Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh Announces 2022 Legislative Priorities –

Issues Expected to Dominate: Dealing with Covid, Redistricting, the Environment and Climate Change, Legalizing Pot, Banning Ghost Guns and Landlord Evictions –

Editor’s Note: We are taking an interest in the Maryland General Assembly this year, heading into session this week. We are particularly qualified to cover the environmental legislation on the agenda as saving the planet is critical to our core journalistic mission; especially now that we have a permanently staffed bureau in Maryland and Washington, D.C. inside the Beltway.

By Glynn Wilson –

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Jan. 12) — Dealing with the surging Omicron variant and looming elections in June confront Maryland General Assembly members when they convene on Wednesday in Annapolis, as the top legislative issues are expected to be redistricting in an election year, environmental legislation, legalizing marijuana, fairness in housing and banning ghost guns.

Committee hearings focusing on priority legislation will be live-streamed, including efforts to boost the state’s “beleaguered” health care workforce, according to reporting from The Baltimore Sun, as well as crafting a plan to test people for the virus.

Outgoing Republican Governor Larry Hogan and legislative leaders also want more financial aide for the tourism and hospitality industries, hit hard again by the latest Covid surge. It will be Hogan’s last legislative session and final opportunity to get some things he wants for his legacy, such as it is.

“COVID was always going to be the top priority for us,” Senate President Bill Ferguson said on the eve of the session. But the new wave of the pandemic has “made it clear that the health impacts and the stability of our health system is going to be another core component that we’re going to have to be focused on.”

Climate Change is also back on the legislative agenda, with powerful environmental organizations pushing hard to pass major climate legislation that failed in the past. A package of bills aimed at sharply reducing Maryland’s greenhouse gas emissions fell short in the legislative session last spring, but a revamped version of it will be back.

The plan is to go after major funding for renewable energy projects, as well as money to improve schools. Investing in replacing the state’s vehicle fleet with cleaner, electric-powered engines, and thousands of school buses too, is a top priority that could show a large reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution as well as major economic savings for taxpayers down the road.

Senator Paul Pinsky, a Democrat from Prince George’s County, sponsored the Senate version of the package and chairs the key committee. He hopes to include a plan to phase out natural gas in new buildings.

He’s “cautiously optimistic” about a deal this year after several meetings and discussions to work out differences with House Environment and Transportation Chairman Kumar Barveto. “We have to be bold and I think they understand that.”

While the governor is a Republican who can’t run for reelection due to term limits, the Democratic Party holds a 2-1 advantage in the Maryland General Assembly and the power to set the agenda with the votes to override the governor and Republican legislators in the minority. That includes the power to decide how to spend a budget surplus bolstered by federal pandemic relief money.

There’s also more federal money to consider, as the $1.2 trillion dollars in funding for infrastructure projects starts rolling in from Washington. That should be fun for political junkies to see pursued and doled out.

Related Coverage: Congressional Passage of the $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is Huge

Redistricting also looms at the top of the agenda this year, that once in a decade power board game us politicos pull out of the closet for a long weekend of fun once every 10 years. They call it gerrymandering. It’s no fun if you belong to the minority party. It’s a game played by Republicans all over the country to dominate Congress from the boonies.

In this state, with the Democrats in charge who actually know how to govern, things should work out better in spite of a few squeaky claims by the governor and the Republicans of “unfairness” and “partisan gerrymandering.”

Baltimore shrank more than 5 percent over the past 10 years, so it loses clout in Annapolis, power gained by the outer suburbs of Washington, D.C.

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh announced his priority legislation Monday for the 2022 General Assembly session, initiatives aimed at strengthening the state’s authority to enforce environmental laws, eliminating the danger posed by ghost guns, protecting tenants from serial evictions and protecting employees from wage theft.

“Our legislative agenda is focused on protecting the health and safety of Marylanders and of our environment,” Frosh said in a press release making the announcement. “Our proposals eliminate the dangerous and growing threat of ghost guns, bolster efforts to protect our drinking water, protect hardworking employees from becoming victims of wage theft, and provide additional protections for tenants against unscrupulous landlords.”

Comprehensive Environmental Enforcement Legislation is on the agenda for sure, the state’s authority to enforce laws governing safe drinking water, wastewater facility operations, waterway construction and dam safety. Tidal and nontidal wetlands regulations are “unduly” restricted, he said.

