Courtesy: Governor’s Office
Governor Wes Moore presided over the first bill signing ceremony of 2024 yesterday, where he signed into law the Maryland Protecting Opportunities and Regional Trade (PORT) Act. The bipartisan legislation supports businesses and workers who have been affected by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The law will create a new, permanent scholarship program for the families of transportation workers who die on the job, and will allow for more flexibility in work search requirements for unemployment insurance.
Other legislation signed into law included:
The Maryland Road Worker Protection Act, implements the legislative recommendations of the Governor’s Work Zone Safety Work Group to protect Maryland road workers and initiate a culture change among motorists to adopt safer driving behaviors.
The Protecting Election Officials Act, addresses the epidemic of threats and harassment targeting election officials that pose a fundamental threat to Maryland’s ability to conduct free and fair elections.The law creates a new misdemeanor charge in the Election Law Article for threats against election officials or their families.
The Caring for Public Employees in Safety Professions (CAPES) Act, expands workers compensation presumptions for firefighters to cover thyroid, colon, and ovarian cancers.
The Families Serve Act, supports Maryland’s military families by expanding job opportunities for military spouses. The law requires that spouses of members of any branch of the uniformed services receive a 10 point credit to selection tests when applying for State jobs, and authorizes private employers to grant hiring and promotion preferences to spouses of a full-time active-duty member of any branch of the uniformed services.
The Time to Serve Act, increases the amount of disaster service leave for executive branch employees from 15 to 30 days. In addition, state employees who serve in the National Guard and military reserves may use up to 30 paid leave days for training or service duty, increased from 15 leave days.
To view the complete list of bills signed into law today, visit: https://governor.maryland.gov/
