Politics

The Montgomery County Council may have violated state law by allowing the swearing in of members of the Planning Board prior to the county executive’s 30-day veto window, according to a letter from the state Attorney General obtained by MoCo360. The letter was sent by Sandra Benson Brantley, the attorney general’s counsel to the General Assembly, to state Sen. Ben Kramer (D-Dist. 19) on May 15.

The wife of Anne Arundel County Del. Nic Kipke has joined a gun rights organization suing Gov. Wes Moore, challenging Maryland’s new laws that will restrict where licensed gun owners can carry firearms. The case filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore has as plaintiffs the Maryland State Rifle and Pistol Association Inc. — the state affiliate of the National Rifle Association — and Susannah Warner Kipke, who owns Mrs. Kipke’s Secure Gun Storage in Millersville and has gun permits in Maryland and Florida.

A new bill from County Council member Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1) would establish a Community Zoning and Land Use Resource Office, changing an established but currently unfunded land use attorney position called the Office of the People’s Counsel. The Office of the People’s Counsel provides a county-funded attorney to represent constituents in land use decisions, but it hasn’t been funded since 2010.

After Gov. Wes Moore in March fired the contractor running the state’s veterans home over abuse allegations, the state spending board on Wednesday approved a $159 million deal with a new corporate vendor, despite the operator’s low federal quality ratings and abuse allegations in other facilities it runs. bThe Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs awarded the four-year contract to run Charlotte Hall Veterans Home in St. Mary’s County to Georgia-based PruittHealth, making Maryland’s only longterm care facility for veterans one of more than 180 owned by the care provider.

Gov. Wes Moore signed House Bill 175 into law Tuesday, giving student board members in Baltimore County Public Schools the right to vote on budgetary items. The Baltimore County Board of Education includes one student member, who has been able to cast their vote on select agenda items. With the bill signing Tuesday, county student members will have the power to vote on matters relating to the school system’s capital and operating budgets, effective July 1.

Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski has ruled out creating an oversight board for the county inspector general. That puts to rest a controversy that has dogged Olszewski for two years. When Olszewski proposed an oversight board for the inspector general in 2021, he received withering criticism from County Council members.

Lawmakers and advocates who pushed for stronger gun control measures in the recent General Assembly session saw their work come to fruition as Gov. Wes Moore (D) signed more than a dozen public safety bills into law Tuesday. One of the biggest measures discussed during this year’s legislative session was Senate Bill 1 – led by Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher (D-Montgomery) – that will prohibit the open carry of guns in the state and restrict where firearms can be carried, including at locations such as preschools, government buildings and polling places.