By Bruce DePuyt | Josh Kurtz | Hannah Gaskil l Maryland Matters Staff
With most of this year’s heavy lifting behind them, Maryland lawmakers capped their 2022 session — their last day of legislating before facing voters in November — with a final sprint Monday that blended frenetic sausage-making with a festival atmosphere.
With sun-splashed receptions and a midnight confetti drop, it was the most normal Sine Die the State House complex has seen since 2018, as it was the first time this cycle that the close of a legislative session was not overtaken by the sudden death of a beloved presiding officer or the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state’s 188 lawmakers churned through hundreds of bills, left more than a few behind, and played the usual parliamentary games. They also took time to celebrate retiring colleagues — including many trailblazing committee chairs better known in Annapolis than in the outside world — for whom Monday represented the last spin of the legislative wheel.
Among the bills that received final passage on Monday were a compromise to increase local budgets for highway repairs, measures to enhance Maryland’s cybersecurity response efforts, and a bill — introduced but not passed for several years — that would raise the age that minors are legally allowed to marry to 17 with permission from their parents or guardians.
The George “Walter” Taylor Act, which would ban fire-fighting foam, food packaging, rugs and carpets that contain the chemical PFAS, also received final approval on Monday. Exposure to the chemical has been linked to certain cancers, reduced immune system function, developmental delays, decreased fertility and hypertension in pregnant women. The bill was named after a veteran firefighter who died of cancer after 31 years of service.
Earlier in the legislative session, lawmakers approved bills that accelerated the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals, banned the sale and possession of untraceable “ghost” guns, cut taxes, established a statewide paid family and medical leave program for millions of workers, and expanded the state’s abortion rights laws in the face of restrictions elsewhere in the country.
Other bills met their demise in the final moments of the legislative session. Senators delayed debate on a bill that would have established “safe harbor” provisions in Maryland law to protect victims of child sex trafficking from prosecution. The measure failed to come back up for discussion and died.
A brief progressive uprising on the House floor late Monday night killed a bill that would have provided a raise to the next Frederick County sheriff.
Senate Bill 746, which was sponsored by Frederick County’s two senators, Ronald N. Young (D) and Michael J. Hough (R), would have boosted the sheriff’s salary from $125,000 to $140,000 in 2023 and 2024 and $150,000 in 2025. It passed the Senate 41-3 in mid-March.
But when the bill hit the House floor at about 11:20 Monday night, Del. Julian Ivey (D-Prince George’s) sought to “special order” it, seeking a delay on a final vote for an hour — after the session would have been over. House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) was incredulous. Read more at Maryland Matters.
Photo: Balloons and confetti rain from the gallery as the Senate adjourns Sine Die for the 2022 session. Photo by Bruce DePuyt.
