November 17, 2021
In This Issue:

  • Thanksgiving Gratitude & Honoring our Veterans

  • Thanksgiving Meals for Veteran Families in Need - contact by November 19th

  • Special Legislative Session to Convene December 6th

  • Fair Legislative & Congressional Maps

  • Do You Want To Learn More About the Legislative Process?
November is a special month of gratitude and my favorite month of the year. On November 11th we honored those who have served in the military and we are extremely grateful for their strength and courage. Veteran’s Day and every day we remember these brave men and women and their families who have sacrificed so much. 
“Home of the FREE because of the BRAVE.”
Honoring our Veterans in Manchester
Our Veteran’s Day programs were limited once again this year in our schools and in our community, but I was very proud to attend the dedication of our Veteran Honor Wall at BridgingLife’s Dove House in Westminster. On this wall we will honor our veterans who have used the services of BridgingLife and Carroll Hospice both in the past and in the future with a scrolling tribute to each and every veteran who chooses to be acknowledged.
We also celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. Thanksgiving is so much more than a delicious meal or the kick off to the Christmas season. It is a time for ALL Americans to spend time with friends and families and to count our blessings. 
 
While we are still facing the COVID-19 public health crisis, we are encouraged. Since last Thanksgiving (2020) our infection rates have declined, vaccines and booster shots are available, students are learning in-person. We are regaining our freedoms and liberties and have learned valuable lessons about how very important those freedoms are along with the responsibilities of being a good citizen. We are so blessed to have the freedom of assembly and speech to push back when we believe that our government is overreaching in mandating what people may or may not do.
 
In the spirit of gratitude, a special thanks to all of you for your support, feedback and candor. I read every e-mail you send to me and try to respond in a timely manner. Rest assured that I value your input.
 
Happy Thanksgiving!
Susan
Maryland General Assembly to Convene
Monday, December 6, 2021

Governor Calls on Legislators to Take Action on Fair Maps
The Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission submitted its final map recommendations. Governor Hogan will transmit these maps—without changes—to the General Assembly. 
 
The Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission is a nine-person commission established in January by executive order and charged with drawing fair legislative and congressional maps for the 2022 elections.
 
Commission members, which included three Republicans, three Democrats, and three Independents, were selected to be independent from legislative influence, impartial, and representative of the state’s diversity and geographical, racial, and gender makeup. 
 
Over the past seven months, the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission has:
 
  • Held 36 public meetings with more than 4,000 attendees
  • Provided an online mapping application portal for the public to prepare and submit maps
  • Received a total of 86 map submissions for consideration
 
Recent redistricting cycles have earned Maryland the dubious distinction as one of the most gerrymandered states in the country.
 
The Hogan administration repeatedly introduced the Redistricting Reform Act in an effort to take politicians and partisan politics out of the redistricting process. The General Assembly failed to ever bring the measure to the floor for a simple vote.

The congressional map proposed by Hogan’s Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission (MCRC) keeps the Eastern Shore linked with parts of northern Maryland. That map received high marks from the Princeton Gerrymandering Project for partisan fairness, and Hogan has said he will oppose any maps from the General Assembly that differ from the MCRC’s proposal.



“It’s Time To Finally End Partisan and
Unfair Gerrymandering In Our State”
Governor Larry Hogan
ON THE OTHER HAND....The LRAC- Legislative Redistricting Advisory Committee is the group of politicians that were handpicked by the Democratic leadership. All four of their draft maps were drawn in a backroom and would continue the extreme gerrymandering that has made a mockery of our electoral majority system for decades.
 
They released four "concept" congressional maps. Two of those maps would likely maintain Democrats' current 7-1 advantage in the state, and two would be closest to an 8-0 Democratic map. The Princeton Gerrymandering Project gave all four maps a failing grade after researchers rated them based on “partisan fairness,” “competitiveness” and “geographic features.”
PLEASE NOTE: Our apologies for the poor quality of the LRAC Concept Maps below. Please click on each one for more information. These map submissions do not even indicate county boundaries in order to blur the lines for people to understand the maps.

CLICK HERE to see the four proposed "concept" congressional maps.
LRAC - Concept Map 1
LRAC - Concept Map 2
LRAC - Concept Map 3
LRAC - Concept Map 4
Thanks to the dozens of you that have written to the Legislative Re-districting Advisory Commission (LRAC) to voice your opposition to their gerrymandered maps and to support the Governor’s Maryland Citizen’s Re-districting Commission’s maps.
 
The Legislature will take up only the Congressional Maps during the special session in December.
 
The Maryland House and Senate Legislative maps will be taken up during the regular Legislative session in January……more to come on that later.
Legislative Process

Committee hearings and General Assembly sessions are live streamed. Click here for more information.

We are also providing a link that gives our constituents access to "tutorials" located on the Maryland General Assembly website. These tutorials will aid you as a citizen to navigate bill tracking, find a legislator, understand a bill page, as well as instructions for witness sign up for a specific piece of legislation. We hope this will give you a better understanding of how our legislative process works. 




During the interim, the best way to contact my office is to email, Susan.Krebs@house.state.md.us
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