Dear Neighbor,
Thank you for the privilege of representing you in my third term as your District 16 Delegate to Maryland’s General Assembly.
It is with a heavy heart that I remember my friend and the Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates, Michael Busch, who passed away last week. We honor his memory by continuing the important work in Annapolis fighting for education, justice, and opportunity for all. I am proud of the work we undertook this session, and believe it is a shining example of our shared hopes for Maryland.
I serve as a member of the Health and Government Operations Committee, the Insurance and Pharmaceuticals Subcommittee, and Chair of the Health Occupations & Long Term Care Subcommittee. I also serve as House Chair of the Joint Committee on Children, Youth and Families and Chair of the Montgomery County Economic Development Committee.
I passed into law eight pieces of legislation this year to promote economic opportunity, strengthen our community, and improve public health. As a whole, the legislature passed over 800 bills this year; here is an overview of the recently concluded 2019 legislative session:
Economic Opportunity and Working Families
Did you know that Maryland has some of the highest child care costs in the country? For the last four years as Chair of the Joint Committee on Children, Youth and Families, I have been working on ways to reduce child and elder care costs in Maryland. Last year, we saw a 20 million dollar increase in childcare subsidies for low-income families, and this year we successfully fought for significant tax credits for middle-income families. I sponsored legislation HB 810: Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit – Alterations to increase the current $50,000 income threshold for this tax credit with a limit of $92,000 for individuals and $143,000 for married couples. The income cap will now also be indexed annually to account for inflation. This legislation also helps low-income families by making the credit refundable. This law will improve access to high-quality child care for hardworking families, reduce stress for young families, and help kids get off to a good start in life.
The Federal Government shutdown this winter led to huge revenue losses for Maryland and significantly impacted our local economy and many families in our area. It also left many District 16 residents working without pay and wondering how to meet their financial obligations. In response, we passed HB 336: Federal Shutdown Paycheck Protection Act. This legislation allows federal employees required to work without pay as a result of a Federal Government shutdown to access unemployment benefits or no-interest loans.
This session, Maryland became a national leader in passing “Fight for 15” legislation. My colleagues and I overrode the Governor’s veto to ensure that all Marylanders receive a living wage by July 2026. The Montgomery County Council already raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour in our county. The county law will be fully implemented by 2024, and the new state minimum wage will not roll back the county law.
I have written to you previously about my work in Annapolis pursuing Paid Family and Medical Leave so that all Maryland families have the time and resources they need to care for their loved ones. This session I sponsored The Time to Care Act of 2019 based on the recommendations of the 2016 Task Force to Study Family and Medical Leave Insurance, which I co-chaired with Senator Brian Feldman. While the legislation did not pass in its first year, we did make significant progress towards building support for this important policy. When enacted, this legislation will create a public insurance fund (similar to unemployment insurance) to allow Marylanders to take up to 12 weeks paid leave to care for an aging relative, new child, or a serious health condition. With the birth of a child or an illness among the leading causes of poverty spells, this legislation is designed to protect family economic security across the lifespan.
Like with the Fight for Fifteen, and the Paid Sick Leave law, the Time To Care Act will be a multi-year legislative initiative. Major economic legislation like this takes years of education, advocacy, and public mobilization to pass. In its first year, our coalition of advocacy groups included AARP, Catholic Charities, and Maryland Family Network, as well as numerous labor unions and small business advocates who are looking for proactive solutions to make our economy more family friendly.
Education
Maryland is nationally recognized as a leader in K-12 education. However, our rankings have been slipping over the last few years. The Kirwan Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education published a January 2019 Interim Report which provided recommendations for improving education systems in Maryland. The Commission recommended increasing Maryland’s education funding, expanding pre-kindergarten programs, financial incentives for well-performing students to become teachers, and highlighted the need for increased mental health services in our schools.
With these recommendations in mind, my colleagues and I passed The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future (SB 1030). 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. The policies and funding laid out in this bill will help us transform Maryland’s early childhood, primary, and secondary education systems over the next decade in order to help our children succeed in school and beyond.
After years of advocacy from parents of children with Dyslexia, we passed the Ready to Read Act of 2019 (SB 734). Many children in Maryland fall behind in reading comprehension unnecessarily and by the time a problem is recognized, invaluable time has already been lost. This legislation takes a proactive approach to reading difficulties. Local school boards will now be required to screen students at risk for reading difficulties and, if necessary, provide supplemental reading instruction and notify the student’s parents.
In response to concerns from parents about a shrinking spring break and rising summer camp costs, this legislative session we passed the Community Control of School Calendars Act (SB 128). This law gives power back to local jurisdictions to set their school calendars. Counties can now choose what start date works best for their specific school system, and have the option to extend the school year 5 days past June 15th. This will give counties the flexibility to adjust their school calendars based on local needs.
Gun Violence Prevention
This session, I was visited in my Annapolis office by the mother of one of my son Leo’s best friends from preschool. Tragically, her brother-in-law was one of the victims of the Capital Gazette shooting. I am infuriated that my son’s friend had to grieve the loss of her uncle from senseless gun violence. A myriad of bills were introduced this session to address the epidemic of gun violence and while we made progress, there is still a long way to go.
