Political Hub
Union members! Bookmark this page and visit periodically to receive updates on the elections, as well as information on legislative bills that affect you and your work.
Click the links below to learn more:
Political Action
Redistricting: Redrawing Congressional and Legislative Districts
With the 2020 U.S. Census data now available, Maryland will begin the process of redrawing its 8 U.S. congressional and 47 state legislative districts.
Click through for info on how you can have your voice heard in how these districts should be drawn:
Maryland 2021 Special Session
In December, the Maryland State Legislature will convene a special session to redraw our state’s congressional boundaries. The special session is different from the January-to-April regular legislative session: the state legislature will not hear testimony on the budget or consider any bills. They will only take up legislation to redraw congressional districts based on the 2020 U.S. Census data.
However, the state legislature will override bills which Governor Hogan vetoed last May.
CLICK THROUGH TO READ
Tell your Senators: Don't Forfeit Our Future
Across the state, Marylanders have made significant sacrifices in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic. As public employees, health care professionals, and education professionals, you know how vital and essential the public sector is to Maryland.
AFT-Maryland List of Public Employee Needs for Maryland to Reopen
AFT-Maryland sent the attached letter to Governor Hogan, Baltimore City Mayor Bernard C. "Jack" Young, Baltimore County Executive John Olszeski Jr., and the Maryland General Assembly COVID-19 Workgroup, listing important needs for public worker safety as the state begins to reopen. Key points from the letter include:
- Gov. Hogan's COVID-19 Recovery Team must include voices from state and local public health workers, public school teachers and paraprofessionals, and non-healthcare related essential public employees.
- The state, counties, and local municipalities must incorporate more aggressive benchmarks for testing and contact tracing.
- Maryland Occupational Safety and Health (MOSH) must establish enforceable temporary emergency workplace infectious disease standards.
Click here or on the image to the right for a copy of the letter.
AFT-Maryland is a state federation of public employee labor unions representing more than 15,000 workers across the state of Maryland in a number of professions. Our members include education professionals and health care professionals in addition to as a host of state employees and public employees in Baltimore city and county.
Open Letter to Gov Hogan in Response to COVID-19
On Monday, April 6, 2020, AFT-Maryland sent this open letter to Gov. Larry Hogan regarding local and state public employees in the state of Maryland.
AFT-Maryland is a federation of public employees that represents nearly 20,000 workers across the state of Maryland. Our members work in the fields of education, public safety, healthcare and more.
For follow-up or interviews with any local union leaders of AFT-Maryland please contact: Ray Baker, Director of Communication, AFT-Maryland, rbaker@aftmd.org.
AFT-Maryland 2020 Legislative Report
For the first time since the Civil War, the Maryland Legislative Session ended early due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, legislators were able to pass an emergency bill to provide funds to deal with the healthcare crisis before Sine Die.
Congressional District 7 Special Election
Due to concerns regarding the outbreak and spread of the coronavirus which causes COVID-19, Maryland has made the District 7 special election a vote-by-mail-only election. This is to fill the seat vacated by the unfortunate passing of Rep. Elijah Cummings in the fall of 2019.
Kirwan Passes Both Chambers
The efforts to #flattenthecurve of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, meant that the General Assembly suspended the Maryland legislative session in mid-March and this has increased the speed at which the legislature has worked to pass their most important bills.