Politics

A couple of weeks ago, state Sen. George C. Edwards (R-Garrett) appeared virtually in the House Health and Government Operations Committee to present one of his bills. Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg (D-Baltimore City), who entered the General Assembly at the same time as Edwards, in 1983, asked the senator if he remembered the first bill he introduced. “I said, ‘Sandy, I can’t remember what I did last weekend, let alone 40 years ago,’” Edwards recalled replying. A few days later, Rosenberg testified on a bill before the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, where Edwards serves, so Edwards thought he’d asked his former House colleague the same question. Rosenberg described his first bill in great detail.

The Maryland Senate gave tentative approval late Friday to two measures that top officials in Baltimore and Prince George’s County have been pursuing since the start of this year’s legislative session. One of the bills — House Bill 896 — would authorize the Maryland Stadium Authority to perform $1.2 billion in upgrades to the city’s professional sports stadiums. The funding would be evenly divided between Oriole Park at Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium, home of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens.

A bill to accelerate Maryland’s transition away from fossil fuels will become law, setting goals to cut the state’s greenhouse gas emissions 60% below 2006 levels by 2031 and virtually eliminate the state’s carbon footprint by 2045. The legislation had been widely expected to appear on a list of vetoes Gov. Larry Hogan presented Friday evening, ahead of the General Assembly’s adjournment for the year on Monday. Hogan had called it a “reckless and controversial energy tax bill” as soon as floor debate began in the Senate last month, though it doesn’t actually include any tax policies.

Prince George’s County Council member Derrick Leon Davis is resigning from the 6th District council seat, effective April 15. Davis, who has served on the council since 2011, issued a statement Friday saying the time had come to “rest, restore and prepare for the next leg of this journey,” but did not say why he is resigning or what the next step in that journey would entail. In the fall, Davis was at the center of a controversy over a redistricting plan for the county council.

Qualifications for top government officials were at the center of debate on the Senate floor Thursday evening — and in an unusual move, a bill to require additional expertise from future Maryland secretaries of Aging was sent back to committee after lawmakers objected, saying the changes could interfere with Senate’s role in confirming or rejecting nominees.

The Maryland House of Delegates on Thursday rejected a bill that would extend the gas tax holiday. Washington County Republican Delegate Brenda Thiam proposed the amendment which would have extended the holiday into Memorial Day Weekend. Comptroller Peter Franchot on Wednesday also called on lawmakers to extended the gas tax holiday another 60 days. Franchot noted that prices are still high and the holiday has attracted drivers from other states.

Chamyra Upshur said that as a child she didn’t have role models to look up to. Upshur, a second-year law student at the University of Baltimore School of Law, said Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation as the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court will motivate her to work harder. “Everyone deserves representation. And for African Americans, it’s very rare that we see attorneys who look like us, who understand the things that we value and will ask the questions to protect our interests,” said Upshur, who grew up in Milton, Delaware.

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) has received the coveted backing of the county’s teachers union in his bid for reelection. The Montgomery County Education Association, which represents about 14,000 educators and specialists in the Maryland county, announced Thursday that it is endorsing Elrich, who is set to face four challengers in the Democratic primary in July.

The former head of the Baltimore County NAACP is running for County Council in a district that was at the center of the county’s redistricting conflict. Tony Fugett of Owings Mills filed paperwork Thursday to seek election in District 2, now represented by Councilman Izzy Patoka. Both are Democrats. Fugett is a plaintiff in a redistricting lawsuit in which civil rights groups and county voters backed by the ACLU of Maryland say County Council district maps initially drawn last year would unlawfully dilute Black residents’ votes.