SB 1/ HB 2
Natalie M. LaPrade Medical Cannabis Commission Reform Act
Description: Declaring that it is the intent of the General Assembly that programs established by the Act create a successful, but consumer-friendly medical cannabis industry in the State; establishing a Compassionate Use Fund to provide access to medical cannabis for certain individuals; requiring the Commission to evaluate a certain study of the industry, make a certain determination relating to minority and women applicants and minority and women-owned business participation in the industry, and evaluate certain programs and methods; etc.
Position: Monitor
SB4
Department of Aging - Study of Nursing Home Quality of Care
Description:
Requiring the Department of Aging to study the quality of care in nursing homes in Maryland; requiring the Department to review, assess, and examine certain matters related to the quality of care in nursing homes; and requiring the Department to report its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly on or before December 1, 2018.
Position: Monitor
HB10
State Lottery - Unclaimed Prizes - Public Prekindergarten Programs
Description:
Requiring the Director of the State Lottery and Gaming Control Agency, at the end of each fiscal year, to remit money in the unclaimed prize fund to the Comptroller for distribution to each county board of education in the State on a pro rata basis determined by the total lottery sales made in each county; requiring that a county board of education use distributions from the fund for public prekindergarten programs; etc.
Position: Support
SB13
Electronic Prescription Records Cost Saving Act of 2018
Description:
Requiring a dispenser of a prescription drug to submit prescription information to the State-designated health information exchange; requiring prescription information to be submitted in a certain manner; prohibiting the State health information exchange from imposing any fees or assessments; requiring the State health information exchange to make prescription information available to a health care provider for purposes of treatment and care coordination of a patient; etc.
Position: Monitor
SB14
Motor Vehicle Administration - Parking Placards - Color Photograph
Description: Requiring that a parking placard issued to a person with a disability include on its face a certain color photograph of the person to whom the parking placard is issued.
Position: Monitor and provide comments related to privacy concerns and fears of victimization
HB23
Baltimore County - Public Schools - Active Assailant Event Training and Drills
Description:
Requiring the Baltimore County Superintendent of Schools to conduct active assailant event training for school personnel in Baltimore County each school year; requiring the Baltimore County Superintendent to require certain public schools to hold an active assailant event drill three times each school year; requiring certain training and drills to comply with guidelines established by the United States Department of Homeland Security or be consistent with available best practices; etc.
Position: Monitor
HB24
Public Safety - Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission Fund - Establishment
Description:
Requiring the Comptroller to pay annually $2,000,000 of certain court costs collected by the District Court to the Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission Fund the Commission; establishing the Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission Fund to provide funding for activities and training by the Commission; requiring the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services to administer the Fund; requiring the State Treasurer to hold the Fund and the Comptroller to account for the Fund; etc.
Position: Monitor
HB28
Criminal Law - Assault - Public Transportation Operator and Penalties
Description:
Increasing the penalties for voluntarily causing physical injury to bus, train, or light rail operators or other individuals providing public transportation services; and increasing from 10 years to 15 years the maximum term of imprisonment that may be imposed for a conviction of voluntarily causing physical injury to law enforcement officers, parole or probation officers, or first responders performing their official duties.
Position: Monitor- submitting remarks for amendment to provide consideration for individuals with I/DD.
HB33
Guardianship of Disabled Persons - Voluntary Admission to Mental Facility
Description:
Authorizing a certain disabled person to apply for voluntary admission to a mental facility under certain circumstances; providing that a certain certificate for admission of a disabled person shall be based on a certain examination and be in the form that the Secretary of Health adopts by rule or regulation; requiring the rules and regulations to require certain contents of the form; prohibiting a certificate from being used for admission under certain circumstances; etc.
Position: Support
HB39
Natalie M. LaPrade Medical Cannabis Commission - Diversity
Description: Requiring that, to the extent practicable, the members of the Natalie M. LaPrade Medical Cannabis Commission reflect the racial, ethnic, cultural, and gender diversity of the State.
Position: Support with Amendments: suggestion to include persons with a connection to the disability field
SB39
MVA- Disability Parking Placards
Description:
Establishing that a disability parking placard issued by the Motor Vehicle Administration to a permanently disabled individual is valid until the death of the placard holder; establishing certain procedures the Administration must follow on the death of a permanently disabled individual who holds a placard; and authorizing the Administration to issue temporary disability parking placards to certain nonresidents of the State under certain circumstances.
