Dear Ariana,

It’s been an exciting (and hectic!) first month of session. My office has been busy with Health and Government Operations Committee hearings, constituent meetings, and my application for the D-16 senate vacancy.

Don't worry- if I do move over to the Senate, the important work I have been doing in the House will continue. I have secondary sponsors on any bills that haven't been voted out yet! Plus, If I do move over to the Senate I will be able to serve as primary Senate sponsor on several of Senator Lee's priorities, so her work will be continued. (The appointment vote takes place on Tuesday so we will know more after that).

In the House I’ve introduced five bills addressing critical needs in our public health infrastructure, all of which have hearings in the next two weeks. I’m co-sponsoring an additional 31 bills, including: 

• The Fair Wage Act
• Governor Moore’s Service Year Bill
• The Trans Health Equity Act

It was a thrill to speak at the press conference (pictured above) with legislative leadership and the Governor on the 2023 Reproductive Freedom Protection Agenda in Maryland. I was charged with developing this package of legislation over the last year in consultation with experts, advocates and colleagues from across the country.

We’re lucky to have an administration that not only supports reproductive rights, but shares our vision of Maryland as a leader for reproductive health care access in the nation. As I mentioned in my remarks, my colleagues and I have introduced a package of reproductive rights legislation which is made up of four essential bills: 

• HB705/SB798: (Jones/Ferguson) Right to Reproductive Liberty, which introduces a constitutional amendment enshrining the right to reproductive liberty in Maryland, 
• HB808/SB859: (Williams/Smith) The Reproductive Health Protection Act, which protects providers and patients from being charged or prosecuted by other states for seeking reproductive care in Maryland, 
• HB477/SB341: (Kelly/Feldman) which requires public higher education institutions to develop a plan for contraception and abortion access and 24/7 access to over-the-counter contraceptives. 
• HB812/SB786: (Hettleman/Rosenberg) which provides additional protection for reproductive health information in electronic health record systems to protect this sensitive information from being used to target providers or patients

Governor Moore’s State of the State Address on February 1st was a call to action for all Marylanders to engage in public service, with the Governor’s own legislative agenda prioritizing funding for his post-high school service year program. Governor Moore also emphasized his commitment to ending childhood poverty in the state of Maryland through tax credits and a minimum wage increase among other vital programs. It’s heartening to see our Governor championing sustained investments in social services, and I’m proud to co-sponsor many of the Administration’s priority bills.

This session has reminded me of how fortunate our state is to have strong progressive leadership championing proactive policy solutions. In the rest of my newsletter, I'll have updates on the progress of bills I'm personally sponsoring, along with a spotlight on important legislation to keep track of throughout the session. Thank you for your continued support, and please reach out to my office at Ariana.kelly@house.state.md.us with any feedback, questions, or concerns you have as the session progresses.

Best, 

Ariana 

Check out this article from 1/31 in the Baltimore Banner on how abortion care providers are planning to use Governor Moore’s funding to make abortion access more equitable.

From the article: “There’s a lot of demand from our peers; states across the country who are looking at developing similar programs and following our lead,” Kelly said. “But in order to follow our lead, we gotta get the program up and running.”

From Channel 2 Baltimore: "The reason we're doing this is because, unfortunately, our constitutional rights were rolled back by the U.S. Supreme Court," Kelly said. "We no longer have constitutional protections to this. It's very important we take a stand and pass this legislation this year, as well as a number of other bills we're looking at to expand reproductive rights in Maryland."

To read more about the Reproductive Rights Press Conference on 2/9, check out WMAR Baltimore’s feature and the Associated Press’s write up. 

Check out MoCo 360's summary of the D-16 senate vacancy public forum that took place on Wednesday, February 8th. It was great to hear from constituents about their priority issues!

Did you receive this email from a friend? 

You can sign up HERE to receive my newsletters directly in your inbox. 

By Authority - Friends of Ariana Kelly.  Rosalyn Levy Jonas, Chair.  Jennifer R. Kefer, Treasurer.