Favorable Actions

Good votes come in different packages.

I ran into a colleague in the garage this afternoon.

She told me that one of my bills is on her committee’s voting list – with an up arrow.

That arrow means the committee chair wants the legislation to get a favorable vote.

Another of my bills is on the list that will be acted upon by a subcommittee on my committee, Health and Government Operations.

My chairwoman puts bills on these lists if she wants them to pass.

My bill deals with the money the state would receive from the settlement of its lawsuit against JUUL, a maker of electronic smoking devices.

Under House Bill 321, these funds must be used for programs designed to reduce the use of tobacco products by individuals under 21 years of age.

I was also pleased to learn that a compromise has been reached on a controversial bill that my subcommittee is responsible for.

One less dispute for me to try to resolve.

Four bills on Crossover

Four of my bills passed the House today.

Each of these bills will now get a hearing in the Senate, having crossed over from the House by the deadline.

A good reason to celebrate Crossover Day.

But also time to strategize how to get the four bills through the Senate.

My bill to provide care for people with crisis behavioral health needs by creating a competitive grant program for counties and Baltimore City passed, 133-5.

The comparable Senate bill has passed that body.

We need to amend that legislation the same way that mine was modified.

Two of my landlord-tenant bills passed, 105-32 and 90-48, on party line votes.

I need to make sure that the landlords do not work to kill the bills in the Senate, despite their passive position today.

At the public hearing, no one opposed my bill to provide the same penalties for the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors as we already do for the illegal sale of tobacco products.

The vote today was 96-41, again a party-line vote.

In the Senate, I will work with my allies on tobacco issues.

My conservative side

I’m a conservative…

When it comes to bill drafting.

If there’s law that already addresses the issue I’m concerned with, copy it.

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel.

That was the case yesterday for my bill imposing penalties for the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors.

They would be the same as those for the sale of tobacco products to minors, as enacted in House Bill 185 last session.

I was the sponsor of that bill.

On a similar note, legislation to give a preference to Maryland architects when bidding on state government projects was heard by my committee today.

I wrote our committee counsel, “Is the local preference standard in the bill the same as that in other states?”

She responded, “Yes and it would only kick in if another state had a specific preference that we would apply an identical preference.”

  • My Key Issues:

  • Pimlico and The Preakness
  • Our Neighborhoods
  • Pre-Kindergarten
  • Lead Paint Poisoning