Position: Support with Amendments: include safeguards to discourage abuse
SB43/ HB193
High School Diploma by Examination - Eligibility Requirements - Exemption
Description:
Exempting an individual from the requirement to not be subject to compulsory school attendance and to have withdrawn from school in order to be eligible to obtain a high school diploma by examination if the individual participates in a GED Option Program administered by the State Department of Education that creates a pathway to a high school diploma by examination for certain currently enrolled high school English language learner students under the age of 21 years.
Position: Support
HB49
General Provisions - Commemorative Months - Foster Care Month
Description:
Requiring the Governor annually to proclaim May as Foster Care Month; and requiring the proclamation to urge residents of Maryland to volunteer their talents and energies on behalf of children in foster care, foster parents, and child welfare professionals.
Position: Support
SB58
State Board for Certification of Residential Child Care Program Professionals - Revisions
Description:
Repealing an erroneous provision of law regarding immunity from liability for participating in the activities of the State Board for Certification of Residential Child Care Program Professionals; repealing the requirement that the Board adopt certain regulations for approved training programs for residential child and youth care practitioners; repealing the requirement that the Board post a list of approved residential child care training programs on its website; etc.
Position: Monitor
HB59
Long-Term Care Insurance - Premium Rates - Limitation
Description:
Prohibiting a carrier from imposing a premium rate increase for a policy or contract of long-term care insurance that exceeds 20% within a 12-month period; and applying the Act.
Position: Monitor
HB60
Vehicle Laws - Electric Personal Assistive Mobility Device - Definition
Description:
Altering the definition of ""electric personal assistive mobility device"" to require that the device have one vertical or center control bar or mechanism that responds to pressure from the hands or legs of the rider to steer the device and have a nonarticulating platform on which the rider stands.
Position: Monitor/Researching
HB66
Sales and Use Tax - Alcoholic Beverages - Rate Reduction
Description:
Reducing from 9% to 6% the rate of the sales and use tax applied to certain sales of alcoholic beverages.
Position: Oppose
HB74
Education - Career Exploration and Development Activities - Coffee (Java Act)
Description:
Repealing a certain termination provision relating to prohibiting an Executive Branch agency from banning or regulating the sale of coffee in conjunction with a career exploration and development activity in certain public high schools.
Position: Monitor
SB76/HB259
Creation of a State Debt - AAC - The Arc of the Central Chesapeake Region
Description: Authorizing the creation of a State Debt not to exceed $500,000, the proceeds to be used as a grant to the Board of Directors of The Arc of the Central Chesapeake Region, Inc. for the acquisition, planning, design, construction, repair, renovation, reconstruction, site improvement, and capital equipping of The Arc of the Central Chesapeake Region Donald Avenue building, located in Anne Arundel County; providing for disbursement of the loan proceeds, subject to a requirement that the grantee provide a matching fund; etc. Effective June 2018
Position: Support
HB86
Health Insurance - Coverage for Elevated or Impaired Blood Glucose Levels and Prediabetes Treatment
Description:
Authorizing certain insurers, nonprofit health service plans, and health maintenance organizations to provide reimbursement for certain services for the treatment of prediabetes; requiring certain insurers, nonprofit health service plans, and health maintenance organizations to provide coverage for certain equipment, supplies, training, and services for the treatment of elevated or impaired blood glucose levels induced by pregnancy or prediabetes; etc.
Position: Support
SB92
Maryland School Overcrowding Reduction Act of 2018
Description:
Establishing the Public School Facility Construction Innovation Incentive Program to provide incentives to encourage public school systems to pursue innovative public school facility construction projects; requiring the Interagency Committee on School Construction to implement the Program; specifying certain percentage increases in the State share of eligible costs for certain projects that are approved to participate in the Incentive Program; exempting alternative financing methods from certain requirements; etc.
Position: Monitor
SB103
Task Force to Study the Impact of Student Cell Phone Use in the Classroom
Description:
Establishing the Task Force to Study the Impact of Student Cell Phone Use in the Classroom; providing for the composition, chair, and staffing of the Task Force; prohibiting a member of the Task Force from receiving compensation, but authorizing the reimbursement of certain expenses; requiring the Task Force to study certain matters; requiring the Task Force to report its findings to the Governor and the General Assembly on or before December 1, 2018; terminating the Act after June 30, 2019; etc.
