Commentary

Before anyone flipped the switch to activate the new speed cameras on the Jones Falls Expressway (Interstate 83) in Baltimore last Thursday, there was a veritable traffic jam of critics on social media with a thumb’s down assessment of the situation. The responses ranged from the pointed but polite like an eye-roll emoji with the comment, “speeders are a top priority in Baltimore” to the even more sarcastic suggestion that the next step for Baltimore may be to imprison too-fast electric scooters. “Baltimore is so greedy with those speed cameras,” lamented one woman on Twitter last week.

As complex as our legal system can be, most readers will recognize the phrase “innocent until proven guilty.” By design, our criminal justice system favors the accused. Think momentarily about what it means for the government to remove our fundamental rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — even temporarily — through imprisonment. This is an immense power, and it is why our court system both maintains a presumption of innocence and requires the state to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that a criminal defendant is guilty before removing one of us from society.

Last year, a nationwide mental health survey found that a stunning 42% of LGBTQ youth considered suicide in the past year. The COVID-19 pandemic, which has increased teen suicides attempts overall, likely played a role in that. But the survey of 35,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning individuals between the ages of 13 and 24 by The Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on LGBTQ youth suicide prevention, points to other factors as well: 94% of those surveyed said recent politics had worsened their outlook and 75% said they had suffered some form of gender discrimination.

I served in the Maryland House of Delegates for 24 years, from 1995 to 2019. At the end of each General Assembly session, I’d send a letter to my constituents summarizing the bills that passed or failed. The media covered the high profile and controversial issues, so my report included a section of “Unsung Legislative Actions.” These were items that didn’t get headlines but were important. These two bills — both enacted in the 2022 session — initially may seem remote or technical in nature, but they will impact the health and well-being of every Marylander with minimal cost and substantial benefit. You should know about them.

The Climate Solutions Now Act sets up a huge potential for Maryland to go even further in its goals to eliminate the vast majority of emissions.By allowing the Climate Solutions Now Act to become law, Governor Larry Hogan and the Maryland General Assembly have thrown down the gauntlet. We as a state are now required by law to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions 60% by 2031 and 100% by 2045. We should be proud of our leadership in the General Assembly and the many advocates who worked for the bill’s passage.

At a time when reproductive rights are under unprecedented attack across the country, Maryland took a significant step to increase access to abortion statewide. Not only will women in Maryland benefit from the forward-looking legislation that lifts outdated barriers on who can perform abortions, but also the expansion of access could help women from other states where laws are being passed to restrict or ban abortions in anticipation of a Supreme Court ruling soon on a Mississippi case challenging Roe v. Wade.

The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently authorized a second booster shot of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for those age 50 and older. The recommendation follows a study out of Israel recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The Israel study reports a modest relative risk reduction in COVID-19 infections for those receiving a second booster compared to those who have gotten one booster, on the order of 1.5 times lower, with this benefit waning over the length of the study period, or around two months.