This year we passed SB 622: Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention – Crime Firearms – Study which requires the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention to gather and report information about guns used to commit crimes in Maryland. The report is due by December 1, 2020 and will give us crucial data and information that will help us write more effective gun laws.
Additionally, we eliminated the handgun review board (HB 1343) which was a board of political appointees that was able to overturn concealed carry permit decisions. In its place, we established that any appeal of rejected concealed carry permits will go to the Office of Administrative Hearings.
Two bills that I was proud to co-sponsor this session were HB 740 and HB 786. These bills would have banned 3D printed guns and “ghost guns” (those without a serial number) and closed the long gun loophole, respectively, that exempted long guns like rifles or shotguns, from criminal background checks before purchasing. I am proud that the House passed both of these bills but unfortunately, they failed in the Senate and will not become law this year.
Public Health and Access to Care
Pharmaceutical prices are a rapidly growing percentage of our healthcare spending. Maryland made history this legislative session as the first state in the country to create a Prescription Drug Affordability Board (HB 768). This creates a group to study the ways we as a state can lower drug prices and prevent unreasonable price gouging for life-saving medications. The panel will spend a year looking at innovative ideas to reduce drug prices.
With support from our community physicians and nurses, the Multiple Sclerosis Society, and the American Cancer Society I sponsored HB 435: Prescription Drugs – Formulary Changes which protects patients when insurance companies change drug formularies in the middle of a plan year by providing exceptions for people on maintenance prescriptions. I also passed legislation to expand access to prenatal care for pregnant women. HB 127: Special Enrollment Period for Pregnancy adds pregnancy to the list of qualifying life events that allow for enrollment in health insurance outside of the open enrollment period. This bill helps to ensure the best possible birth outcomes for pregnant women and their children by expanding access to prenatal care and insurance coverage for labor and delivery. We also passed legislation to prevent non-consensual pelvic and rectal exams on unconscious patients (HB 364).
Maryland also took a crucial step in protecting access to scientifically-based family planning services by passing HB 1272: Family Planning Program Funding in response to federal rule changes targeting Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health care providers. This legislation protects Marylanders from federal changes to Title X, the long-standing federal grant program for family planning services for low-income families. This legislation stipulates that if these new rules are enacted, Maryland will leave the Federal Title X program and in its place create a Maryland family planning program that includes all providers who provide comprehensive health services for women and their families.
In an effort to improve public health and decrease youth tobacco use, we passed legislation to raise the minimum age to buy tobacco products to 21 (HB 1169). Research shows that teen smoking is on the rise, and this is a meaningful step towards lowering tobacco use rates. We also passed legislation to prohibit the use of tanning beds by minors (HB 124). The dangerous link between tanning bed use and skin cancer is well established and this bill will decrease early exposure in teens and adolescents.
In response to recent measles outbreaks, I also sponsored HB 316: Public Health – ImmuNet which requires all healthcare providers report vaccines administered into a secure state database. This will give both patients and providers a more complete picture of a person’s health record, prevent over-vaccination, and collect crucial public health data. It also makes tracking vaccines easier for parents and school nurses as we register our kids for school and summer programs.
Additionally, my colleagues and I passed HB 814: Maryland Easy Enrollment Health Insurance Program. This bipartisan legislation establishes Maryland’s Easy Enrollment Health Program (MEEHP). This new system adds a checkbox on state income tax returns to allow the state health exchange to determine a person’s eligibility for free or low-cost health insurance. It allows those who qualify to be automatically enrolled in Medicaid and offers information to those who are uninsured but do not qualify for Medicaid on health plans and possible federal tax credits to alleviate cost barriers. This legislation is the first of its kind to allow families to use tax information to qualify for health programs, and takes advantage of existing infrastructure to help as many Marylanders gain coverage as possible.
The Health and Government Operations committee heard many hours of incredibly moving testimony on the End-of-Life Option Act (HB 399). End-of-life decisions are incredibly personal and often difficult for both individuals and their family members. This bill passed the House by an 8 vote margin but failed in the Senate on a 23-23-1 vote.
Environment & Transportation
I heard from many of you over the session about promoting clean energy in Maryland. I was proud to co-sponsor SB 516: Clean Energy Jobs Act of 2019 which aims to increase Maryland’s renewable energy portfolio standards (the amount of energy required to come from renewable energy sources) to 50% by 2030. This bill passed both the House and the Senate. This is a historic moment as we take the next step to combat climate change and secure our children’s futures.
Oyster populations in the Chesapeake Bay are at an all-time low, at roughly just 2% of historic levels. Oysters are a keystone species for the Bay, and are invaluable in their ability to filter the Bay as well as in their commercial value. HB 298 and 720 seek to protect the Chesapeake Bay oyster populations by protecting and restoring 5 oyster sanctuaries by making them off limits to oyster harvesting, and establishing a workgroup that will take into account the needs of both industry watermen and conservation advocacy groups as we move forward on a Fisheries Management Plan for Oysters.