Position: Support with suggestion that Task Force contains a member who understands Assistive Technology applications for certain students who use cell phones as their AAC device
SB108
Regulation of Health Care Programs, Medical Laboratories, Tissue Banks, and Health Care Facilities - Revisions
Description:
Repealing certain requirements that certain fees regarding the licensure and permitting of behavioral health programs and facilities, medical laboratories, tissue banks, and health care facilities be set by the Secretary of Health; repealing certain provisions of law regarding the renewal of certain licenses and permits for certain behavioral health care programs and facilities, medical laboratories, tissue banks, and health care facilities; etc.
Position: Monitor
HB115/ SB13
Electronic Prescription Records Cost Saving Act of 2018
Description:
Requiring a dispenser of a prescription drug to submit prescription information to the State-designated health information exchange; requiring prescription information to be submitted in a certain manner; prohibiting the State health information exchange from imposing any fees or assessments; requiring the State health information exchange to make prescription information available to a health care provider for purposes of treatment and care coordination of a patient; etc.
Position: Monitor
SB131
Child Abuse and Neglect - Training
Description:
Requiring that each health practitioner, police officer, educator, and human service worker in the State receive periodic training on the obligation to report child abuse and neglect and on the identification of abused and neglected children; etc.
Position: Monitor
HB154
State Board of Education - Membership - Teachers and Parent
Description:
Altering the membership of the State Board of Education to add two regular members who are certified teachers and a parent of a student enrolled in a public school in the State; authorizing teacher members to be appointed to the State Board although the individuals are subject to the authority of the State Board; requiring the Governor to appoint certain teacher members with the advice and consent of the Senate from a certain list submitted to the Governor by the State Department of Education after election by teachers in the State; etc.
Position: Monitor and advocate that membership includes someone with a connection to the disability community/a self-advocate or parent of a student with disabilities
HB160/ SB 185
Budget Bill (Fiscal Year 2019)
Description:
Making the proposed appropriations contained in the State Budget for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2019, in accordance with Article III, Section 52 of the Maryland Constitution; etc.
HB161/ SB 187
Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act of 2018
Description:
Authorizing or altering the distribution of certain revenue; altering or repealing certain required appropriations; repealing a requirement that the Comptroller pay certain amounts from a certain Special Fund for a certain purpose; reducing the maximum amount of certain teacher or school employee stipends; providing a certain amount of aid to certain institutions of higher education in accordance with a certain action by the Board of Public Works; altering certain rate increases for community service providers; etc.
SB161
Public and Nonpublic Schools - Student Sickle Cell Disease Management Programs
Description:
Requiring the State Department of Education and the Maryland Department of Health to establish certain guidelines for certain employees to utilize in the management of a student's sickle cell disease while the student is on the premises of a public or nonpublic school during certain hours and at school-sponsored activities, in collaboration with certain individuals; requiring a county board of education, on or before July 1, 2019, to establish a policy for public schools within its jurisdiction to utilize certain guidelines; etc.
Position: Monitor
SB164
Education - Student Use of Backpacks - Assessment and Reduction of Health Effects
Description:
Requiring that public school personnel, parents, and students receive educational information concerning the health effects of student use of overweight backpacks; authorizing a county board of education to allow Doctors of Chiropractic Medicine to conduct scoliosis examinations on students in the county schools; requiring school personnel to engage parent-teacher associations and students to assess matters concerning students' use of backpacks and to promote certain strategies relating to students' backpack usage; etc.
Position: Monitor
SB169
Public Health - Prescription Drug and Medical Supply Access and Affordability Workgroup
Description: Requiring the Secretary of Health to convene a workgroup to study the advisability of the State forming a generic drugs and medical supplies purchasing cooperative and establishing Maryland as an open formulary State; requiring the workgroup to report its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly on or before January 1, 2019; terminating the Act after June 30, 2019; etc.
Position: Monitor
HB185
Prince George's County Board of Education - Students With a Disability in Prince George's County Public Schools - Report PG 506-18
Description: Requiring the Prince George's County Board of Education to gather certain information about students with a disability in each public school in Prince George's County; requiring the county board to study certain matters regarding students with a disability in Prince George's County public schools; and requiring the county board to report its findings to the Prince George's County Delegation to the General Assembly on or before January 20, 2019.
