With the start of the Maryland General Assembly session just a month away, local legislators have been at work readying their agendas. At a Zoom meeting of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Democratic Breakfast Club Monday morning, the District 16 General Assembly delegation shared some of their priorities and expectations for the session, which will start in Annapolis on Jan. 10 and run until April 8.
Sen. Ariana Kelly (D-Dist. 16) reported that she’s been assigned to the judicial proceedings committee for the coming session, and that with movement among members, she may end up on another committee. Kelly said that in the meantime, while the topic is out of her typical wheelhouse and she’s “not an expert,” she plans to use the platform particularly to address concerns about crime.
“The judicial proceedings committee issues are new to me. They’re also extremely complicated and very, very important, particularly on the criminal justice side. They’re hot in the news right now,” Kelly said. “I’m hearing a lot from community members about their concerns about increases in crime.”
Kelly said she also plans to use the platform to focus on progressive legislation that the committee hasn’t passed in the past.
“I also need to be there to advocate for victims of sexual violence, because those are issues that have really struggled in this extremely conservative committee, and this is a much more conservative chamber. And I do have expertise there,” she said.
Kelly said other areas of focus include expanding healthcare access and reproductive rights and contraceptive access. She plans to introduce a bill that would expand emergency contraceptive access on college campuses.
Del. Marc Korman (D-Dist. 16) has been promoted from House Majority Leader to chair of the environment and transportation committee.
“We’ve set some really ambitious, wonderful goals for the state of Maryland. The Climate Solutions Now Act, which passed a couple of years ago, sets a net zero greenhouse gas emissions goal for the state of Maryland by 2045,” Korman said. “If you look at how fast your children age, you realize 2045 Is not that far away. And so we have a lot of work to do to reach that really ambitious goal.”
Korman said this means the General Assembly will need to focus on passing and amending existing laws to make sure the state can reach these climate goals. He also said priorities should be improving access to housing and transit.
“My kind of passion project is the Metro system for our region. It’s incredibly important for our transportation network and the environment and also our economy,” Korman said. But right now they’re facing an operating deficit … it’s an issue we need to sort of get in front of and decide what kind of Metro system do we want?”
Del. Sara Love (D-Dist. 16) highlighted a bill she is working on in relation to online data privacy.
“Right now Maryland’s online data privacy law says that if there is a breach of your data, you get a notice. That is it. That is the sum total of your private online privacy rights,” Love said.
“[My bill] is basically to provide some rights to you as the consumer. You have the right to know what they’re collecting. You have the right to correct it. You have the right to ask them to delete it. And if you have consented to certain things that they are doing… you have the right to revoke your consent.”
Love said she is also putting together an omnibus transportation privacy bill that would limit who can collect traffic camera data and how long that data is kept.
Del. Sarah Wolek (D-Dist. 16) said she plans on combining her passion for education and economics in the coming session. One of the ways she’s doing this is through a bill that would ask universities to create programs to teach financial literacy and provide resources to graduates.
“College students are graduating without any knowledge of how to manage their finances. This is causing a lot of anxiety, and they’re without any skills to deal with it,” Wolek said. “My hope is that if we provide them these resources, it’s unconscionable that we don’t currently and hope to have a vocal advocate on behalf of young adults. It’s a population I care a lot about.”
