2020 Session Summary
Dear Neighbor,
Thank you for the privilege of representing you as your District 16 Delegate to Maryland’s General Assembly. This year marked my 10th year in Annapolis and it both began and ended by making history. In January, my friend and the first female and first African American, Adrienne Jones was sworn in as Speaker of the House of Delegates. She joined new Senate President Bill Ferguson in the decision to end the session early for the first time since the Civil War. Despite the challenges presented by the outbreak of Coronavirus, I am so proud of the work we undertook this session, and believe it is a shining example of our shared hopes for Maryland.
In particular, we took immediate steps to empower Governor Hogan and state agencies to support families and businesses facing the COVID-19 crisis. We also acted to strengthen our healthcare system as it faces this unprecedented challenge. We passed emergency legislation to expand the ability of medical providers to use telehealth, prevent price gouging, and extend eligibility for unemployment benefits. We also appropriated $50 Million in emergency funding to support small business supports and other necessary emergency spending. My office will remain a resource for constituents as we face this situation together. A full report on the steps we took to address the pandemic and important links to resources and information can be found here (link)
In addition to the measures above, I am proud to have passed 5 bills in this truncated session:
- HB 1615: Senior Referral Agencies – With support from the Maryland Senior Citizens Action Network, Baltimore Jewish Council, Catholic Charities and Area Agencies on Aging, I sponsored this bill to protect seniors from unscrupulous referral agencies. The law requires referral agencies to register with the state, prohibits referrals to unlicensed facilities, requires the disclosure of any financial arrangements a referrer may have with a facility and also gives the Attorney General’s office more power to shut down unlicensed facilities.
- HB 455: Mental Health Benefits and Substance Use Disorder Benefits Reports: Requires insurance carriers to submit a comprehensive set of reports to the Maryland Insurance Administration which will give us the data necessary to make sure that insurers adequately provide care for mental health and substance abuse.
- HB 1120: Anti-discrimination in Healthcare: Bans discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. These protections currently exist in the federal Affordable Care Act but should it be repealed, Marylanders can be assured of continued protection in our state.
- HB 781: IVF Treatment Revisions – Updates Maryland statutes regarding insurance coverage for in-vitro fertilization treatment, by allowing IVF to begin when a woman is a year younger, improving success rates, thus reducing overall costs while improving success rates, as well as expanding coverage to unmarried women.
- HB 978: Pharmacy Services Administration Organizations: Creates transparency in the pharmaceutical pricing chain and helps independent pharmacies negotiate better contract terms for drugs which will lower costs for consumers.
- Funding for Local Projects – WIth the help of my D16 colleagues Delegates Korman, Love and Senator Lee, I am proud to have secured $100,000 in funding for for Charles E Smith Life Communities for building upgrades and improvements to security, $300,00 for Imagination Stage for a new storage facility, $400,000 for Willet Branch Greenway for improvements to the site’s grounds and the installation of landscaping, and $325,000 for the YMCA Bethesda-Chevy Chase for renovations and site improvements.
Here are highlights from some of the other bills we passed this year:
Investing in Education
Education reform was a top priority for legislators in 2020. Early in the session, we passed the Built to Learn Act of 2020 to provide school districts across the state with $2.2 billion to address critical construction needs. We also passed The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. This landmark legislation increases funding for special education and teacher salaries (including school counselors and psychologists), expands access to all-day pre-k programs, and provides funding for health and behavioral health coordinators in schools.
Protecting the Environment
We passed SB 300/HB 229 which bans the use of chlorpyrifos, a toxic pesticide with known negative health effects. We also passed HB 299, the Maryland Sustainable Buildings Act which will establish more climate-friendly standards for state-owned buildings. Additionally, we overturned the Governor’s veto on HB 720, which created an oyster fisheries management program to protect an important ecosystem in Maryland.
The truncated session halted progress on some important environmental measures. I am hopeful that we will come back later in the year and complete work on these key bills:
- HB 209 – Plastic Ban Reduction Act
- HB 1425 – Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions Act
- HB 772 – Reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Maryland Food Purchases
- HB 561 – Community choice aggregators
- HB 432 – Changing Maryland Transit Administration’s bus fleet to zero-emission electric buses.
Improving Public Health
As I mentioned in my coronavirus update, I shepherded passage of critical telehealth bills through my subcommittee giving healthcare providers the ability to use telemedicine technology in more flexible ways (HB 448, HB 1208)
Additionally, we passed legislation that:
- Assures Marylanders cannot be denied insurance coverage for pre-existing conditions (HB 929)
- Improves insurance coverage for prostate cancer screenings (HB 852)
- Provides treatment for children with pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders (SB 475)
- Increases taxes on cigarettes (HB 732)
- Improves the maternal mortality review program (HB 286)
- Requires implicit bias training for healthcare workers (HB 837)
Preventing Gun Violence
My colleagues and I have made many efforts to manage the access to guns in Maryland. The passage of HB 4 requires a background check for private sales or transfers of long guns. We also passed HB 1343, legislation to overturn the Governor’s veto of a bill to abolish the handgun review board and HB 1629 which requires a statewide audit of firearm crimes to analyze where the breakdown occurs in our criminal justice system, from 911 call to disposition. Tracking this information will help the state pinpoint at-risk communities and implement more effective solutions for preventing these crimes.
In this extraordinary time for Maryland, my office remains a resource for information, please reach out anytime via email ariana.kelly@house.state.md.us. Please follow the preventative recommendations put out by the CDC, reach out to your neighbors (from a safe distance), check in on the elderly, and wash your hands!
Best regards,
