LSPC Testimonies

Testimony HB0329 Public Health - Commission on Universal Health Care

 Public Health - Commission on Universal Health Care

Bill Sponsor: Delegate Ruth

Committee: Health and Government Operations Committee

Organization Submitting:   Lower Shore Progressive Caucus

Person Submitting:  Jared Schablein,  Chair  

Position: FAVORABLE

I am submitting this testimony in favor of HB0329 on behalf of the Lower Shore Progressive Caucus to express our strong support for HB0329, which would establish a Commission on Universal Health Care in Maryland. As an organization committed to advocating for policies that improve the lives of all people, the Lower Shore Progressive Caucus believes that healthcare is a fundamental human right and a critical component of a just and equitable society.

The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the stark disparities in our healthcare system, with rural areas, communities of color and low-income households bearing the brunt of the pandemic's health and economic impacts. It is now more important than ever to ensure that every Maryland resident has comprehensive health care services, regardless of their income, race, gender, or geographic location.

The Commission on Universal Health Care would be an important step towards achieving this goal. It would bring together stakeholders from across the healthcare industry, including healthcare providers, insurers, policymakers, and advocates, to develop a comprehensive plan for implementing universal healthcare in Maryland.

Such a plan would help to ensure that all Maryland residents have access to the healthcare services they need to stay healthy, prevent and manage chronic conditions, and address acute medical issues. It would also help to reduce healthcare costs, improve health outcomes, and promote health equity.

We strongly urge the Health and Government Operations Committee to give a favorable report on HB0329 so we can take a critical step towards achieving a healthcare system that is accessible, affordable, and equitable for all residents of our great state.

  • Testimony HB0329 Public Health - Commission on Universal Health Care

     Public Health - Commission on Universal Health Care

    Bill Sponsor: Delegate Ruth

    Committee: Health and Government Operations Committee

    Organization Submitting:   Lower Shore Progressive Caucus

    Person Submitting:  Jared Schablein,  Chair  

    Position: FAVORABLE

    I am submitting this testimony in favor of HB0329 on behalf of the Lower Shore Progressive Caucus to express our strong support for HB0329, which would establish a Commission on Universal Health Care in Maryland. As an organization committed to advocating for policies that improve the lives of all people, the Lower Shore Progressive Caucus believes that healthcare is a fundamental human right and a critical component of a just and equitable society.

    The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the stark disparities in our healthcare system, with rural areas, communities of color and low-income households bearing the brunt of the pandemic's health and economic impacts. It is now more important than ever to ensure that every Maryland resident has comprehensive health care services, regardless of their income, race, gender, or geographic location.

    The Commission on Universal Health Care would be an important step towards achieving this goal. It would bring together stakeholders from across the healthcare industry, including healthcare providers, insurers, policymakers, and advocates, to develop a comprehensive plan for implementing universal healthcare in Maryland.

    Such a plan would help to ensure that all Maryland residents have access to the healthcare services they need to stay healthy, prevent and manage chronic conditions, and address acute medical issues. It would also help to reduce healthcare costs, improve health outcomes, and promote health equity.

    We strongly urge the Health and Government Operations Committee to give a favorable report on HB0329 so we can take a critical step towards achieving a healthcare system that is accessible, affordable, and equitable for all residents of our great state.

  • Testimony for HB0025 Healthy Maryland Program

     Public Health - Healthy Maryland Program - Establishment

     

    Bill Sponsor: Delegate Acevero

    Committee: Health and Government Operations Committee

    Organization Submitting:   Lower Shore Progressive Caucus

    Person Submitting:  Jared Schablein, Chair  

    Position: FAVORABLE

     

    I am submitting this testimony in favor of HB0025 on behalf of the Lower Shore Progressive Caucus, which aims to establish the Healthy Maryland Program as a public corporation and a unit of State government to provide comprehensive universal single-payer healthcare services for all residents of the State by January 1, 2025.

