The MoCo Local Newsletter - Issue #2
Hi there! You're looking dapper today.
Welcome to the second edition of The MoCo Local Newsletter, a regular email with interesting links for Montgomery County and Maryland residents. This is a newsletter in progress, so expect things to be tweaked here and there as the weeks go on. Thank you for your support! Comments, concerns, questions, tips? You can reply to this email.
MoCo Local Updates
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You can find MoCo Local's projects covering the 2022 Election below, including:
2022 MoCo Candidate Twitter List, which includes tweets from all of the candidates that currently have a Twitter account
The 2022 MoCo People's Agenda, a short survey designed to make your voice heard
🗳️ 2022 Election
State Races
Republican Candidate Kelly Schulz released her first campaign ad, focusing on “parental rights.” I tweeted about the “parental rights” bill when it was being heard by the Ways and Means Committee. You can read the thread here, but to recap: “parental rights” bills only aim to take away the rights of children, aim to lay the foundation for anti-trans and anti-LBGTQ policies like the “Don’t Say Gay” bill in Florida, and were used as an excuse for Texas’ anti-trans policy that criminalizes gender-affirming care and would have the state take away children from the parents if they try to be supportive of their trans children.
County Races
Dan Reed and Carter Dougherty wrote about the failures of Marc Elrich’s time in office, and how the county needs a new executive. Several residents joined together to create a website focused on educating residents about Elrich’s record.
Charles Nulsen III thinks leadership isn’t just missing from the Executive’s office—the County Council needs a change too.
Board of Education Races
Two finalists are vying to be the new student member of the Montgomery County Board of Education—Arvin Kim, junior from Walk Whitman, and Baba Cisse, junior at Albert Einstein. Students will vote on April 20th.
📍 MoCo News
Montgomery County Alcohol Beverage Services announced they would be pulling all Russian-made vodka and other alcohol from their shelves. I wrote about this, and how performative activism doesn’t equate to genuine help. Here are some ways to help Ukraine, if want to do something other than give Putin the proverbial middle finger.
The Montgomery County School Board is looking at ways to increase school security, and increasing the presence of School Resource Officers is on the table. Students rallied against the proposal. Keep cops out of school. Students are calling for more mental health staff and resources.
Speaking of the Montgomery County School Board, the earliest the mask mandate in schools could be lifted is March 8th.
In 2019, the County Council passed a bill that would require all legislation and budget measures to be analyzed by a new office, led by the new Chief Equity Officer. After 18 months, 50 racial equity assessments have been completed.
Speaking of equity analysis, the Montgomery County Office of Legislative Oversight released a report stating that they weren’t able to complete a racial equity and social justice review of Thrive 2050, but recommended that the vote on Thrive 2050 be delayed so that a group of BIPOC and low-income residents could be assembled to provide recommendations. Who is going to tell them that most of the opposition to Thrive 2050 is coming from wealthy homeowners who don’t want BIPOC and low-income residents in their neighborhoods?
🦀 Maryland News
The House of Delegates is working on legalizing cannabis in Maryland, starting with a referendum to add a constitutional amendment in November. HB1 is currently in the Judiciary Committee.
A new report details where Maryland’s “Clean Energy” comes from and finds that 1/3 comes from sources that are not, in fact, clean.
The Maryland Pension Fund is losing money by investing in fossil fuel. Let’s divest from fossil fuels already.
Delegate Lily Qi introduced HB506 that would allow beer and wine to be sold in grocery stores throughout Maryland. The bill is currently in the Economic Matters Committee in the House and in the Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee in the Senate. If passed, it would place a referendum question on the ballot in November. I don’t want to have to keep going to Virginia or DC to get Trader Joe’s canned wine.
Continuing the criminal justice reform work from last year, a bill introduced in both the House and Senate aims to restore the rights of individuals convicted of a felony and allow them to serve on juries.
Decriminalizing drug paraphernalia would go a long way to decriminalizing addiction. SB509/HB481 wants to do just that.
Call me crazy, but I think elected officials should actually live in the district they are elected to represent. Delegate Jheanelle Wilkins (D-20), introduced HB320, which would add additional requirements for determining what residency is defined as.
Delegate Jheanelle Wilkins is also doing some great work around tenant rights, introducing HB881 to create “Just Cause” laws.
With Roe v Wade in jeopardy, some states have been rushing to codify abortion access into state constitutions. Maryland’s push to do so is being met with some opposition. Two bills, introduced by Delegate Ariana Kelly (D-16), would require private insurance plans to cover abortion care (with the exception of religious or legal exemptions), and would require clinical training to providers who move to Maryland from states that restrict abortion access.
🌎 Elsewhere
I’m just going to use this spot to say you can support Ukraine by donating or shopping at these local organizations and businesses.
🌈 Pride
Anti-transgender legislation comes to Maryland. While there are only a couple bills that are specifically anti-trans, there are several other bills in Maryland that focus on trans and LGBTQ rights (more on those this week). Previously, the Inclusive Schools Act was partly derailed by local Democratic lawmaker, State Senator Jeffrey Waldstreicher.
📅 Events
Looking for a Farmers Market? There are several throughout the county on various days of the week, weekends being the heaviest.
Want to advertise your event (for free) in the newsletter? Send me an email at vito@mocolocal.blog
🐦 Tweet of the Newsletter
#MARYLAND HOUSE WAYS & MEANS VOTED DOWN ANTI-TRANS SPORTS BILL HB 757!!! Thank you for your leadership @VAtterbeary @DelegateATW! Thank you to everyone who testified, wrote or called in to get this done. #LetTransKidsPlay #MDGA22 🏳️⚧️ pic.twitter.com/DrrJs1t9mR
— Trans Maryland (@TransMaryland) February 25, 2022
Hearing and watching the testimony for HB757, the anti-trans bill that would have barred trans student athletes from participating in sports teams that match their gender, was exhausting. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait long to hear what the future of the bill was. Thank you to all the folks that provided testimony against the bill, but especially Trans Maryland.