Several of my bills are moving forward – in different ways.

Both Senator Hettleman and I introduced legislation requiring that money received from a violation of the housing provisions of Maryland’s Consumer Protection Act be used to provide legal counsel for tenants facing eviction.

Her bill got a favorable committee report.  That gives a boost to my mine.

In his first year in office, Governor Hogan withdrew state funding for the Red Line, a light rail system from the Johns Hopkins campus in East Baltimore to the Social Security complex in Baltimore County.

Those are two of the biggest employment sites in the metropolitan area.

He called it a “boondoggle.”

Federal funding to revive the Red Line was made possible by our Congressional delegation.  Senators Cardin and Van Hollen and Congressmen Mfume, Ruppersberger, and Sarbanes added language to the bipartisan infrastructure bill requiring the Department of Transportation to “provide full and fair consideration to projects that seek an updated rating after a period of inactivity following an earlier rating and evaluation.”

Those five federal legislators have also written a letter supporting my bill to require our state government to update its studies and surveys on this needed mass transit system.  My bill got a favorable report from the Baltimore City delegation.  I’ve been told that my Baltimore County colleagues will take similar action.

I’ve offered amendments to two of my bills.  These compromises would improve the situation that my legislation addresses.

If these amended bills don’t meet my objective, I hope the voters will send me back to Annapolis to finish the job.