Politics

With his signature public service program for young adults on the verge of passing in the Maryland General Assembly, Gov. Wes Moore on Monday announced a cabinet member to help build out the service year effort and other initiatives under the umbrella of a new state agency. If confirmed by the state Senate, Paul Monteiro — a former AmeriCorps program leader who now directs community relations efforts for the U.S. Department of Justice — would be the first secretary of the Department of Service and Civic Innovation.

This month, Democratic Gov. Wes Moore announced his intention to lead the state into a cleaner car future by requiring all new passenger car and light truck sales in model year 2035 to be electric vehicles. The announcement mirrored a California law that Maryland had agreed to, in principle, over a decade earlier. Now, state legislators are looking to pave the road ahead towards electric trucks, and at least one Maryland manufacturer of electric truck parts is looking to get in on the official conversation.

As Del. C.T. Wilson (D-Charles) has done for several years, he stood on the House of Delegates floor Friday morning to implore his colleagues to support legislation on behalf of child sexual abuse survivors. In past years, efforts to pass similar bills have found success in the House, but stalled in the Senate. But this year, Sen. William C. Smith Jr. (D-Montgomery), chair of the Judicial Proceedings Committee, ushered legislation through his chamber that passed March 16.

Rep. Andy Harris, a supporter of former President Donald Trump and the only Republican in Maryland’s congressional delegation, said Friday that Trump’s indictment shows “we live in a third world banana republic where the justice system is weaponized against political opponents.” Harris, who represents the 1st Congressional District of Harford County, the Eastern Shore and part of Baltimore County, was among a number of Trump loyalists in the U.S. House rallying to the former president’s defense by alleging the indictment was politically motivated.

The Maryland Senate passed a bill Friday to create a legal recreational cannabis industry in a 32-12 vote. Passage of the Senate bill comes after the cross-filed House of Delegates Bill 566 passed earlier this month. There are still more steps before a bill reaches Gov. Wes Moore’s desk. Because the two bills differ, members of the House and Senate will have to create a committee to hash out the differences between the two pieces of legislation.

Maryland voters will decide whether to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution next year, the General Assembly decided Thursday, placing Maryland in a wave of deep-blue states erecting defenses around abortion access as other states restrict or criminalize the procedure. The 2024 referendum — expected to pass because of broad public support for abortion rights in Maryland — is among protective measures being advanced this session by lawmakers spurred to act by restrictions on abortion approved elsewhere.