Commentary

Marylanders are now without legal protections for many forms of discrimination, leaving them exposed to serious harms with no state-level legal recourse. This past August, the Maryland Supreme Court issued a troubling ruling in John Doe v. CRS. The decision weakened the statutory protections afforded to all Marylanders under every state anti-discrimination clause.

The climate crisis isn’t on the horizon — it’s already upon us. Its effects are evident daily, impacting our communities, economy, and even national security. It’s imperative that we push our leaders to take decisive action. Gov. Wes Moore, who has championed environmental causes, and has repeatedly demonstrated his commitment to working with and listening to communities throughout our state, can take action today to help our state, and the nation, address this crisis at the size and scope needed. He can do so by making plans to take advantage of a new rule that was recently issued by the Biden administration.

The Maryland General Assembly is a bit like two parents who gave the kids every toy they wanted for Christmas, charging everything on credit cards. Now, they are wondering how they will pay the bills. It is always easier to spend than to pay, just as it is easier to vote for spending than it is to vote to tax people to get the money. The problem is rearing its ugly head now in the General Assembly, with the House of Delegates and the state Senate at odds.

Our legislators have a chance this session to dramatically reframe the choices for more than 50,000 Maryland families coping with planning funerals each year. The “Green Death Care Options Act” — cross-filed as House Bill 1168 and Senate Bill 1028 — would respond to an estimated two-thirds of funeral consumers looking for new choices. It also carries a no-nonsense promise to reduce greenhouse gas emissions without spending a dime of Maryland taxpayer money.

It shouldn’t be controversial to think that absolutely no one deserves to lose their home or be evicted due to an unpaid water bill. Yet, Maryland lawmakers are trying to return to a practice that disproportionately impacts and displaces Black people, who are already underrepresented as homeowners and disproportionately impacted as renters.

Students’ federal financial aid data has begun slowly trickling out to U.S. colleges and universities. That means our University System of Maryland (USM) schools — 12 public universities across the state — should finally get their hands on the amount of federal aid their prospective and returning students will qualify for. Normally, this information would have come in January, but the problematic rollout of a “new” federal financial aid form, the simplified FAFSA, caused significant delays.

In a notable twist of political dynamics, Governor Wes Moore, a fellow Democrat, finds himself at odds with members of his own party in the Maryland House of Delegates over budget priorities. Moore, who has consistently pledged not to raise taxes, now faces the daunting prospect of vetoing a budget bill proposed by fellow Democrats that would do just that. This predicament underscores a deeper rift within the party and raises questions about the alignment of fiscal policies with Democratic principles.