This week, Senator Bailey’s legislation continued to advance through the General Assembly. Senate Bill 275, which will require snares, traps, and other similar devices used for hunting to have an identification number, passed the Senate on Thursday. On Friday, Senator Bailey presented Senate Bill 457, which gives St. Mary’s County authority to issue bonds for public facilities, and Senate Bill 458, which gives the County authority to issue bonds for the Lexington Park YMCA contingent on the YMCA raising $4 million from private donors, to the full Senate for consideration. These bills will likely receive a final Senate vote next week.
Calvert County School Construction Workgroup
On Friday, the Senate also considered Senate Bill 467, legislation sponsored by the Calvert County Senators to create a workgroup to study the viability of public-private partnerships for public school construction in Calvert County. The workgroup is tasked with studying how a public-private partnership may relieve the burden for funding new school construction and renovations for Calvert County Public Schools. They would also make recommendations regarding using a public-private partnership to lower costs for new school construction and maintenance and rehabilitation of schools. This bill is also likely to receive a final Senate vote next week.
Executive Nominations
Senator Bailey was proud to be able to introduce three more constituents Monday evening before the Senate’s Executive Nominations Committee for their confirmation hearings. The nominations of Joan Gelrud to the Maryland Health Care Commission, Victoria Brown to the MARBIDCO Board of Directors, and Michael Bellis to the Maryland Legal Services Corporation Board of Directors, received unanimous support from the Committee and were confirmed by the Senate on Friday.
Southern Maryland Reception
On Thursday night, Senator Bailey joined with the other members of the Southern Maryland Delegation and the Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland for the annual Southern Maryland Night in Annapolis. This reception was an opportunity to share with the State the great work that is currently happening in our region and to celebrate our partnerships at all levels of government to work for the people of Southern Maryland.
Maryland 529 Reform
Over the course of the last several months, our office has heard from families in District 29 and throughout the State about the issues that they are facing with the Maryland 529 Prepaid College Trust program. This week, Senator Bailey signed on as a co-sponsor of Senate Bill 959, which will reform the 529 Program and place it under the supervision of the State Treasurer in response to these ongoing concerns with the program’s management.
If you have had an issue with Maryland 529, please e-mail the Senator’s office with your name, address, phone number, and a brief description of the issue you are experiencing. Our office will be happy to work with representatives of Maryland 529 to address your problem. However, please be aware that we are only able to assist residents of District 29 through this process. If you are not a resident of Senator Bailey’s district, please visit www.mdelect.net and enter your home address to find contact information for your legislators.