Politics

Leadership from the House Health and Government Operations Committee slammed the Maryland Department of Health Wednesday afternoon for what they view as the agency’s slow approach to addressing mental health policy. “I’m totally disheartened,” said Committee Chair Shane E. Pendergrass (D-Howard). Pendergrass pointed to a number of issues, including an increased need for services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, rollbacks on reimbursements for telehealth services and slow development on a program that would expedite getting patients to psychiatric beds.

Since he announced his bid for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination four months ago, Baltimore tech entrepreneur Michael Rosenbaum has been talking about his experiences as a job creator, and his belief that nontraditional job candidates can thrive in the workforce with adequate training and support. The line “talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not,” is part of his standard campaign talking points.

Even before state Del. Michael E. Malone (R-Anne Arundel) prepares to step down to become a Circuit Court judge, lawyer Rachel Muñoz appears to be the odds-on favorite to succeed him in the House of Delegates’ 33rd District seat. Muñoz, who has been campaigning for the June 2022 GOP primary since 2019, has the support of the district’s senator, Edward R. Reilly (R), and another Anne Arundel Republican powerbroker, Del. Nicholaus R. Kipke, among other GOP officials.

The Prince George’s County Democratic Central Committee turned to one of their own to fill a House of Delegates vacancy on Tuesday. During an online public hearing, the panel chose Central Committee Chair Cheryl Summers Landis to represent District 23B for the next 16 months. Landis received 21 of 24 votes. There were two abstentions. The nomination goes to Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R), who has 15 days to make the appointment official.

State lawmakers gave final approval Tuesday to an emergency regulation passed by the State Board of Education that now requires universal masking in all Maryland public schools. After a four-hour virtual public hearing, the Joint Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review (AELR) Committee, which is tasked with reviewing state agency regulations, voted 10-7 to approve the emergency regulation passed by the state board in late August.

Defense attorney Roya Hanna is the first candidate to announce a run for Baltimore state’s attorney in the June Democratic primary election. An assistant state’s attorney in the city for 12 years, Hanna said Wednesday that she’s handled more than 100 jury trials, prosecuting murders, felony drug cases and juvenile crimes. In her last four years in the prosecutor’s office, before leaving in 2015, she prosecuted homicide cases. Currently, she runs a law office in downtown Baltimore.

Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr.’s administration spent more than $380,000 in legal fees attempting to end expanded federal unemployment benefits in Maryland early, an invoice shows. The 17-page invoice released Friday is dated Aug. 20 and includes $381,952.50 in legal fees, as well as $696.56 in filing fees and court costs, for a total of $382,649.06. The invoice, from Venable LLP, was released in response to a public information request from Maryland Matters on Friday.

As the state begins to implement the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reforms, Democratic gubernatorial candidate John King laid out his own education plan this week, which he says “goes from cradle to career.”  It includes universal access to preschool for three and four year-olds by 2030, expanding college and career opportunities in high school, establishing a minimum starting salary of $60,000 for teachers by 2023 and shows a high understanding of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future — a multi-billion-dollar education reform plan intended to close student achievement gaps and transform the state’s education system over the next decade.