Week Five: Putting In the Work

Moving Forward with HB0922 It is week five of the 2017 Legislative Session in Annapolis and legislation is being assigned to committees. I expect a somewhere between 2,500-3,000 bills this year and most will have a hearing in a committee. I look forward to seeing the presentations and discussing the bills with those who come and testify as well as my colleagues. We also held meetings with Maryland Retailors, The Heartland Institute, Chesapeake Health Care, and with Aaron Balsamo from the Wicomico County Humane Society. Sarah Meyers, the curator of Poplar Hill Mansion, who is also a part of Preservation Maryland, stopped by our office to fill us in on historic preservation priorities. A huge thank you to Ali Grice from SBY Art Space for discussing local art with me and the mission to enhance the visual arts in the Mid-Delmarva region through art education and exhibition opportunities for all. The Salisbury Art Space is a nonprofit organization benefiting local artists - we hope you will their website for more information visit.

Honoring Veterans This week we also continued to work on our Veteran non-profit bill. This bill,HB0922, would exempt sales tax on purchases made from nonprofits that support veteran’s groups with at least 88% of the proceeds. Since the bill would impact sales taxes we sat down with Anne Klase, the Legislative Director from the Comptroller’s office, to discuss the need for and merits of the proposal. We also continued to push for Wicomico funding priorities and to that end, we met with Budget Secretary David Brinkley. Celebrating Education Wicomico County Teacher of the Year, Christy Briggs, visited our office. Ms. Briggs is a 6th grade English Language Arts teacher at Bennett Middle. It was rewarding to meet and congratulate her. Her service, like that of all of our teachers, is to be commended. We also met with a group of students from the Physical Therapy Association to discuss legislation and how it affects their education. In addition, we had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Ray Hoy and some students from Wor-Wic Community College who came to Annapolis for Student Advocacy Day.

On Thursday evening, we had the opportunity to welcome our friends from the Shore to Downtown Annapolis for the Annual Taste of the Eastern Shore reception held at Loews Hotel. We concluded our fifth week with our Eastern Shore Delegation Meeting where we welcomed the Maryland Port Administration and the Associated Builders and Contractors Chesapeake Shores. Our 2017 Scholarship Application is now available! If you live in District 38B and are interested in applying, please send an email to Carl.Anderton@house.state.md.us. Applicants must have plans to attend college in Maryland. As always, if you would like to contact us with an idea, issue, or concern, please either call: 410-841-3431 or email carl.anderton@house.state.md.us. We look forward to hearing from you!