Politics

Five state legislators from Anne Arundel County have proposed a bill to create a disaster recovery fund that they say would distribute money more quickly to local jurisdictions and impacted residents following a natural disaster. Annapolis Sen. Sarah Elfreth, the lead sponsor of Senate Bill 650, said the legislation was inspired by the response to tornadoes and floods in Annapolis and Ellicott City over the past few years.

The Maryland House of Delegates came one step closer Wednesday to passing legislation that would allow voters to constitutionally secure the right to have an abortion. The bill, sponsored by House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, a Baltimore County Democrat, and Democratic Senate President Bill Ferguson of Baltimore would allow Marylanders to vote during the 2024 election to enshrine access to abortion in the state constitution.

After lengthy debate Tuesday, the Maryland Senate advanced a bill giving the Maryland Attorney General’s Office the power to do prosecutions of police-involved killings. Two years ago, the General Assembly created within the attorney general’s office the Independent Investigations Division, which now does the investigations into police-involved killings in Maryland.

It was a big year for environmental legislation in Annapolis in 2022, with the passage of the Climate Solutions Now Act accelerating Maryland’s greenhouse gas reduction goals. While 2023 isn’t poised to be nearly as busy for legislators on the environmental front, there are still interesting bills in play.

Maryland legislators are considering a bill that would further the state’s commitment to offshore wind, among other steps aimed at signaling its desire to be a leader in the emerging industry. The Promoting Offshore Wind Energy Resources Act, or POWER for short, primarily seeks to increase Maryland’s offshore wind capacity goal and directs the state to study and solicit solutions to a major issue the industry will face locally related to transmitting offshore energy to land.

The group that backed a successful petition drive to get term limits approved by Baltimore voters last fall said Tuesday it’s likely to make a second push to get recall elections on the ballot next year.
Officials with People for Elected Accountability and Civic Engagement, a political action committee funded almost entirely by Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. Chairman David Smith, said they are holding a series of town hall meetings in Baltimore City Council districts to gather input on potential ballot questions.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller threw more than $4 million worth of inaugural celebrations in January that were financed in large part by donations from corporations and wealthy power brokers. The Moore Miller Inaugural Committee accepted nearly $4.6 million in ticket sales and donations, and spent about $4.3 million, mostly on a party for several thousand supporters in downtown Baltimore.

When he was studying at Morgan State, Maryland Rep. Kweisi Mfume joined Black students around the country during the civil rights movement in the push to see their own history taught in the classroom. Following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, civil rights leaders were faced with the question: “Where do we go from here?” he recalled.

A bill that would expand the offshore wind energy industry in Maryland has been co-sponsored by more than half the members of a key House committee — including 13 of the panel’s 17 Democrats — and by the powerful chair of the Senate Committee on Education, Energy and the Environment. It aligns with the environmental and economic development priorities of the state’s new governor. It’s been endorsed by a robust coalition of business leaders, organized labor, environmental groups and others.