Politics

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott outraised his chief rival Sheila Dixon by about $150,000 last year, campaign finance reports filed Wednesday showed, expanding the incumbent mayor’s war chest as the campaign begins to heat up. However, Dixon’s campaign will have the benefit of an additional $200,000 contributed to a super PAC dedicated to supporting her candidacy. The annual filings, which were due late Wednesday, showed Scott, a Democrat in his first term as mayor, raised $682,134 last year in his effort to maintain his seat.

Democratic state lawmakers want gun manufacturers to help foot the bill for trauma injuries, including gunshot wounds, following an example set by California last year. A bill from Sen. Sarah K. Elfreth (D-Anne Arundel) and Del. Bernice D. Mireku-North (D-Montgomery) would levy an 11 percent excise tax on gun and ammunition manufacturers to feed the Maryland Trauma Physician Services Fund.

The Anne Arundel County Council amended three bills Tuesday night, two of which expand benefits for county first responders, setting up further debate and a potential final vote next month. In its hour-long meeting, the council held public hearings on five bills. Three of the bills were amended and will be up for further amendments or a final vote at the council’s next meeting on Feb. 5. Two bills were defeated.

As top lawmakers move to strengthen consumer protections for utility customers who shop for electricity suppliers, large national energy companies are countering with a poll showing an overwhelming majority of voters want to retain robust competition in the marketplace. They are also charging that the proposed legislation would decimate the state’s 25-year-old competitive marketplace for electricity suppliers. And they’re arguing that recent controversy over Baltimore Gas & Electric rate increases illustrates the need for more checks on the utility companies.

Twenty state lawmakers are joining forces to create the Maryland Legislative Jewish Caucus, joining their voices to speak out against antisemitism and hate crimes, while also promoting Jewish culture and heritage. “Having a Maryland Jewish Legislative Caucus will enable members of the General Assembly to advocate for policies important to the Jewish communities of Maryland,” state Sen. Shelly Hettleman, a Baltimore County Democrat and co-chair of the new caucus, said in a statement announcing the caucus on Tuesday.

A bill pending before the Maryland General Assembly seeks to preclude people of convicted of certain sex crimes from receiving diminution, or good time, credits that allow them to reduce their prison sentences. Inspired by the killing of Baltimore entrepreneur Pava LaPere, House Bill 301 would prohibit people serving sentences for first-degree rape or first-degree sex offense from accruing credits behind bars to reduce their sentences.

Montgomery County bus commuters would get 28 miles of new, faster lines under a $580 million expansion of the county’s bus rapid transit (BRT) system proposed Tuesday by County Executive Marc Elrich (D). The proposal — part of a larger $5.84 billion six-year capital improvement program that the executive is required to submit to the Montgomery County Council every two years — would represent a tripling of the expedited bus service that the county rolled out on U.S. Route 29 in 2020.