The 2012 Legislative Session

AnnapolisReport
Senator Roger Manno Delegate Sam Arora Delegate Bonnie L. Cullison Delegate Ben Kramer

Legislative District 19 Montgomery County

he General Assembly of Maryland, at its 430th session, January to April 2012, considered over 2,600 bills and resolutions that affect many areas of importance to Maryland citizens. Of these bills, 725 were enacted. The General Assembly also passed additional measures in two summer special sessions to bring the total of enacted legislation to 729, most of which took effect October 1, 2012. As we move forward to the 2013 legislative session in January, please let us know your thoughts and concerns after reviewing some of the highlights of 2012. MONTGOMERY COUNTY DISTRICT 19

Montgomery County will receive $968.5 million in State support in fiscal 2013, including $662.8 million in direct aid, $162.3 million in retirement payments, and $143.4 million in operating assistance for mass transit programs. This funding is equivalent to the amount of revenue generated from a $0.60 county property tax rate. Over the last five years, combined direct and retirement State aid for Montgomery County has increased by $177.7 million, or 27.4%, even though the State was confronted with major fiscal challenges. Education: Since the General Assembly places a high commitment on adequately funding public schools and providing a quality educational program for all children, a large portion of State aid is targeted to public schools. In fiscal 2013, county public schools will receive $595.2 million for operations and $43.1 million for school construction. Montgomery College will receive $43.5 million for operations, as well as $14.2 million in capital funding, including $1.9 million for renovation of the science and applied studies center at the Germantown campus and $12.4 million for a science center and a student services center at the Rockville campus. The county library system will receive $2.7 million in operating funds and $1 million in capital construction funding for the Silver Spring Library. State-funded retirement payments for county teachers, librarians, and community college faculty will total $162.3 million. Public Safety: Police protection and fire and rescue aid will total $11.2 million. Social Services: The State budget includes $135.1 million for programs focused on health, mental health, developmental disabilities, alcohol and drug abuse treatment, prevention and disease control, and child welfare services.

Quality of Life: Local highway grants will total $4.8 million in fiscal 2013 and local Program Open Space grants will total $2.5 million. To support mass transit programs in the county, the State will also provide $143.4 million in operating assistance for Metrorail, Metrobus, and Ride-On. Additional funds will aid parks and playgrounds, waterway improvement projects, and water quality projects, including $5.3 million for the Blue Plains wastewater treatment plant. Community Initiatives: The State budget includes $40,000 for renovations to the Edwards Building at Homecrest House, which provides affordable housing for low-income seniors who can no longer live independently. Also included in the State budget is $250,000 for the Lower Montgomery County Bikesharing System along portions of Metrorails Red Line, helping to allow individuals to connect with transit, jobs, and activity centers by bicycle. PUBLIC SAFETY & COURTS Child Abuse (Justices Law): The list of persons who can be convicted of the felony of first degree child abuse is expanded to include a family member or household member. The maximum penalty increases for first degree child abuse resulting in death of the victim from 30 years imprisonment to 40 years imprisonment. Marijuana - DeMinimis Quantity: There will be reduced maximum penalties of 90 days incarceration and/or a $500 fine for possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana. Previously, maximum penalties were one year imprisonment and/or a $1,000 fine. If the court finds that the defendant used or possessed marijuana out of medical necessity, the maximum punishment is a $100 fine. Mephedrone (Bath Salts): Maryland will join 39 other states in banning certain bath salts, the common name for synthetic drugs such as mephedrone and other similar chemical compounds that are sold in powder or tablet form. Under the new law, these compounds will become statutory Schedule I controlled dangerous substances. (These drugs have been found to produce increased blood pressure, delusions, paranoia, and psychosis.) Same-Sex Marriage: The Civil Marriage Protection Act establishes that only a marriage between two individuals who are not otherwise prohibited from marrying is valid in the State and includes numerous exemptions, protections, and immunities to accommodate religious groups and affiliated organizations. The bills effective date is January 2013 or after any lawsuits over the successful

