[MD-AtLarge] Congratulations to Us Again! Guide Dog Bill - Passage of HB 608

Tue Apr 11 03:44:55 UTC 2023

Friends,
Today the Maryland General Assembly also passed HB 608, our Guide Dog
Protection in Housing bill crossfile to SB 535.  Please send an email to our
House sponsor, Mary Lehman, at Mary.Lehman at house.state.md.us and thank her
for being our champion.

In the waning hours of the 2023 Legislative Session, I want to convey how
proud I am of all of us and how grateful I am for each of you who
participated in this year's legislative advocacy efforts.  From those who
attended our Virtual Week in Annapolis, to those who served as team leads
and Zoom hosts, to those who scheduled appointments, to those who attended
hearings, to those who wrote letters and made phone calls, and on and on.  

Of our four legislative priorities and eight legislative efforts (one in
each house for each of the four issues), we have a 88% success rate.  This
is incredible given that less than 25% of issues raised in the 2023 session
passed.

Thank you all!  We'll keep you updated on bill signings as we learn of them.

Yours,
Ronza

Ronza Othman, President
National Federation of the Blind of Maryland
443-426-4110
Pronouns: she, her, hers

-----Original Message-----
From: Maryland President <president at nfbmd.org> 
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Subject: Congratulations to Us! Guide Dog Bill - Passage of SB 535

Federation Family,
It's been a banner week for the Maryland members of the Federation.  Just a
few minutes ago, the Maryland General Assembly passed SB 535, Housing
Protections for Service Animals and Guide Dogs.  It now heads to Governor
Moore's desk for his signature.  Under this bill, service animal users,
including those who use guide dogs, have the same protections in housing
when their dog is retired that they do when the dog is active.  This means
that landlords and Home Owners Associations are prohibited from applying no
pet policies to retired service animals or charging a pet fee.

We are very excited that this bill has passed the House and Senate, and
we're also excited that it is a cross-disability bill for any service animal
user.  The bill applies the ADA definition of service dog, and it excludes
emotional support dogs from coverage in order to avoid confusion or putting
burdens on service animal users to prove they need the dog, the dog is
trained, or any of the other challenges that are happening with air travel.

Thank you to our NFB of Maryland Guide Dog Committee, who raised this issue
with us last spring.  Because of their activism and advocacy, we decided to
make this a legislative priority, we found two wonderful champions in the
House and Senate, we crafted a bill, we met with and negotiated with the
landlords lobby and the realter organizations along with other disability
advocacy organizations, we worked to get an Attorney General review on the
scope of the bill to ensure it complied with Federal law, and we got it
done.

We are also very grateful to our sponsor in the Senate, Senator Mary Dulany
James.  I urge you to all please send an email to thank her at
MaryDulany.James at senate.state.md.us.

We are fortunate in that the House cross-file, HB 608, has been reported
favorable out of the Judicial Proceedings Committee in the Senate, the
Senate has passed it on second reader, and most likely Monday, the Senate
will pass it for the final time so it too becomes law.  That's all
procedural jargon to say that the Senate has to vote on HB 608 one more time
for it too to be fully passed by the General Assembly.  We're over the
finish line because SB 535 has been adopted by both chambers, but it's
always good to get both the House and Senate bills passed by both houses.
I'll keep you posted on that bill.  

But in the meantime, this is what collective action looks like.

Yours,
Ronza

Ronza Othman, President
National Federation of the Blind of Maryland
443-426-4110
Pronouns: she, her, hers

-----Original Message-----
From: Maryland President <president at nfbmd.org> 
Sent: Wednesday, April 5, 2023 8:39 PM
To: 'nfb-maryland at nfbnet.org' <nfb-maryland at nfbnet.org>; 'nfbmd at nfbnet.org'
<nfbmd at nfbnet.org>; 'greater-baltimore at nfbnet.org'
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Subject: RE: Update: Progress on Guide Dog Bill - Senate Passage of SB 535

Hi Everyone,
Here's an update on our guide dog bills.

HB 608 passed out of the House yesterday and as of this afternoon was
referred to the Judicial Proceedings Committee, which intends to vote on it
either tomorrow or Friday.  Then the Senate will get to hear it twice
probably over the weekend.  It is still on track!

