April 4, 2025
Ready Report: Final Week of Legislative Session
The 13th and final week of the 2025 Legislative Session has concluded. Monday, April 7th is Sine Die, meaning any bill that does pass before Midnight on Monday will not pass this year. Next week I will have a comprehensive breakdown of what happened during Session, but for now you can read an update about what happened this week in Annapolis below.
Click the picture below to watch my Weekly Video Update for Session Week 13.
Second Look Act Passes Senate
On Thursday, HB 853, known as the Maryland Second Look Act, passed the Maryland Senate with a vote of 31-16. This bill would allow a convicted criminal to file a motion to reduce his sentence if he was convicted of an offense committed when the individual was at least age 18 but younger than age 25, was not sentenced to life without the possibility of parole and has been imprisoned for at least 20 years for the offense. The bill also excludes sex offenders from being eligible due to an amendment I got passed last year by one vote on the Senate floor to exclude rapists. (The bill failed in the House but my amendment stayed on the bill this year).
Senate Republicans did manage to add an amendment to the bill excluding people convicted of murdering a first responder, however this bill would allow for people convicted of heinous crimes to get out of prison early. Again, this amendment got on bill by just one vote!
This bill is called the “Second Look Act” but that is dishonest framing of the issue. Why?
Under current law, a convicted criminal has the ability to have his conviction reviewed as many as twelve (12!) times! –
1) Motion for new trial
2) Motion to modify or reduce sentence (can be held for five years, and if the modification is based upon illegal sentence, fraud, mistake or irregularity, there is no time limit)
3) Three-judge panel review;
4) Appeal to Appellate Court of Maryland
5) Ask for leave to appeal to Maryland’s Supreme Court
6) Post-conviction relief (sometimes more than one)
7) Writ of coram nobis:
8) Writ of habeas corpus;
9) Writ of actual innocence;
10) Motion to vacate judgement (passed in 2023 – I voted against)
11) Post-conviction DNA testing, and
12) Parole hearing — in which a sentence may be reviewed more than once. So, this bill is completely unnecessary.
It is an injustice to victim families to make them endure another proceeding and to relive the trauma inflicted on them by the convicted criminal. This bill was proposed in previous sessions, and we were always able to kill it. However, this year the unfortunate reality is that unless Governor Moore vetoes it (which he should) – the so-called “Second Look Act” will become law.
You can watch a Fox45 story including part of my floor speech by clicking here.
Bill Introduced to Close Dark Money Campaign Fundraising Loophole
Earlier this week, Governor Moore headlined a fundraiser for a Federal Super PAC which advanced his political interests. The problem is, we have laws prohibiting ALL state law makers, including the Governor, from fundraising during the Legislative Session. This is to prevent law makers from accepting donations in order to introduce, work on, or vote for/against specific bills (often called bribery).
In response to Governor Moore’s actions, Senate Republicans introduced a bill to prohibit a Maryland law maker from participating in a fundraising event as a featured guest or speaker, or in another role intended to increase attendance at, or the number of contributions for the fundraising event. There is no reason that any Maryland law maker should have been able to participate as Governor Moore did earlier this week.
The Senate Republican Caucus released a press release discussing this further, which you can read by clicking here.
ICYMI: Maryland Democrats Present Budget “Compromise”
We will be voting on the final version passage of all these taxes and the state budget over the weekend – I will again be speaking against it and voting NO. We MUST get our fiscal house in order and Republicans have offered several amendments that would’ve cut spending instead of raising taxes. They were rejected with only a few Democrats joining our 13 Republicans.
Below is a partial list of the taxes and taxpayer-punishing changes that are in the tandem to the Budget bill – the Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act or “BRFA”. I am not giving up on trying to turn Maryland away from these high tax policies and Governor Wes Moore should be taken to task for even considering these increases.
Senatorial Scholarships Available
If you are or know a high school senior or college student, please consider applying for a Senatorial Scholarship. For more information or to request an application, email Emily Van Horn at [email protected] and include your full address. Scholarships will be accepted up to April 15, 2025.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me anytime. My office can be reached by emailing [email protected], and my staff and I will do our best to get back to you in a timely manner.
I look forward to the Session concluding on Monday at midnight and updating you afterwards. I will be fighting until the end.
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