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referendum effort are resolved, if the lawsuit occurs after January 2013. Court rulings invalidating any portion of the act would void the entire law. Firearms and Explosives: The use and possession of firearms and handguns are regulated by the State. Under enacted law, a person may not possess a regulated firearm or a rifle or shotgun if the person was previously convicted of a federal charge or an offense in another state that would constitute a disqualifying crime of violence or drug crime if committed in Maryland. Another law sets up a task force to consider further limiting gun access by individuals with a history of mental illness and expanding access of law enforcement officers to certain mental health records. Also, it will be illegal to sell bomb making kits and instructions, which are often sold in separate components and therefore did not constitute an explosive under prior law. ECONOMIC ISSUES & CONSUMER PROTECTION Job Creation Tax Credit: This credit, first established in 1996, is extended until 2020, for businesses which expand or establish a facility in Maryland that results in new jobs. The value of the credit depends on the number of jobs created, the wages of those jobs in the year the credit was claimed, and whether the jobs are located in a revitalization area. The tax credit, in any given year, may be applied against the corporate or personal income tax, insurance premium tax, and public service franchise tax for businesses. Security Clearances Tax Credit: Businesses may receive a new income tax credit for costs incurred to obtain security clearances for employees in the State and to construct or renovate a sensitive compartmented information facility located in the State. Up to $2 million in credits may be awarded in each year from 2013 through 2016. The credit will support companies coming to Maryland because of BRAC and make Maryland competitive with other states. Senior Home Owners: A task force will study the renovation and repair needs of senior homeowners, including identifying on a statewide basis seniors of limited income who own and occupy single-family homes and identifying census tracks with concentration of senior homeowners. A report is due this December. Consumer Reporting Security Freezes: Under new law, a protected consumers representative may request that a consumer reporting agency place a security freeze on the protected consumers consumer report. A protected consumer is an individual who is younger than age 16 or an incapacitated person or a protected person with a guardian or conservator. Reporting of Financial Abuse of Elder Adults: Passed bills create an affirmative duty for a fiduciary institution to make an abuse report to specified persons if an employee, while acting within the scope of employment, knows or has reasonable cause to suspect that the elder adult is the victim of financial abuse. An elder adult is an individual who is believed to be at least 65 years old and residing in the State. The institutions must also provide employee training and are subject to civil penalties of up to $1,000 or up to $5,000 if the failure is willful. EDUCATION Capital Funding for Public School Construction: Beginning in 2004 the legislatures goal was to provide $2 billion in State funding over eight years to address school construction needs, or $250 million per year from fiscal 2006 to 2013. The State surpassed the $2 billion goal in fiscal 2012. From fiscal 2006 through 2013, the State has provided $2.5 billion to support public school construction. The fiscal 2013 capital budget includes $326.4 million for public school construction financed using general obligation bonds. Of this amount, $25 million is reserved for projects that improve the energy efficiency of school buildings. The fiscal 2013 capital budget also includes $31.1 million for aging schools, a $22.5 million increase over fiscal 2012. Maintenance of Effort (MOE): A local jurisdiction must meet MOE by providing at least as much per pupil funding as the county provided to the school system in the previous fiscal year. New law requires counties to request a waiver from the State Board of Education if they will not meet the MOE requirement. If counties do not meet MOE and do not receive a waiver, the State can redirect local income tax revenues to the county board of education. The legislation also authorizes counties to exceed local tax limitations to fund education. Individuals with Disabilities: Adding to current law that requires school personnel to provide the parents of a child with a disability a copy of a completed or draft individualized education program (IEP) following an IEP meeting in an appropriate accessible format, legislation passed to allow compliance through any reasonable and legal method of delivery. State Aid Higher Education: For fiscal 2013, State support for public higher education institutions will total $1.2 billion, essentially level with fiscal 2012. Tuition Waivers at Community Colleges Disabled Individuals: Expanded law allows these individuals who are out of the workplace to take classes for continuing education instruction designed to lead to employment incorporating life skills instruction, which includes communication,

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cooperation, problem solving, and responsibility skills, which are related to job stability. NATURAL RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENT Natural Gas Drilling in the Marcellus Shale: As the use of hydraulic fracturing in other states has increased, so has concern about its potential impacts in Garrett County and western Allegany County. In response to this complicated issue and an ongoing initiative to study natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, passed legislation creates a statutory presumption that contamination of a water supply was caused by the activities of gas exploration or production if resulting damage occurred close in time and place to the gas operations. The presumption is designed to provide an incentive for those drilling gas wells to test drinking water wells prior to drilling. Commercial Feed Arsenic: Unless there is new information from the federal Food and Drug Administration, additives containing arsenic may not be used in poultry feed with the exception of the FDAapproved histostat. Animal Waste Technology Fund: The fund will provide financial assistance to individuals and businesses to encourage the use of economically feasible technologies that enable farmers to meet nutrient management requirements and provide alternative animal waste management strategies. HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES Medicaid Funding: The fiscal 2013 funding for Medicaid, after adjustments and other funding changes, is $7 billion, an increase of 2.8%. Future enrollment is expected to continue to fall in fiscal 2013 by just over 3.7%, down from 7.2% in fiscal 2012. Adjustments include repealing the requirement that Medicaid pay a nursing facility for days when a program recipient is hospitalized. Maryland Health Benefit Exchange: Required under the federal Affordable Care Act, the primary function of the exchange is to certify and make available qualified health plans to individuals and businesses and to serve as a gateway to an expanded Medicaid program for low-income Marylanders. New 2012 legislation builds on last years framework by expanding the exchanges operating structure to include establishing requirements for participating insurance carriers and determining the items and services that will comprise the essential health benefits to be offered by the various health plans, among other provisions. Cancer Chemotherapy: Health insurance carriers are prohibited from imposing cost-sharing requirements on coverage for orally administered chemotherapy that are less favorable to an insured or enrollee than the cost-sharing requirements that apply to chemotherapy coverage that is administered intravenously or by injection. STATE GOVERNMENT Constitutional Amendment - Officials Removal for Crimes: Currently, an official who, while in office, is convicted of or enters a CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS
Senator Roger Manno 3 West Miller Senate Office Building Annapolis, MD 21401 Phone: 301-858-3151 roger.manno@senate.state.md.us Delegate Sam Arora 224 House Office Building Annapolis, MD 21401 Phone: 301-858-3528 sam.arora@house.state.md.us Delegate Bonnie L. Cullison 220 House Office Building Annapolis, MD 21401 Phone: 301-858-3883 bonnie.cullison@house.state.md.us Delegate Ben Kramer 226 House Office Building Annapolis, MD 21401 Phone: 301-858-3485 benjamin.kramer@house.state.md.us

