ANNAPOLIS – In this week’s legislative digest, Governor Larry Hogan presents his 2nd state of the state address to the Maryland General Assembly, Delegate Mary Beth Carozza is joined by local supporters and educators for her false bomb threat bill hearing, and legislation is introduced that would grant paid sick leave to more than a half million Marylanders.
State Of The State
Governor Larry Hogan took a much different tone during his second state of the state address on Wednesday than he did during his first speech last year, calling for bi-partisanship and collaboration in the effort to continue to move Maryland forward.
“In the days ahead, I will extend my hand to you in cooperation and in devotion to our duty,” said Hogan, “and I ask each of you, and all Marylanders, to seek that middle ground where we can all stand together. Because together, we are stronger, together, we can continue on this brave new path, and together, we can and we will change Maryland for the better.”
Hogan was upbeat and positive after spending much of 2015 battling non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He announced in November that he is cancer free. He noted that the experience has changed his perspective in some ways. Unchanged, however, is his focus and dedication to fiscal issues and tax relief.
“Our first and most important task was to correct our state’s fiscal course, and to get our economy back on track,” said Hogan. “For the first time in nine years, working together we adopted a budget that did not include a single tax hike. Not only did we not raise taxes, together we cut them.”
Last year, Hogan’s harsh tone drew the ire of many Democrats in the General Assembly, prompting Senate President Thomas V. Michael Miller to accuse the governor of delivering an “angry speech” filled with rhetoric that “would have been better suited on the campaign trail.”
Hogan likely had that criticism in mind as he prepared this speech this time around, which included a bit of bi-partisan high praise directed at Miller and House Speaker Michael E. Busch. Yet, Hogan spent the vast majority of his speech touting the state’s job and revenue growth, the relief given to taxpayers, and challenging legislators on both sides of the aisle to push for more.
“Let’s build on that progress and continue to make Maryland a more competitive and a more business-friendly state,” he said. “Let’s begin by reducing taxes and making it easier for the smallest of Maryland businesses who have been struggling the most.”
Hogan’s approval rating is also at an all-time high, as a recent Gonzales poll shows that 67% of Marylanders approve of the job that he is doing as governor. That approval rating is higher than the two previous governors (Martin O’Malley and Bob Ehrlich) achieved at any point during their respective tenures.
Testimony Heard On Bomb Threat Bill
On Tuesday, Delegate Mary Beth Carozza was joined by a number of local educators, law enforcement officials and concerned parents and students in front of the House Judiciary Committee as that legislative body considered House 121, officially titled Criminal Law-False Statements Concerning Destructive Device or Toxic Material-Venue.
Coming on the heels of numerous, yet unfounded bomb threats on local schools in Worcester and Wicomico counties, the bill would allow law enforcement to prosecute the person or persons responsible for making the false threats in the county where the threats were directed, rather than where the threat originated from.
“This bill will make it so the community most impacted by the threat can prosecute the threat, regardless of where the threats originates,” said former Delegate and current Worcester County Deputy Sheriff Mike McDermott during his testimony.
Beau Oglesby and Matt Maciarello, the State’s Attorneys from Worcester and Wicomico counties, respectively, were in attendance at the hearing as well.
During his testimony, Oglesby noted a 2011 bomb threat made against Showell Elementary School that could not be prosecuted because the call had originated in the neighboring county of Wicomico. Oglesby was adamant the bill would enable his office to prosecute threats like that in the future.
Carozza urged the committee to take action quickly noting the “sense of urgency to move this bill given the recent disruptions that these bomb threats have been causing throughout Maryland.”
The Senate version of this bill, SB 287, which is co-sponsored by Democratic Senator Jim Mathias, will be heard before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on Feb.11.
Paid Sick Leave Bill Reintroduced
Senate Majority Leader Catherine Pugh (D-Baltimore City) and current candidate for mayor of Baltimore, will re-introduce her paid sick leave bill that didn’t make it out of committee last session. Pugh, who is also trying to pass legislation that would see supermarkets put in communities deemed to be “food deserts”, says that it is unfair that anyone should have to choose between “work and sickness.”
According to an advocacy group called Working Matters, which is campaigning for compensated sick days, more than 700,000 Marylanders do not receive any paid time off when they get sick.
Pugh’s bill would all full time workers to earn an hour of paid time off for every 30 hours they work, earning up to 7 days of paid time off.
Some business groups and employers have been in vehement opposition of the paid sick leave proposal, calling it an onerous mandate made by government on small businesses.
Delegate Luke Clippinger, (D-Baltimore) will sponsor the corresponding version of the bill in the House.
According to a 2016 poll done by Gonzales Research and Marketing Strategies, 73% of Marylanders like the idea of paid sick leave, but only 12% support the move if the sick leave results in a reduction in benefits.