SB 535 was passed out of the House today and heads over to the Senate.
Remember, this bill already passed out of the Senate, but it wasn't in the
posture we wanted, so the House amended it to match HB 608.  Now the Senate
will accept or reject the House's amendments - we think they will accept
them.  This should happen tomorrow or Friday.  If the Senate accepts the
House amendments to SB 535, then our guide dog and service animal housing
rights expansion bill just waits for Governor Moore's signature to become a
law.

We'll keep you posted, but this is a great time to watch the stream of the
Senate as they make our bills into law.

Ronza Othman, President
National Federation of the Blind of Maryland
443-426-4110
Pronouns: she, her, hers

-----Original Message-----
From: Maryland President <president at nfbmd.org> 
Sent: Saturday, April 1, 2023 9:05 AM
To: 'nfb-maryland at nfbnet.org' <nfb-maryland at nfbnet.org>; 'nfbmd at nfbnet.org'
<nfbmd at nfbnet.org>; 'greater-baltimore at nfbnet.org'
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<nfbmdtlc-chapter at nfbnet.org>; 'central-md-chapter at nfbnet.org'
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<mabm at nfbnet.org>; 'mdabs at nfbnet.org' <mdabs at nfbnet.org>;
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Subject: RE: Update: Progress on Guide Dog Bill - Senate Passage of SB 535

Hi Everyone,
Things are looking good for our guide dog bills.  The relevant committee in
the House gave a favorable report to both our Senate and House versions of
the bills and conformed them.  The House of Delegates has heard the bills
for the first time and will vote on them Monday afternoon.  They'll cross
over to the Senate Tuesday.  Since the House amended the Senate bill, the
Senate will need to either accept or reject the amendments.  We've
negotiated with the Senate so they intend to accept the House amendments.
Once they do that, our bill will become law, conditional on Governor Moore
signing it.

Stay tuned, and watch the House and Senate proceedings early this week to
see how NFB collective action becomes real and meaningful change for us all!

Ronza Othman, President
National Federation of the Blind of Maryland
443-426-4110
Pronouns: she, her, hers

-----Original Message-----
From: Maryland President <president at nfbmd.org> 
Sent: Friday, March 10, 2023 1:08 PM
To: 'nfb-maryland at nfbnet.org' <nfb-maryland at nfbnet.org>; 'nfbmd at nfbnet.org'
<nfbmd at nfbnet.org>; 'greater-baltimore at nfbnet.org'
<greater-baltimore at nfbnet.org>; 'nfbmdtlc-chapter at nfbnet.org'
<nfbmdtlc-chapter at nfbnet.org>; 'central-md-chapter at nfbnet.org'
<central-md-chapter at nfbnet.org>; 'md-atlarge at nfbnet.org'
<md-atlarge at nfbnet.org>; 'md-sligo at nfbnet.org' <md-sligo at nfbnet.org>;
'nationalharbor at nfbnet.org' <nationalharbor at nfbnet.org>; 'mabm at nfbnet.org'
<mabm at nfbnet.org>; 'mdabs at nfbnet.org' <mdabs at nfbnet.org>;
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Subject: Update: Progress on Guide Dog Bill - Senate Passage of SB 535

Hi All,
Congratulations!  This morning, the Maryland Senate passed SB 535, Expanding
Protections in Housing for Service Animals and Guide Dogs.  This is Senator
Mary Dulaney James' first bill passed out of the Senate!  

It now moves to the House of Delegates.  We are very optimistic about its
chances in the House.

Stay tuned, but for now, we celebrate!

Ronza Othman, President
National Federation of the Blind of Maryland
443-426-4110
Pronouns: she, her, hers

-----Original Message-----
From: president at nfbmd.org <president at nfbmd.org> 
Sent: Tuesday, March 7, 2023 7:28 PM
To: nfb-maryland at nfbnet.org; nfbmd at nfbnet.org; greater-baltimore at nfbnet.org;
nfbmdtlc-chapter at nfbnet.org; central-md-chapter at nfbnet.org;
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Subject: Progress on Guide Dog Bill

Hi everyone, we have some significant progress on our guide dog protection
in housing legislation. The Senate Judicial  Proceedings Committee has voted
the bill out of the committee with a favorable report. That means in the
next few days, the bill will be considered by the full Maryland senate. The
Senate will have two opportunities to consider the bill and debate it. If,
on the second review, they vote to adopt it, it will then move over to the
House of Delegates for their consideration. We will keep you posted as
things progress, and hopefully things will move quickly now 

Ronza Othman, President
National Federation of the Blind of Maryland
443-426-4110
Sent from my iPhone