Sen. Katie Fry Hester (D-Howard and Montgomery) gives remarks Sunday at the launch of the Maryland Just Power Alliance at Wilde Lake Interfaith Center in Columbia. Photo by William J. Ford.
They didn’t mention his name, but it was clear that President-elect Donald Trump (R) was part of the reason hundreds of advocates gathered Sunday in Columbia to lay out their agenda for the upcoming legislative session.
“We will need to focus on what the state of Maryland can do in the face of proposed inaction, dysfunction, or outright antagonism from the federal government,”said the Rev. Tyrone Jones IV, the co-chair of People Acting Together in Howard (PATH). “We will need to build on new allies and new sources of sheer power as looming changes are on the horizon.”
Jones was just one of the speakers at the meeting at Columbia’s Wilde Lake Interfaith Center that brought together community organizations from three of Maryland’s largest counties – PATH, Action in Montgomery (AIM) and Anne Arundel Acting Together (ACT) – comprised of several local community, school and faith-based organizations.
They announced the launch of these groups, coming together as Maryland Just Power Alliance, a statewide push to support residents from underserved and vulnerable communities. The groups want state lawmakers to approve bills focused on housing, climate and prekindergarten expansion when the General Assembly convenes Jan. 8 in Annapolis.
More than 700 turned out to hear speakers that included Jones, Comptroller Brooke Lierman (D) and several state lawmakers.
Speakers such as Sarah Insa Sadio, 15, talked about protecting the environment and the work her mother has done with AIM testing homes for nitrogen dioxide emissions “that are highly toxic and dangerous.” The teenager who attends Albert Eistein High School in Montgomery County wants lawmakers to push for a shift from gas appliances to electric energy.
Another teenager, Zaineb Khan, 16, who attends Al Huda High School in Prince George’s County, wants the legislature to approve the RENEW Act, or Responding to Emergency Needs from Extreme Weather. Bills addressing that in the House and Senate did not get out of committee in the last legislative session. Maryland advocates have suggested that the legislation could generate around $9 billion in one-time collections from the fossil fuel companies for 20-plus years of climate damage.
“This bill would charge a one-time fee to the biggest, most polluting fossil fuel companies and the state could use that money to create more green energy,” Khan said.
Sen. Katie Fry Hester (D-Howard and Montgomery), who sponsored the legislation in the last session and was in Columbia on Sunday, said she plans to sponsor the bill again next year.
Another piece of legislation advocates wants the legislature to approve, which failed in the last session, is House Bill 477, which would have allowed local jurisdictions to require that landlords issue a reason when they choose not to renew a tenant’s lease.
Lierman said she supports that measure, which was approved in the House but did not make it out of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, and other housing initiatives.
“Housing is a human right but it’s also an economic imperative,” Lierman said.
Renters raise alarm over high levels of nitrogen dioxide in apartments
On education, advocates said Sunday one legislative priority would be for the state Department of Education to make certain documents such as the prekindergarten expansion grant and technical assistance, which are currently only available in English, available in other languages. Prekindergarten expansion to teach 3- and 4-year-old children, which includes private child care providers, is a part of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform plan.
“We have to make sure that there is language access for providers and for parents,” said Del. Jessica Feldmark (D-Howard), a member of the Ways and Means Committee that reviews education policy. “So yes, this is an issue we will continue to work on.”
Del. Greg Wims (D-Montgomery), who also serves on the Ways and Means Committee, said another document that’s only available in English are the General Education Development, or GED, tests. He’s working on legislation to transcribe the test in multiple languages.
Before the two-hour event ended, those still at the interfaith center were asked to sing “This Little Light of Mine.”