Legislative & Political Hub

The judge presiding over the case of Fitch v. Maryland, in which a number of retired state employees are suing the state over a plan to curtail their state-sponsored retiree prescription drug plan, asked litigants on June 29th to submit written arguments as to why the case shouldn’t be dismissed in favor of the state. The reasoning behind this threat is that the 4th circuit court—the court that would hear an appeal to a decision in the case—has signaled that it believes the state does not have a contract with retirees to provide prescription drug benefits. If and when an appeal in the case

At its July 27th board meeting, the state’s Blueprint Accountability and Implementation Board approved a number of local school districts’ plans, including Baltimore City’s plan, to implement the Blueprint/Kirwan reforms. With the approval of Baltimore City’s Blueprint Implementation Plan, any funds withheld from the district contingent upon the plan’s approval for FY 2024 will now be released to the district.

In addition, the Maryland State Board of Education re-elected Clarence C. Crawford as its president, electing Crawford to his 4th term. The board has not yet made an announcement

The state’s 2024 fiscal year started July 1, 2023. On that day a number of enacted bills became law. These include:

1. The state budget, which includes raises and COLA adjustments negotiated by our state employee unions, AFT-Healthcare Maryland Local 5197 and Maryland Professional Employees Council Local 6197. Employees covered by those union contracts will get their step increase as well as 2% COLA adjustment.
    
2. A new Public Employee Labor Relations Board: that merged three separate labor boards. The board has the power to:
   • Efficiently resolve disputes between employers and employees, and

The Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI), the state’s new paid family and medical leave insurance which passed during the 2022 legislative session, is a program that will provide every employee in Maryland who has worked at least 680 hours in the previous year, up to 12-months of paid leave for the birth/care for a child, to take care of a family member, or to recuperate from one’s own long-term illness. The program begins in 2026. 

The Maryland Department of Labor is soliciting input from citizens on how FAMLI should be implemented. The department held community meetings to discuss

The taskforce to study the management and governance structure of the Baltimore City water and wastewater utility announced its members on July 20th. The taskforce will have the power to recommend changes to the management, ownership, and governance structure of the utility, which is owned and maintained by Baltimore city, used by residents and serviced by the city and Baltimore County. Employees are members of the City Union of Baltimore Local 800 (CUB) and Baltimore County Federation of Public Employees Local 4828 (BCFPE). 

The legislation that created the task force was passed in the 2023