     

    As Chair of the Lower Shore Progressive Caucus, we believe that healthcare is a basic human right, and it is essential that all Marylanders have the care they need to stay healthy and thrive. Unfortunately, the current healthcare system is not serving everyone equally, and too many individuals and families are unable to afford necessary medical treatment, prescription medications, or preventative care.

     

    The Healthy Maryland Program will ensure that all Maryland residents have comprehensive healthcare services, regardless of their income or pre-existing medical conditions. By eliminating the financial barriers to healthcare, this program will help prevent chronic diseases, reduce healthcare costs, and improve the overall health and well-being of our community.

     

    We support the provisions outlined in the bill, including those related to eligibility, participation by and payments to health care providers, benefits, payroll premiums, funding, and collective negotiations with health care providers. We believe that these provisions will ensure that the program is affordable, sustainable, and able to deliver high-quality healthcare services to all Maryland residents.

     

    We urge you to give a favorable report on HB0025 and take an essential step towards creating a more equitable and just society for all Marylanders. 

     

  • TESTIMONY FOR SB 0073 General Assembly - Special Election to Fill a Vacancy in Office

    TESTIMONY FOR SB 73

    General Assembly - Special Election to Fill a Vacancy in Office

    Bill Sponsor: Senator Lam

    Committee: Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs

    Organization Submitting: Lower Shore Progressive Caucus

    Person Submitting: Jared Schablein

    Position: FAVORABLE

    I am submitting this testimony in favor of HB 73 on behalf of the Lower Shore Progressive Caucus. The Caucus is a political and activist organization on the Eastern Shore, unaffiliated with any political party, committed to empowering working people by building a Progressive Movement.

    The State of Maryland, like the United States of America as a whole, loves to talk about how we are a stalwart of Democracy. However, our current system that allows the Governor to appoint based on the central committee, which currently holds the seat with no voter input, is extraordinarily undemocratic and goes against our values as a society. Not only is this system undemocratic it is also a major headache that has caused some horrible press for our state in the past. Who could forget in late 2012, when controversy engulfed then-Gov. Martin O'Malley when he refused to appoint the Prince George's County Democratic Central Committee's nominee for a vacant seat due to the nominee's criminal past. This issue would result in a court case, and in early 2013 O'Malley appointed someone else. This situation should have never occurred because the voters should have decided who was the replacement in the first place. 

    The situation has gotten so bad that over one-fifth of the legislature is currently appointed. This is not an attack on the qualification of those appointed but the pure absurdity of how much power we have taken away from the people. For these reasons, the Lower Shore Progressive Caucus supports this bill and recommends a FAVORABLE report in committee.

  • Testimony For HB 172 Income Tax – Determination of Taxable Income – Union Dues and Expenses to Influence Collective Bargaining

    TESTIMONY FOR HB 172

    Bill Sponsor: Delegate Luedtke

    Committee: Ways and Means

    Organization Submitting: Lower Shore Progressive Caucus

    Person Submitting: Sam Harvey

    Position: FAVORABLE

    I am submitting this testimony in favor of HB 172 on behalf of the Lower Shore Progressive Caucus. The Caucus is a political and activist organization on the Eastern Shore, unaffiliated with any political party, committed to empowering working people by building a Progressive Movement.

    Lower Shore Progressive Caucus members appreciate the heritage of labor movement activists, the gains dearly bought, tenuously preserved. There is a sense of besiegement. Many workers are already worn out by the expectation that they should put the job ahead of every other aspect of their lives – family, personal fulfillment, rest – health. They must surely feel further fatigued by a lack of solidarity, from those beguiled by the idea that the extraction of maximum profit from labor will somehow, someday, prove to benefit them, members of the working class themselves.

    The past several decades provides a picture in stark contrast to this dream of a capitalistic utopia, where the largesse of our economic plutocrats remains stubbornly unforthcoming. Rather, workers have endured years of slow wage growth – especially galling in the light of soaring inequality.

