Freeman Hrabowski – Sandy Rosenberg

I’ve introduced my first bill.

House Bill 79 would broaden participation in the Maryland Technology Internship Program.

UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski wrote about the Massachusetts program in a Baltimore Sun op-ed six years ago.

The state provides a grant to an intern with a technology-based business or the government.

We passed the bill the year we introduced it.

There was no funding, however, until Governor Hogan included it in the state’s Amazon HQ2 package in 2018.

Under HB 79, the minimum grade average for eligibility would be 2.5, instead of 3.0. (It’s known in some circles as the Belushi amendment.)

Students could also intern in a non-profit technology-based business.

The people at UMBC who administer the program requested both of these changes.

Last year, legislation with the grade change passed the House but too late for the Senate to act.

I may look for a Senate sponsor who serves on the committee that would hear the bill.

“Whatever it is, I’m against it.”

Groucho Marx sings that line in Horse Feathers.

Sometimes, perhaps oftentimes, bureaucrats and lobbyists sing that line, instead of reading my bills.

My bill in question would amend an existing grant program by authorizing – permitting but not requiring, that the money can be used to repay the academic debt of a grantee’s lower-paid employees.

Several years ago, after reading an op-ed by UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski, I passed a bill creating a program that would provide stipends for interns in high-tech businesses.

That program has never been funded.

The bill we discussed today would meet the purpose of the Hrabowski program with funds from another program – if the grantee chooses to do so.

But first you have to read the bill.