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Day 28 – Closing out Another Week

Senator Bailey was reminded this morning of why he was elected to represent the issues facing our community and the importance of his legislative priorities this session. This morning, Senator Bailey met with an opponent of his opioid bill, SB710.  These meetings are an important part of the legislative process, as they can often result in amendments to improve bills that are introduced.  The concerns raised were in reference to the doctors opposing legislation which would allow health officers to study the amount of opioids being prescribed to individuals in our community and provide them the opportunity to monitor and discuss with the physician if they seem to be one of the higher prescribing physicians. The purpose of this proposed legislation is to protect members of our community who are vulnerable or facing addiction issues and provide support to our health officers who can then provide guidance to physicians.  Senator Bailey believes that this oversight of doctors is a necessary part of combatting Maryland’s opioid crisis.  This bill does not include any penalties for doctors, the purpose is only to examine trends in prescribing.

Last night, Senator Bailey addressed the annual St. Mary’s College of Maryland reception in Annapolis.  He was honored to bring greetings on behalf of the General Assembly to the many students, faculty, and alumni who attended, and to discuss how he is working in support of the College in the State Senate. 

Senator Bailey was also successful in passing two more bills through his committee this week.  As introduced, Senate Bill 257 would have required crab pots to be equipped with ghost panels to allow crabs to escape if the pot is lost or abandoned.  During the bill hearing, Senator Bailey heard from many individuals in support of this idea, but also from commercial watermen concerned about the financial impact it could have on their businesses.  Senator Bailey then decided to amend the bill to be a study so that the Department of Natural Resources could review current policies and make recommendations for future efforts to ensure that crabs, fish, and other marine life are not being killed by these lost and abandoned crab pots.  The second bill, Senate Bill 258, would prohibit school employees from operating an electric retractable room partition in a school unless the partition has a safety sensor or unless no students are the room where the partition is located.  Senator Bailey was proud to sponsor this important school safety measure.