabis Commission. Existing growers, dispensers, and operators in the medical cannabis program would be able to convert--at a cost--to a combination recreational/medical license and additional licenses would become available. The tax rate will begin at 6% and slowly rise to 10%, with most of the funding originally targeted towards implementation and social equity programs. COMMUNITY NEWS
At noon today, Governor Moore will deliver his first State of the State Address in the House chamber. You will be able to watch the speech on the House of Delegates' YouTube channel. I will include a link to the speech on my social media feeds and in next week's newsletter. And speaking of Governor Moore, many of you immediately noticed that I inadvertently used the former Governor's name last week when referencing a cabinet appointment. Old habits die hard and I added the paragraph after my dedicated proofreaders did their work, so the error was entirely my own. LEGISLATIVE UPDATE I have now introduced nine pieces of legislation, which I expect to be my full load this legislative session. You can browse the bills here. Of course, I will be involved in many other pieces of legislation and issues as a member of the Appropriations Committee and House Majority Leader, so just because you do not see a topic in my own bill list does not mean it will not be addressed or I will not be working on it. Thus far, two of my bills have been the subject of House committee hearings (every bill introduced before a certain date is guaranteed a hearing). Both bills are devoted to trying to increase our ability to fund major infrastructure projects. The State and Federal Transportation Funding Act hearing was last week and allows the state to use a federal financing vehicle referred to as "GARVEE" bonds for major projects. The Maryland Rail Investment Act hearing was earlier this week and the bill would establish a rail authority in the state funded by road tolls to build major rail projects. EDUCATION UPDATE The Blueprint for Maryland's Future is a comprehensive and far-reaching effort to improve public education in the state of Maryland. Most of the press coverage of it during the Hogan years was about cost. Overall cost is important, but the Blueprint is really about what we are doing with our scare resources. It focused on five areas, now known as pillars and described more fully in the legislation:1. Early Childhood Education 2. High Quality and Diverse Teachers and Leaders 3. College and Career Readiness 4. More Resources for Students to Be Successful (particularly targeting certain groups such as special needs to English Language Learner populations) 5. Governance and Accountability On point five, this included standing up a new Accountability and Implementation Board (AIB), which is chaired by Ike Leggett. The AIB is required to produce a Comprehensive Implementation Plan and then each school district will do the same. The Comprehensive Implementation Plan is now available online. For those who want to do a deep dive, it gets into the details of each pillar by describing the objectives, tasks, and sub tasks that will go into achieving the goals of that pillar and the outcome measures and milestones that will be used to track progress. It will not always be perfectly smooth and progress will be challenging, but the Blueprint for Maryland's Future is more than an increase of funds for our public schools--as important as that is--but a new way to ensure progress towards our ambitious goals. COMMITTEE UPDATE As I often explain, the vast majority of our work in the legislature is committee-driven. I serve on the Appropriations Committee. In addition to bill hearings, my committee holds budget hearings on each state agency and department. But early in the session we also do more general briefings and here is what we have been up to this past week.  As chair of the Transportation and Environment Subcommittee, I presided over the briefing on major projects. Because of a technical issue, the video of the meeting is not available but the audio is here.
The full committee also held its annual fiscal briefing, where we break down the Governor's budget broadly before examining each agency more closely. The materials for that briefing are available here. And you can watch the briefing here. TRANSPORTATION UPDATE The Brunswick Line is the MARC commuter rail line that serves Montgomery County (and beyond). The Maryland Transit Administration is taking comment on the Brunswick Line Expansion Study, which focuses on specific and achievable infrastructure and service improvements. Read the study and comment here. ----- The Biden Administration recently released a fact sheet regarding the bipartisan infrastructure law's impact on Maryland. Read it here. ----- I know many of you are concerned about Old Georgetown Road and Little Falls Parkway. I have been involved in numerous constituent conversations on both over the past few weeks but do not have any type of comprehensive update since my prior weekly emails. We continue to pass along specific questions, concerns, and feedback on both issues to the relevant agencies. COMMUNITY NEWS
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January 2025
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