plea of nolo contendere to a felony or specified misdemeanors related to the officials public duties and responsibilities is suspended from office automatically without pay or benefits. Only if the conviction becomes final is the official removed from office. With the recent voter approval, the Maryland Constitution will be amended to provide that an elected State or local official be removed from office automatically when the official enters a plea of guilty or nolo contendere and that the office be deemed vacant. TRANSPORTATION School Bus Cameras: Counties that allow school bus monitoring cameras may now place a camera to record images of the front of a motor vehicle that passes a stopped school bus with its red lights flashing. Previous law allowed the recorded image to be of the rear license plate only. The cameras may also be placed on any school bus in the relevant county, including those used by private schools. Traffic Control: A change in the legal requirements for drivers approaching a nonfunctioning traffic signal requires a driver to yield to any vehicle or pedestrian in an intersection where the traffic signal is not working and remain stopped until it is safe to enter and continue through the intersection.

Senator Roger Manno was elected in 2010 after serving four years in the House. He serves on the Budget and Taxation Committee, its Health and Human Services Subcommittee, and the Committees on Federal Relations and Health Care Delivery and Financing. He is the Senate Chair of both the Maryland Youth Advisory Council and the Task Force on Long Term Care Facilities. In 2012, he authored the State and Local Revenue and Financing Act, which provides $250 million every year for health care, education, public safety, and the environment. He has the #1 environmental rating in the Senate, was named Champion of Working Families, Legislator of the Year, Labor Legislator of the Year, MD Consumer Rights Hall of Fame," and received the Columbia Union Conference Religious Freedom Award. Delegate Sam Arora, elected in 2010, serves on the Judiciary Committee and the Civil Law and Procedure Subcommittee, as well as the Land Use and Transportation Committee. He is an attorney and small businessman who came to the House of Delegates with more than a decade of public service experience, including positions with then-Senator Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party and clerkships with the U.S. Attorneys Office and Maryland Attorney General. This year, Sam sponsored a bill to close a special interest tax loophole that cost Marylanders tens of millions of dollars each year and petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a State DNA law that has taken violent offenders off Maryland streets.

Delegate Bonnie L. Cullison, elected in 2010, serves on the Health and Government Operations Committee and its Health Facilities and Occupations and Public Health and Long Term Care Subcommittees. Prior to her election, Bonnie was a special educator in MCPS. She also served as President of the Montgomery County Education Association, 2003-2009. During the interim, she works with school systems across the nation to help create meaningful and effective educational reform. In the legislature, Bonnie is continuing work on effective health care reform under the Affordable Health Care Act, programs which support the quality of life for our seniors, and creating schools that prepare our children to compete in a global economy. Delegate Ben Kramer serves on the Economic Matters Committee, its Consumer Protection, Economic Development, and Business Regulation Subcommittees, and the Joint Committee on Access to Mental Health Services. Ben has sponsored successful bills to improve the lives of our seniors, provide landmark environmental protections, stop routine consumer fraud, and help provide financial resources for individuals with developmental disabilities. He has received national and State recognition for combating drunk driving and was awarded the Mothers Against Drunk Driving Visionary Award. Ben also received the nationally recognized Katies Hero Award for introducing and working for passage of legislation to take violent criminals and sex offenders off our streets.

AnnapolisReport
Your Legislators from District 19 Montgomery County

Senator Roger Manno

Delegate Sam Arora

Delegate Bonnie L. Cullison

Delegate Ben Kramer

MARYLAND GENERAL ASSEMBLY 90 STATE CIRCLE ANNAPOLIS, MD 21401-1991

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