HB 109: Styrofoam Ban prohibits the use of Styrofoam food or drink containers. Styrofoam is petroleum-based and as a result, does not biodegrade. There are many safer, biodegradable or recyclable options many of which stores and restaurants already use, including in Montgomery County where this policy already exists. This ban is an important step towards reducing Maryland’s environmental impact.
Prior to the start of the legislative session, Governor Hogan released a pre-solicitation report for a public-private partnership to add express toll lanes to the Beltway and I-270. In response, my colleague Delegate Jared Solomon introduced the HB 1091: Public-Private Partnerships – Reforms which would require that environmental impact statements and independent credit assessments are complete prior to the beginning of a privatized infrastructure project. This legislation passed the House but the Senate did not pass the bill. The General Assembly did include language in the state budget that the Administration should withdraw the pre-solicitation report until the environmental impact statement is complete.
Last session, we passed legislation, sponsored by my teammate Delegate Marc Korman, to create a dedicated funding source for the Washington Area Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA) and the first portion of that funding was included in this year’s budget. This is an exciting step in our continued efforts to expand access to public transit and provide Marylanders with convenient and affordable alternatives to car travel.
Civil Rights & Justice
My District 16 teammate Delegate Sara Love introduced HB 421: Vehicle Laws – Licenses- Indication of Applicant’s Sex which allows people to choose a gender-neutral designation on their driver’s licenses. This bill is a step forward for LGBTQ rights in Maryland, and makes Maryland a national leader on this issue as one of 6 states to allow gender-neutral designations on driver’s licenses.
Hate crimes are on the rise across our country and instances of violence against marginalized groups continues to threaten the safety of our communities. In an effort to respond to this we passed HB 240: Hate Crimes – Threats which prohibits a person from threatening to commit hate crimes.
We also passed overwhelmingly bipartisan legislation to reduce the use of solitary confinement. HB 1001: Correctional Services – Restrictive Housing – Reporting by Correctional Units and Requirements limits the circumstances that would allow for a person under 18 to be placed in solitary confinement, and stipulates that if solitary confinement is used, that person will be guaranteed daily mental health assessments and other important rights such as phone calls, mail, visitations, and recreation. Legislation to expand pre-release programs for female inmates to make them comparable to services received by male inmates did not move forward, but will remain a priority of the Women’s Legislative Caucus.
This session I introduced HB 423: Election Law – Voter Registration – High Schools on behalf of student activists in Montgomery County. This legislation would have required public high schools to host at least one voter registration drive per school year. After hearing compelling testimony from high school student leaders about the importance of increasing awareness and access to voting, this bill passed in the House but unfortunately did not pass in the Senate. I am excited to continue working with students in our county to expand access to voter registration and strengthen our democracy.
The State Budget
The Maryland General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan and balanced budget. Despite a General Fund shortfall of $269 million, partially due to the Federal Government shutdown, my colleagues and I were able to fund our priorities to help working families without raising taxes. This includes $255 million in funding for the Kirwan Commission recommendations to support our teachers and students, and $500 million for school construction. In total, this year’s budget includes $7 billion for public schools with crucial funding for special education, teacher salaries, and full-day pre-kindergarten programs. We also secured a 7% increase in funding for Maryland’s public universities while capping tuition increases at 2%.
This year’s budget also invests critical dollars in improving public health across the state with $11.2 billion in the state’s Medicaid Program, which serves over 1.4 million Marylanders. It also allocates additional funding to help fight the opioid crisis and provide communities with the tools and resources necessary to take care of those struggling with addiction. We also re-elected District 16’s own Nancy Kopp to another term as State Treasurer. Maryland maintained its AAA Bond rating, and the budget expands the Rainy Day Fund to include 6% of General Fund revenues.
Together with Senator Lee, Delegate Korman, and Delegate Love, we obtained money for various District 16 local projects and programs. Among these were bond initiatives including $550,000 for the YMCA Bethesda Chevy Chase, $100,000 for building upgrades and improvements for Cornerstone Montgomery, and $250,000 for North Bethesda’s Josiah Henson Park which is the former plantation property where author, abolitionist, and minister Josiah Henson was enslaved for thirty years. Henson is also the inspiration for Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. The funds will be used to build a museum and modern visitors center to tell the story of Henson’s inspiring life and the realities of slavery in Montgomery County. We also preserved $1.5 million in funding for Cornerstone Montgomery in the budget and the $300,000 grant for the KID Museum in the Davis library. Lastly, we increased the budget appropriation for Imagination Stage to $550,000. I am proud of our District team for securing much-needed funding for programs and spaces that we all utilize and look forward to seeing these organizations continue to grow and thrive in D16.
While it was a very productive session, our work is far from over and I look forward to continuing to fight for you and our families in the remainder of the year. Once again, thank you for putting your trust in me to be your voice in Annapolis. If you have any questions about the legislation I mentioned, or anything else, please do not hesitate to call my office at (301) 858-3642 or email me at ariana.kelly@house.state.md.us. I look forward to seeing many of you in and around District 16 in the coming months.
Have a wonderful spring and summer.
Sincerely,
Delegate Ariana Kelly