    It therefore seems mysterious that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 removed union members’ ability to deduct union dues from their taxable income – while simultaneously allowing businesses to deduct the cost of hiring union-avoidance consultants from their taxable profits. It is incredible that moneyed, empowered, interests have been able to enact policies that effectively discourage collective bargaining. The ability to freely associate with one’s fellow citizens, to collectively choose individuals from among that number to represent the group’s interest, should rank among the most sacred and protected of rights. Unfortunately, here we see the exact opposite.

    Policy like this leaves average taxpayers effectively subsidizing union-busting efforts. Yet research suggests our growing inequality brings with it a host of social problems – lower levels of happiness and health – even lower economic growth. Nothing can be wrong with working people talking to each other and uniting behind collective decisions toward the betterment of their lives. And via that collective bargaining, unions reduce income inequality - unequivocally.

    HB 172 recognizes and rewards the good that unions do and seeks to reflect that in the tax code. For this reason, the Lower Shore Progressive Caucus supports this bill and recommends a FAVORABLE report in committee.

  • TESTIMONY FOR HB0470 -- Commission on Universal Healthcare

    TESTIMONY FOR HB0470 -- Commission on Universal Healthcare


    Bill Sponsor: Delegate Ruth

    Committee: Health and Governmental Operations

    Organization Submitting: Lower Shore Progressive Caucus

    Person Submitting: Amber Green

    Position: FAVORABLE


    I am submitting this testimony in favor of HB0470 on behalf of the Lower Shore Progressive Caucus.
    The Caucus is a political and activist organization on the Eastern Shore, unaffiliated with any
    political party, committed to empowering working people by building a Progressive movement on the
    Lower Eastern Shore.

    As a black mother who gave birth to a black son in Wicomico County, it was not my intention to place him in danger of not receiving equitable healthcare and to possibly lose his life because of how his black parents were being treated in one of the largest hospitals in rural Maryland eastern shore. Hours after my son celebrated his 1-year-old birthday, we rushed him to the hospital for a rising fever and breathing concerns. He was sent home not once, not twice, but three times and we were told to continue to give him breathing treatments. It took his pediatrician to call the hospital and demand he stay overnight for observation. My son ended up being hospitalized for 2 weeks and needed to be emergency transferred to Children's Hospital in Washington, DC where he had to have surgery to treat a severe case of complicated pneumonia.

    In Wicomico County, the black infant mortality rate is two times greater than of white infant mortality rate. Black mothers do not have the same opportunity to protect and nurture their children due to the lack of choice based on income. To receive affordable healthcare services such as birth control, annual checkups and to receive those services and not be treated any differently than anyone else, I have to personally drive 40 minutes outside of my city and county of residence. I have to stress that I am a black mother living on the rural eastern shore, an area that is coming to grips with its racial history but still has large disparities when it comes to race and healthcare; we must do better as a people and as a state.

    HB 0470 is a commonsense bill that will help address these issues and find a way to ensure every person of color on the Eastern Shore has the health insurance they need and the care they deserve. For that reason, the Lower Shore Progressive Caucus urges legislators to stand with rural black
    mothers by supporting this bill and giving it a FAVORABLE report in committee

  • TESTIMONY FOR HB0581 / SB0846

    TESTIMONY FOR HB0581 / SB0846: Maryland Essential Workers' Protection Act

    Bill Sponsor: Delegate Davis

    Committee: Economic Matters

    Organization Submitting:   Lower Shore Progressive Caucus

    Person Submitting:  Jared Schablein, LSPC Chair  

    Position: FAVORABLE

    I am submitting this testimony in favor of HB0581 on behalf of the Lower Shore Progressive Caucus. The Caucus is a political and activist organization on the Eastern Shore, unaffiliated with any political party, committed to empowering working people by building a Progressive movement on the Lower Eastern Shore. 

    A large segment of the membership of the Lower Shore Progressive Caucus is essential workers.  Our members work in healthcare, retail, food, poultry, and many of the industries most at risk due to Covid-19.  Despite being called “heroes” by many, almost every single one of them has come to us with a horror story about unsafe conditions or subpar pay for their work, keeping everything going during the pandemic. 

