Mizuer's bill wouldn't make the drug entirely legal, just change the penalty to $100. Mizeur argued that this idea, to gradually decriminalize marijuna rather than immediately legalizing it is more realisitic.
Read more at the Washington Post.
Meanwhile, Brown publicly announced his support for Mizeur's bill in the Baltimore Sun...
Tuesday is the first scheduled hearing for the proposal to raise the state's minum wage to $10.10, indexed to inflation. Thursday the bill gets a hearing in Senate Finance. Anthony Brown is schduled to testify on behalf on the administration at both hearings.
Read more at the Baltimore Sun.
2/11/14 Todd Reynolds, Political Action Coordinator
While the Governor announced his plan to balance the budget by lowering contributions to the state employee and teachers pension plan while not raising any taxes at all, other Annapolis leaders have floated ideas about lowering tax rates on the highest earners. Among these is Senate President Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael Busch's plan to lower the estate tax, a move that that, according to the Legislature's budget analyst Warren Dechaneaux, as reported by WYPR, would severely cut into state revenues by $80-90 million per year.
President Obama was in Maryland yesterday to announce a plan to forge a public-private partnership in expanding access to high-speed internet access to the nationas public schools and libraries.
Read more at the Washington Post.
2/5/14 Todd Reynolds, Political Action Coordinator
Heather Mizeur's campaign for governor announced her platform on crime yesterday, a plan that called for less incarceration, and more on crime prevention. The hiughliughts include less mandatory sentences, more gun control, and replacing juvenile detention centers with community-based treatment programs.
Today's Baltimore Sun has a really good editorial on the Governor's plan to cut $100 million in state contributions to the pension. They aregue against O'Malley's plan, saying the cut amounts to a special tax on employee's and their retirement.
Read more at the Baltimore Sun.
2/5/14 Todd Reynolds, Political Action Coordinator
The governor's budget, which he introduced last week, includes $4.3 million to add 1600 spots in Maryland's pre-k program. The schools would apply for a grant to expand their program, and the money for that grant wold come from that $4.3 million. Read more at HeraldMailMedia.com.
2/3/14
Delegate John Olsziewski and Senator Cathy Pugh are set to introduce a Paid Sick Leave Bill. The bill would mandate earned sick leave, giving 700,000 people this option that they never had before. It was introduced last year by Olsziewski, but this year, might have a bit more momentum. More at the ChestertownSpy.org.
2/3/14 Todd Reynolds, Political Action Coordinator
According to the Baltimore Sun, the state is coming close to cutting the Estate Tax, a tax that is only paid in the state by millionaires. Read the story at the Baltimore Sun.
2/3/14 Todd Reynolds, Political Action Coordinator.
After weeks of promising to investigate what has gone wrong with the state's roll-out of its new healthcare exchange, top legislative leaders are now saying that they will wait until the state does an official audit that will begin this summer and take a year to complete.