Politics

Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby won approval Wednesday to hire a consultant to assist the City Council with Baltimore’s redistricting process as the city awaits the mayor’s own redistricting proposal. The City Council will spend $33,750 to retain the Virginia-based company CensusChannel to assist with compiling the city’s demographic information and producing several maps based on the data, according to the contract.

Members of the General Assembly rolled out a package of bills to offer more protections to state and local government online networks on Wednesday following the discovery of myriad vulnerabilities in the state’s cybersecurity systems. “Vulnerabilities in our IT systems will continue to cost our taxpayers and that cost is high,” House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) said at a House news conference Wednesday.

Public health advocates are pushing for a bill that would provide up to $45 million in subsidies each year for Maryland’s small businesses and nonprofits to provide their employees with health insurance. SB632, which is sponsored by Sen. Katie Fry Hester, D-Carroll and Howard, aims to establish a Small Business and Nonprofit Health Insurance Subsidies Program to be administered by the Maryland Health Benefits Exchange.

Gun advocates blasted firearm safety legislation on Wednesday, saying it seeks to criminalize and penalize licensed firearms dealers. Sponsored by House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County), House Bill 1021 would implement minimum security requirements for licensed firearms dealers to prevent stolen guns from reaching the streets by installing video surveillance and alarm systems, putting metal bars on doors and windows and placing barriers on the outside of their stores so cars can’t break down their walls.

The Harford County Council approved several new county appointments at its meeting Tuesday. Philip McCall and Iris Barnes were appointed to the Historic Preservation Commission; Sierra Keys was named to the Harford County Cultural Arts Advisory Board; Pamela Pape-Lindstrom was appointed to the Environmental Advisory Board; and David Kunes was reappointed to the board of directors of the Harford Center.

Two former county health officers told state lawmakers that pandemic policy-making in Maryland has become dangerously politicized and that the state Department of Health routinely failed to support health officers who come under attack, even though they are state employees. Former Harford County Health Officer David Bishai, who was fired by the Harford County Council in October, told a legislative panel that he was let go without cause after he provided sound health guidance.

Del. Jay Walker (D-Prince George’s), a senior House member who had been seriously contemplating a run for state Senate this year, said Tuesday that he plans to step away from politics when his term ends in early January. “It’s been a good run,” Walker told Maryland Matters. The 50-year-old lawmaker, a former professional football player and TV sports analyst, brought a dash of celebrity to the House when he was elected in 2006.

U.S. Rep. David Trone is requesting the United States Postal Service examine processing practices and take quick action to resolve postal delays in Western Maryland. The Cumberland Customer Service Mail Processing Center was consolidated in 2012, with the idea that the facility’s mail processing operations would transfer to the Johnstown Processing and Distribution Facility in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.