    Since March 2020, there have been over 333,000 positive cases, nearly 6,700 deaths, and roughly 25,000 people hospitalized in Maryland.   These stats are made even more concerning to us on the Eastern Shore with the release of the CDC study that found Rural Americans are at a higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19 because we are typically older than non-rural populations, have higher rates of underlying chronic disease even after adjusting for age, and often have a lower standard of care than Urban areas.  These numbers are more than just numbers, it is drastically affecting our rural way of life and is causing many of our members and their families to face daily levels of extreme stress due to the risk of catching covid and dying from it. 

    To make matters worse, many of our workers are forced to use their personal leave or go unpaid when they are quarantining or mourning a family member's loss. This reality is cruel and entirely preventable. No working person in Maryland from the Eastern Shore to Western Maryland and everywhere in between can afford to go without pay for weeks to be in quarantine or mourn family loss. This legislative body must require employers to provide 14 days of paid quarantine leave and three days of paid bereavement leave to help workers cope with their financial and health burdens.

    Another issue that has arisen from this pandemic is that many of our frontline workers are struggling to make it financially. If calling our frontline workers “heroes” is more than just a performative gesture to make ourselves feel better, then we must ensure that employers pay their workers who are risking both their own and their family’s lives fairly during this pandemic.  

    To ensure that frontline workers are paid fairly, the state must mandate hazard pay for workers on the frontlines during this health emergency. Hazard pay of $3/hour will compensate workers for the harsh conditions they are working in and will help them take care of their families during the financial crisis we find ourselves in.  In addition to regular pay, this hazard paid should also be given for shifts worked during the State of Emergency.

    Finally, the state should allow employees to enroll in insurance through Maryland’s Health Benefits Exchange to ensure they get the health care they need. Doing this will help workers and their families and slow the spread of the coronavirus by keeping workers healthy and on the job.

    The Maryland Essential Workers Protection Act is a common-sense bill that would not only help our workers survive the finance and health crisis we face now but also help our state better prepare for the next crisis.  For that reason, the Lower Shore Progressive Caucus urges legislators to stand with workers by supporting this bill and giving it a FAVORABLE report in committee.

  • TESTIMONY FOR HB0638

    HB638 Public Safety - Untraceable and Undetectable Firearms

    Bill Sponsor: Delegate Lesley Lopez

    Committee: Judiciary

    Organization Submitting:   Lower Shore Progressive Caucus

    Person Submitting:  Dr. Nicole Hollywood, LSPC   

    Position: FAVORABLE

    I am submitting this testimony in favor of HB638 on behalf of the Lower Shore Progressive Caucus. The Caucus is a political and activist organization on the Eastern Shore, unaffiliated with any political party, committed to empowering working people by building a Progressive movement on the Lower Eastern Shore. 

    State and federal gun laws traditionally apply to fully assembled firearms and the part of the gun that includes the firing mechanism, also known as the receiver. These laws typically do not apply to “unfinished” frames or receivers, also known as “80% receivers”. These nearly completed firearms are known as ghost guns. A ghost gun is, simply put, a self-assembled firearm made from either 3D printed components or building blocks easily acquired from the World Wide Web or from individuals in the form of DIY gun kits. These building blocks are readily available and unregulated and are not produced by a federally licensed manufacturer or importer.

    The mounting threat of ghost guns is the most eminent gun safety problem in the United States. Unregulated, not serialized, and often undetectable by a magnetometer, ghost guns present an easy means for prohibited purchasers to evade gun laws and access firearms.

    The threat of ghost guns is rising rapidly. By early 2020, reports indicated that more than 40% of guns involved in criminal activity that were recovered by the ATF were ghost guns and those number are only increasing. For example, in Baltimore, the number of ghost guns retrieved by police tripled from 2019 to 2020. 