Position: Monitor
HB195
Prince George's County - School Overcrowding Reduction Act of 2018 PG 512-18
Description:
Establishing the Prince George's County Public School Facility Construction Innovation Incentive Program to encourage the Prince George's County public school system to pursue innovative public school facility construction projects by certain means; specifying a certain percentage increase in the State share of eligible costs for certain projects that are approved to participate in the Incentive Program; exempting alternative financing methods used in Prince George's County from certain requirements; etc.
Position: Monitor
SB211
Behavioral Health Programs - Medical Directors - Telehealth
Description:
Requiring that regulations adopted under certain provisions of law regulating behavioral health programs include provisions authorizing a medical director of a behavioral health program located in a federally designated health professional shortage area to provide services through telehealth, and prohibiting a behavioral health program located in a federally designated health professional shortage area from requiring a medical director to provide services onsite.
Position: Support
HB214
Prince George's County - Equality in Education Act PG 505-18
Description:
Requiring a public charter school in Prince George's County that requires students to wear a school uniform to choose a uniform that may be purchased from more than one vendor or store; requiring certain public charter schools to establish a process to accommodate a family who may require financial assistance in obtaining a school uniform; requiring each public charter school to develop and implement a comprehensive plan to make certain equipment and supplies available and affordable to students; etc.
Position: Monitor
HB215
Prince George's County - Elementary School - Limit on Class Size PG 501-18
Description:
Requiring the Prince George's County Board of Education to limit to 30 or fewer the number of students assigned to a classroom teacher of students in kindergarten through grade 3 in the public schools in the county.
Position: Monitor
SB217
Public Schools - Student Sunscreen Use - Policy
Description: Requiring each county board of education to adopt a certain written policy to authorize a student to possess and use sunscreen on school property or at a school-sponsored activity without written permission from a health care provider; requiring a certain policy to allow certain public school employees to apply or assist a student in applying sunscreen under certain circumstances; providing that a student may only use sunscreen provided by the student's parent or guardian; etc.
Position: Monitor
HB226
Public Schools - Sprinkler Systems - Required
Description:
Requiring that a sprinkler system that meets certain requirements be installed in each public school building in the State; and providing for the application of certain provisions of law.
Position: Monitor
SB233/ HB111
Maryland Department of Health - Defendants Found Incompetent to Stand Trial or Not Criminally Responsible - Commitment
Description: Requiring a court to enter a certain commitment order if the court makes a certain finding; requiring the Maryland Department of Health to facilitate the immediate placement of certain defendants in a certain facility on or before a certain date specified in a commitment order and to provide certain notification to the court; establishing a rebuttable presumption of contempt under certain circumstances; providing that a lack of available beds in a certain facility is not sufficient reason for not making a certain placement; etc.
Position: Monitor
SB235
Labor and Employment - Minimum Wage - Indexing
Description: Increasing, except under certain circumstances, the State minimum wage rate in effect for certain periods of time based on annual growth in a certain Consumer Price Index; and requiring the Commissioner of Labor and Industry, beginning March 1, 2019, to annually determine and announce the growth in the Consumer Price Index, if any, and the new State minimum wage rate.
Position: Monitor
HB246
Hate Crimes - Threats and Penalties
Description: Prohibiting a person from threatening to commit certain hate crimes; applying and altering certain penalties; and authorizing a court to require a certain person to attend certain educational classes and perform certain community service as a condition of supervised release.
Position: Monitor
SB250
Landlord and Tenant - Prohibited Lease Provisions - Late Fees for Tenants Receiving Government Benefits
Description: Prohibiting a landlord from including a certain provision in a residential lease that provides for a penalty for the late payment of rent if the tenant receives a government benefit under certain circumstances; and defining the term "government benefit".
Position: Support
HB 251
Education - Family Life and Human Sexuality Curriculum - Boundaries and Consent
Description: Requiring a county board of education to provide age-appropriate instruction on the meaning of "consent" and respect for personal boundaries as part of the Family Life and Human Sexuality curriculum in all grades in which the curriculum is taught in public schools in the county beginning in the 2018-2019 school year.
Position: Monitor
