Legislative session wraps up in MD!

Our fiscal year and legislative sessions have ended, so we wanted to give you the latest updates on how it went!

This legislative session has been a great one. We had 5 policies passed or defended. We also pushed new creative policies solutions, being one of the early states to codify guaranteed insurance coverage in preventative services (think helping people quit smoking, screenings to check for different diseases, etc..) all found in the US Preventative Services Task Force.  Although we were not successful in passing the For Our Kids Act (the Sugary Drink Tax which funded School Meals for All), we got extremely close and are going to keep up this fight!

All of the other bills we worked on that passed were signed by the Governor, including the Self Measured Blood Pressure Coverage pictured above.

Bills Passed this Year:

– Water bottle refill stations are now required in all new building or major renovations.
– Ended online sales of E-cigarettes and closed other loopholes in the tobacco code
– Defended Medicaid by protecting coverage if cut by the Federal Government.
– Defended against cigar bars
– Codification of US Preventative Services Task Force coverage
– Implementation of Self-Measured Blood Pressure coverage

Some other good bills that passed we worked on that passed/protected:

– Subsidizing young adult health care in the Exchange Market
– Made sure the cannabis consumption sites continued to not allow indoor smoking
– Protected tobacco control funding, although we had some cuts, we kept the mandated appropriation of 18.25 M.

Fights for Another Day

– Delaying Paid Family Medical Leave by 18 Months
– Ensuring healthy school meals For all Maryland students
– Having a small per ounce tax on sugary drinks, which will help fund critical health and wellness initiatives.

Overall, it was an extremely good year, and we look forward to our work next year!