State Roundup, November 17, 2017

CARDIN, VAN HOLLEN PUSH RESIDENCY BILL: Three Democratic senators — including Maryland Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen — introduced legislation Thursday to allow certain immigrants with temporary legal status in the United States to apply for residency, reports John Fritze for the Sun. Maryland has the sixth-highest number of residents benefiting from Temporary Protected Status in the country — about 23,000 — according to the Center for Migration Studies. The vast majority of those individuals in the state are from El Salvador.

INDUSTRIAL RUNOFF FOULS BAY: Unbeknownst to most Marylanders, many industrial facilities are polluting state waters and the Chesapeake Bay with their stormwater runoff, while also threatening the health of neighboring communities, says a new report by a pair of environmental groups. The groups blame weak state controls and lax enforcement, reports the Bay Journal’s Timothy Wheeler. The article appears in MarylandReporter.

FARM POLLUTANTS: Jenna Portnoy of the Post reports that Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on Thursday was to introduce legislation to increase funding for a program that keeps pollutants from running off farms and into the Chesapeake Bay and other sensitive watersheds across the country. The bill would increase to $300 million a pot of money to help farmers build things such as manure storage and stream buffers that prevent harmful nutrients from flowing into sensitive watersheds.

 

READ MORE HERE: http://marylandreporter.com/2017/11/17/state-roundup-november-17-2017/