This bill will amend the law to allow the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) to pursue injunctive relief, administrative and civil enforcement and penalties against “persons” (including corporations) who violate the state’s rules and regulations.

“Without these proposed changes, the state’s only recourse is too often limited to criminal prosecution,” he said.

The Ghost Gun Ban will address the rapidly growing problem of criminals utilizing unserialized “ghost guns” by outright banning them in Maryland, clarifying the definition of “firearm.”

Unless otherwise explicitly exempted by the statute, the bill prohibits possession of ghost guns after January 1, 2023. Violations of the law, as amended by the bill, can result in imprisonment not exceeding 3 years and a fine not exceeding $10,000 or both.

An Increased Filing Fee for Landlord-Tenant Actions increases the filing fee in evictions to make it more consistent with the fees charged in other states. Maryland’s $15 charge to file an eviction is one of the lowest fees charged across the nation, Frosh said, and at 92.5 percent, has one of the highest eviction filing rates nationally.

The bill also prohibits courts and landlords from passing these increased surcharges on to residential tenants.

Standardizing the Definition of “Employer” is called for. Workers are too often the victims of wage theft, misclassification and other misdeeds by employers who cannot be held accountable. This bill will create a standard definition of “employer” in the Employment Standards and Conditions Title. It will ensure that employers are not shielded from liability for wage theft and other violations.

The Maryland General Assembly’s 2022 legislative session starts on January 13 and ends at midnight on April 12.

The Sierra Club Maryland Chapter, one of the more powerful state Sierra Club chapters in the country, stays involved in the Maryland legislative process through grassroots activism and support for bills to change the state for the better, they say.

They strategize, meet, advocate, testify (virtually), and organize in teams and with partners to pass the most impactful environmental and social justice bills, according to the non-profit group’s website.

This year they are making a major push for an Environmental Human Rights Amendment to be voted on and added to the state Constitution.

It would help guarantee sustainable stewardship of the environment for all Marylanders.

Communities of color bear a disproportionate burden of the ill effects of pollution due to proximity to toxic facilities, and over 85 percent of Marylanders live in counties that do not meet EPA healthy air standards for smog pollution.

Baltimore has one of the highest rates of childhood asthma in the country (20
percent) – more than double the national average.

While the Maryland Constitution declares the rights to vote and to education, mention of the environment is nowhere to be found, they say.

The group strongly endorses this Amendment, embedding the right to a healthful environment in the Declaration of Rights section of the Maryland Constitution.

This will make a healthful environment a core responsibility and priority of government, and require the state to protect these rights for Marylanders today and for future generations. Over time, it would serve as a foundation for more effective environmental laws, regulations and administration.

The amendment would provide (A) That each person, as a matter of basic human dignity, has a fundamental and inalienable right to a healthful, sustainable environment; (B) That the State, as trustee, shall protect, conserve, manage and enhance Maryland’s natural and cultural resources, including its air, lands, waters, wildlife, and ecosystems, for the benefit and enjoyment of both present and future generations.

The proposed amendment will help ensure that environmental health and preservation remain top priorities for the state, regardless of changes in political officeholders.

Several states have related language in their constitutions, including Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Montana, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and New York.

The amendment has changed government behavior in the following ways, they say:

The amendment has been used by local governments to uphold their right and duty as trustee or guardian to make decisions that protect public natural resources.

State agencies have invoked the amendment to prevent further harm of public natural resources, and state agencies have adopted regulations that ensure departmental actions (like permitting) are consistent with the amendment.

The amendment has not led to significant increases in frivolous lawsuits, they say, as argued by some opponents. Rather, it sets out basic principles that guide government actions and the few lawsuits have been meaningful in driving legal precedent.

A large coalition of environmental, civil rights, faith communities, public health organizations including broad-based civic entities as the NAACP, the League of Women Voters, the Maryland Public Health Association, the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, and other advocates of healthful communities and environmental justice support the amendment.

Enactment in Maryland requires a three-fifths supermajority in both the House of Delegates and the State Senate. The amendment would then go to the voters for approval in November.

Voters in New York overwhelmingly approved a similar state constitutional amendment in November 2021, with nearly 69 percent of voters approving.

More on this Green Amendment from Maryland Matters.

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