    When guns are recovered from a crime scene the serial number is used to engage in tracing. During this process a firearm is traced through the chain of custody to the point of its first retail sale. According to the National Tracing Center of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (2019) 450,000 trace requests were processed in 2019 and more than seven million traces have been conducted since 1988. Ghost guns however, are untraceable and because they are untraceable they are now the firearms of choice for organized gangs.

    The Lower Shore Progressive Caucus recognizes the dangers posed by ghost guns. HB638 would alter the definition of a regulated firearm to include a certain unfinished frame or receiver, authorize a person to continue to possess these firearms after January 2022 provided they are marked with a unique serial number, prohibit a person from acquiring new ghost guns after January 2022, and establish penalties for violation.

    The Lower Shore Progressive Caucus supports this bill and recommends a FAVORABLE report in committee.

  • TESTIMONY FOR HB0151

    TESTIMONY FOR HB 151

    Bill Sponsor: Delegate Acevero

    Committee: Judiciary

    Organization Submitting: Lower Shore Progressive Caucus

    Person Submitting: Sam Harvey

    Position: FAVORABLE

    I am submitting this testimony in favor of HB 151 on behalf of the Lower Shore Progressive Caucus. The Caucus is a political and activist organization on the Eastern Shore, unaffiliated with any political party, committed to empowering working people by building a Progressive Movement.

    Caucus members consistently support legislation that speaks to the belief that a civil society cannot exist unless all its members are equally governed and protected by a system of laws. The task of refining these laws, toward a more perfect justice system, must never be set aside.

    In some areas, Maryland may be admired by other states, in others... perhaps it better serves as a cautionary tale. Home to one of the most dangerous cities in the nation, in Baltimore, Maryland as a result has one of the highest homicide rates in the nation. A border state that only narrowly approved abolition, Maryland continues to languish near the bottom quarter on equality in jailing (non-Hispanic whites compared to other groups).

    No system of justice will bring back Bethlehem Steel. However, it could well be argued that the hammer stroke fell harder on many of Baltimore's communities because residents there had only just begun to climb the rungs of the economic ladder. For many, those rungs have only continued to rust.

    A sense of injustice – of inequity – pervades, a sense that a larger system charges ahead along its own path, heedless of damage it does to the blameless members of society trampled underfoot. That law enforcement officers have their own Bill of Rights, ostentatiously separate from the enshrined rights afforded to ordinary citizens, immediately chafes. It's quite possible its very existence roughly tears away at bandages over wounds that, in many communities, have never healed.

    Meritorious in its conception, a Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights (LEOBoR), in many of its parts fairly safeguards the rights of law enforcement officers under investigation of wrongdoing. However, the very existence of an LEOBoR can't help but feed into the sense of inequity, when it appears to convey extra considerations – considerations not afforded to the average citizen.

    Maryland law enforcement has come some way toward recognizing this grievance, modifying the LEOBoR in recent years – for instance, by expanding the statute of limitations on police brutality from 90 days to 366 days. However, current law may be deemed so deferential that interrogation protocol calls nothing so much to mind as an old home week. That the officer goes into interrogation having been introduced to everyone, having been given some background, some work history… that the interrogation will be conducted, whenever possible, at a reasonable hour, “preferably when the law enforcement officer is on duty” – nothing in this is definitively inappropriate, and yet everything in it strikes a sour note. It aggrieves, and in doing so the LEOBoR inadvertently undermines law enforcement’s core mission.

    No dichotomous relationship will attain – all the charm of the chivalrous guard, all the honor of the selfless sheepdog notwithstanding – if it is to be done successfully, public safety must be done by especially, emphatically, normal members of the public. Surely the LEOBoR was created with the intention of giving law enforcement professionals a reasonable sense of security, recognizing that the work they do will not always win them popularity contests. Unfortunately, no amount of tweaking the LEOBoR will dispel the perception that it establishes a system that treats law enforcement officers differently – or worse, that it grants a certain superiority. Only a repeal of the LEOBoR can address this – and only thereby can the community’s trust be revived, and public safety most fully realized.

    Therefore, the Lower Shore Progressive Caucus supports this bill and recommends a FAVORABLE report in committee.