The final week of Maryland’s annual legislative session will feature veto showdowns and debate on some of the weightiest policy issues considered by the General Assembly this year.
In their dash to the April 10 finish line, lawmakers will consider bills that would require paid sick leave, revamp the state’s fledgling medical marijuana program and limit how much local police cooperate with federal immigration authorities.ADVERTISING
Along the way, at least two veto fights are expected over proposals that would prohibit controversial education reforms for failing schools and give Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh $1 million and five lawyers to sue the federal government.
Hogan has promised or signaled intent to veto both measures. Democrats rushed to send him the legislation last week so they could vote to override before the session ends.
SCROLL DOWN
The most dramatic example is a bill known as the Trust Act that would bar police or jails from detaining people for immigration purposes at the request of U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement officials — unless a judge ordered it. Of Maryland 24 jurisdictions, 18 already have such a policy.
“The Trust Act was generated by Donald Trump when he went out having ICE knocking down doors,” said House Speaker Michael E. Busch, an Anne Arundel County Democrat. “That had a chilling effect on the minority population. … We had to be self-sufficient on everything to protect the people in Maryland.”The House of Delegates passed that bill, but it is languishing in a Senate committee. Miller cast doubt on the likelihood it will pass his chamber. Hogan has promised a veto of it does pass, arguing the state should be doing more, not less, to help immigration authorities.