Speaker Peña-Melnyk on Leading the Maryland House of Delegates

The news makes it feel like the government can’t be decent anymore, but Maryland House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk says civility is a decision you make every day. In the latest episode of the Pittman and Friends Podcast, County Executive Steuart Pittman sits down with Speaker Peña-Melnyk to discuss what it takes to lead a chamber of 141 delegates, travel the state nonstop, and still keep your focus on people who need government to work, not perform.

Speaker Peña-Melnyk walks us through the end-of-session scramble around the Maryland Voting Rights Act of 2026 and why she refused to let delay tactics sink protections for Black and Brown communities. From there, we dig into democracy pressures, the realities of redistricting, and how trust gets built or broken when institutions stop listening.

Affordability is a major thread, including Maryland’s utility relief package, energy rate reform, and why data centers should pay for the power they consume. We also get specific on immigration policy, the harms of 287(g) agreements that pull local law enforcement into federal immigration enforcement, and how the Trust Act aims to protect public safety by strengthening community trust. Finally, Speaker Peña-Melnyk explains how Maryland balances a tough budget early, avoids new taxes, and still tries to fund health care, eviction prevention, SNAP support, and education.

If you care about Maryland politics, voting rights, immigration, utility bills, or how a state budget really gets made, this conversation is for you.

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Transcript

Welcome And A Statewide Pace

SPEAKER_04 0:10

Welcome everybody to Pittman and Friends Podcast, and I'm here with a I can say a really good friend, a really good person, somebody you're going to want to hear from, our Speaker of the House of Delegates of Maryland, Jocelyn Penya Melnick. Welcome.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Thank you so much for having me, my friend. It's really a blessing to be with you.

SPEAKER_04 0:27

Yeah. Well, I will say that I don't know how you squeeze so many things into a day, but I have seen a lot of you since you became speaker, and even since the end of session, it seems like you're everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

I am seven days a week. I'm working. I'm out seven days a week everywhere. Last weekend we were in Hagerstown. This coming weekend we're in Chestertown. Wow. I said when I became Speaker that I was going to travel, like you did, throughout the whole state, and I'm doing it, and I am supporting my members. Um I'm doing wraparound uh sessions, you know. Uh I am everywhere seven days a week from morning to very late in the evening. Do you like that? You know, I d I don't know another way. I I I do want to be home a little more, but I must I have to meet the moment. Uh-huh. And it's important.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

And I am here um in a very humble way for a reason, and I am going to give this my absolute best.

SPEAKER_04 1:31

Well, thank you. Thank you for stepping up. Thank you for your service. Thank you for listening to everybody. Thank you for um and I mean that about listening to everybody. I will say one of the things that I was really impressed that you did. And before I even say that, I just want to let people know that Jocelyn Penya Melnick actually represents a part of Anna Rundle County. I do. Yeah, very important.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Trevor Burrus, Jr. And I take it very seriously.

SPEAKER_04 1:53

Aaron Powell Yes, and you've always showed up as part of the delegation.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Yeah.

Why Civility Is A Choice

SPEAKER_04 1:57

But you did. You said you were very serious when you came in, and you said that you wanted to re represent everybody, and uh you talked a lot about civility and kindness, and then you created a rural caucus of all things. And there aren't many, you're a Democrat, correct?

SPEAKER_00 2:15

That's right.

SPEAKER_04 2:17

But the Rural Caucus is, you know, represented by a lot of Republicans. Why'd you do that and how's that working?

SPEAKER_00 2:24

You know, I have been thinking a lot, like everyone else, from the moment I wake up. And I thank God for that about the way uh the current state of affairs in our country was happening at the federal level. The lack of humanity, the lack of empathy, the lack of civility. And I decided it was intentional that we are going to be civil in Annapolis, and that I was going to give respect and the men respect. And it's an intentional act every single day, daily, to do that. And I find that when you give respect, you get respect. And I know that, you know, the Republicans in our body, they represent their districts. They're not they don't have the values I have, but they still the people they represent deserve to have a voice in Annapolis and they deserve respect.

SPEAKER_04 3:23

To be represented, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Absolutely. Yeah. And I give them that respect. And it's important to me to do that. Amen. It doesn't mean we're not gonna do our business and pass the bills that we know are important for Marylanders. But it means that I am gonna listen to what you have to say. And at the end of the day, you know, will you take a vote up or down?

SPEAKER_04 3:46

Let's jump to the end of session before we get to the beginning of session, all the all the things that you did during session and all the

The Midnight Vote Rights Showdown

SPEAKER_04 3:52

lessons you learned. I think I wanna I want to make sure we cover a lot of those things. But you're talking about civility. There were a lot of headlines that came out at the very end that in the last few minutes of session there was less of it. What happened there?

SPEAKER_00 4:04

So for 89 days, 23 hours, 55 minutes, I was civil. What happened was that we had a very important bill. It was the Maryland Voting Rights Act of 2026, which is an important bill that protects uh black and brown communities against discrimination when you are um doing redistricting, right? When you're drawing maps at the local level.

SPEAKER_04 4:36

And this was before the Supreme Court made the decision to gut the Voting Rights Act. That's correct. Just just recently. But you knew that it might happen.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

We knew that it might happen. And that we needed to put to put something in place to protect these communities. And on Saturday before Signy died, which is Monday, and Stuart, as you know, we are required constitutionally to adjourn by midnight on Monday.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Right.

