[MD-Baltimore-County] Success! Update on HB1076 / SB1091 - Textbook Equity Bill

Fri Apr 5 12:19:51 UTC 2024

Federation Family,

We have great news out of the Maryland House of Delegates.  Yesterday, the
House passed SB1091, the Textbook Equity Bill for Blind and Low Vision
Students, and it is headed to the Governor's desk.

More great news: The Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment
Committee, late last night, gave HB1076, the House cross-file, a favorable
report, and it will go before the full Senate for two rounds of voting.  We
expect this to take place today and tomorrow, but both the House and Senate
are innondated with bills to vote on, so it may take an extra day.  The last
day of the 2024 session is Monday, but we expect this will pass before Sine
die.  Once it does, it'll join the crossfile in heading to the Governor's
desk.

I'll let folks know when the bill signing will take place, as we'll want to
show up in force to celebrate the success of our collective action.

Thanks for all you do!  This is proof positive of the impact of our
movement!

Ronza

Ronza Othman, President

National Federation of the Blind of Maryland

443-426-4110

Pronouns: she, her, hers

From: Maryland President <president at nfbmd.org> 
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Subject: New Update on HB1076 / SB1091 - Textbook Equity Bill

Hi Friends,

Here's an update on our Textbook Equity for Blind Students Bill.

SB1091 was passed out of the Senate earlier this month.  The House held a
hearing on the Senate version of the bill, and yesterday, the House Ways and
Means Committee gave SB1091 a favorable report.  The full House is expected
to take it up on Monday evening, and a second vote will happen either
Tuesday or Wednesday, assuming the first vote on the House floor is
favorable.  This means that this bill will hopefully pass out of both
chambers by the end of the week, and we'll head to Annapolis for a bill
signing in May.

Regarding the House version, HB1076, the Senate Education, Energy, and
Environment Committee has not yet scheduled it for a hearing.  This is not,
I'm assured, because they oppose the bill; it is instead because they are
completely overloaded with legislation.  The Senate has to hear the bill and
get it out of Committee by this Friday for there to be enough time for the
full Senate to vote on it.  Nonetheless, because the House is poised to move
the Senate version of the bill, having the Senate move the House version is
a "nice to have" but not essential.

I'll keep you posted as we move toward the finish line here.

Ronza Othman, President

National Federation of the Blind of Maryland

443-426-4110

Pronouns: she, her, hers

From: Maryland President <president at nfbmd.org <mailto:president at nfbmd.org> >

Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2024 12:56 AM
To: 'Maryland President' <president at nfbmd.org <mailto:president at nfbmd.org> >
Subject: Update on HB1076 / SB1091 - Textbook Equity Bill

Federation Family,

I have an exciting update on our Textbook Equity bill.  

The Senate Education, Energy, and Environment Committee voted SB1091
favorably out of the Committee on Tuesday, and the full Senate took the
first of two votes in favor of the bill on Wednesday.  The Senate will take
the second vote likely Thursday, and once they do so, assuming it passes
(the Committee vote and first Senate votes were both unanimous), the bill
will go to the House.

As for HB1076, on Wednesday, the House Ways and Means Committee voted it out
of Committee with a unanimous favorable report.  The full House will vote on
the bill twice, likely the first time on Thursday, and the second on Friday.
Once the House votes it out, it'll cross over to the Senate.

Once the house bill crosses to the senate and the senate bill crosses to the
house, each bill will get a sponsor only hearing.  Then, each committee will
give the opposite chamber's bill a report, and the houses will vote twice if
the committees give favorable reports.  The two bills are identical, so
given that both chambers are poised to pass the bills, our chances for
textbook equity for blind kids in Maryland look really promising.

You can listen live to the Senate and House proceedings by going to:

https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/

Both chambers will gavel in at 10AM on Thursday.  You can also look at the
floor calendar to find our bills to get a sense of when they'll be heard -
it'll be under Third Reader Calendar for the Senate and one of the Ways and
Means calendars for the House.  Both the House and Senate are dealing with
the annual budget bills, so Thursday might be a really long day before they
get to our bills, and they could push them to Friday.

Thanks for all your hard work on this.

Ronza

Ronza Othman, President

National Federation of the Blind of Maryland

443-426-4110

Pronouns: she, her, hers

The National Federation of the Blind of Maryland knows that blindness is not
the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back

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