On February 12, the Maryland Senate voted to overturn Governor Hogan’s vetoes of a sweeping education bill, following the House’s override vote on Monday. Accompanying this vote, an override vote of a key revenue bill was also carried out to provide funding for the future education reforms. Both bills are set to become law in 30 days.
HB 1300, Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, dubbed the Kirwan Education Bill, provides for the expansion of a number of programs directed towards the improvement of Maryland public schools. It details a 10-year plan for a series of programs intended to:
- Expand prekindergarten
- Increase funding for schools with high concentrations of poverty
- Increase teacher salaries
- Create more “community schools” with enhanced services for students and families
- Expand career and college prep programs
- Create new career pathways for high schoolers who don’t plan to attend college, and
- Establish an accountability board to ensure that the government and school districts properly implement the Blueprint plan
The bill is set to be finalized into law following a 96-37 override vote from the House and a 31-15 override vote from the Senate.
This vote was followed by a narrower vote to overturn the Governor’s veto of HB 723, Taxation – Tobacco Tax, Sales and Use Tax, and Digital Advertising Gross Revenues Tax, a measure the General Assembly maintains will help pay for the education bill. The digital advertising tax would be levied on large tech corporations (companies with more than $100 million in annual global revenues that store and manipulate users’ personal data), and the bill also includes an increase of the state’s tobacco tax. The bill is set to be finalized into law following Thursday’s 88-48 override vote from the House and a subsequent 29-17 override vote from the Senate.
The overrides were celebrated by Senate President Bill Ferguson who, in an email to constituents, wrote
“Today, the Maryland General Assembly took action and two of the most vital policies of my legislative career were enacted, making history in the process…Fundamentally, the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future and Digital Ad Tax are about helping Maryland’s students in our most underfunded schools, families who don’t deserve to bear the brunt of the economic burden caused by COVID-19, and our small businesses who already pay their fair share in taxes to our State. Every member of the General Assembly was elected to serve all Marylanders by solving problems today to expand opportunity tomorrow. That is what we did today.”
Additional Information:
A complete list of all the vetoed bills overridden by the General Assembly can be found in the two links below.
2021 Regular Session – Veto Override on 02/11/2020
2021 Regular Session – Veto Override on 02/12/2020