SPEAKER_00 5:03

That Saturday I made a decision to bring the House in. We were in from ten in the morning until midnight. Almost midnight. The Senate was not in. We came in. And that day I allow the Maryland Voting Rights Act of 2026 and the Trust Act to be debated on the floor. I called on every single individual.

SPEAKER_04 5:29

And the Trust Act, for for people who are listening, uh had to do with how our law enforcement, our our detention centers in particular, handle immigrants and deal with ISIS. That's correct. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

So I was very flexible on who can ask a question. And I allowed them all. Very generous. Then we send the bill to the Senate. The bill did not reach us until 1155 p.m. And that's because I was not aware that the Senate was having their own struggle with one of the senators who was g got up on every bill and was trying to amend every bill because you try to delay things as the other party so you don't get to vote on the bills that are pending because you have the clock working against you.

SPEAKER_04 6:20

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

So when it came at 1155, I made the decision of calling on one of the uh Republican senators to ask a question about the bill.

SPEAKER_04 6:32

An opponent. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

And then after that, I decided that we were going to go ahead and vote on the bill. The rules say that I may call on you, not shall. But in all fairness and for the record, to be clear, on Saturday they asked all the question they wanted to ask, and it was the same bill.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

So I was not going to allow that bill to die on my watch, especially given the fact that the Supreme Court was about to rule, which it did three weeks later.

SPEAKER_04 7:03

So that seems pretty normal that the clock is ticking, you have to get a vote. Why were people upset?

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Oh, they were upset because they said that they were entitled to be called, each and every one of them. Thirty-nine of them.

SPEAKER_04 7:18

Oh my God, absolutely, and kill the bill.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

And they knew what they were doing. But they cannot say that they did not have an opportunity to discuss that bill. They did. So I am kind, I am fair, I am equitable, but when it means it without abusing it. Especially when I gave them Saturday to go at it.

SPEAKER_04 7:42

Well I'm so glad that you did, given what the Supreme Court then followed up and did.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Trevor Burrus, Yes.

SPEAKER_04 7:47

Yeah, we need to protect our black and brown communities that have not had representation for so long from having it taken away. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

Yeah, especially when you look at other states, especially in the South, and they're getting rid of every single black member.

unknown 8:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

They're being very intentional about it.

SPEAKER_04 8:04

It's like we've turned the clock back, you know, way, way back. Okay, so thank you for that.

Meeting The Moment On Democracy

SPEAKER_04 8:10

Let's talk about some of the things that when you came into session, you were elected just weeks before session opened, right? December 16th. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: December 16th, right? I remember the day. Yeah. And congratulations on that. Thank you so much. Yeah. I remember you had you had some Republicans stand up during the, I guess it was the second vote, or one of them, Nick Kipke from Anarundel County.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

I had the second it was one of the seconds. The first time. The first time. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 8:44

Uh-huh a Republican. And then the second time it was Nick. Kipke made a very nice speech about how you guys, you two had worked together and and he respected you. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

I have very good relationships with the Republicans. Good.

SPEAKER_04 8:55

Good, good, good. So just tell us what you wanted to accomplish going into this session. Highs and lows, lessons learned.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

That's a loaded question. So look, going into the session, I wanted to meet the moment, Stuart. We are living through unprecedented times. Where you when you get up in the morning, Stuart, I feel overwhelmed and depressed. When I look at the news, you feel like you're suffocating. When you look at the fact that there's no respect for the Constitution, there's no respect for all three branches of government, no division, no separation, when it's okay to stop someone, you know, racial profile someone, it's okay to do that. When our civil rights are disappearing, it just it it breaks your heart.

SPEAKER_04 9:53

Do you feel like as an immigrant to this country that you have even you value the the Constitution even more?

SPEAKER_00 10:00

Absolutely. Because you have rights here.

SPEAKER_04 10:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

Where we come from, many countries, we don't have that. People lose their lives, you know, uh um to exercise their right to vote or to speak in many countries. And here we have that. And that is something that we cannot give up. I'm from the Dominican Republic. Island girl. Island girl. And it's a democracy, right? It's not so it's not like it is in other countries in Latin America, like, you know, El Salvador and others, right? They have had that history.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

I know what that's like.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

And it's one of the things that I value being here and being part of this society, being an American as well. And we're going backwards. So we came in during the session to deal immediately with redistricting. Right? And the House met the moment. We passed redistricting. The Senate did not move it. Then we went ahead and decided to take on the And that I'll just remind people was in a response to what was happening in other jurisdictions.

SPEAKER_04 11:05

That's in other jurisdictions. I mean, Democrats have historically always been against gerrymandering and voted in favor of bills nationally to end it nationally so that nonpartisan groups could do the districts. But then when the future of our country and Congress as being the majority depends on, you know, and one side has said we are going to require redistricting and create a whole bunch of red districts, then Democrats around the country said, okay, where can we do this? And one of the locations in Maryland would be District 1. And I know that Democrats in District 1 want redistricting because they want to have, you know, they want to be represented by somebody a little more reasonable than Andy Harrison. And the other side, of course, says the opposite.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

And that is correct. And if you notice the way it was drafted, it was drafted, it was a compromise, and I decided to do that. Where it said we're only going to do this until the next census. Because I myself, and on record, I I think twice, I actually co-sponsor a Republican bill to create a commission. Absolutely. So it was just until the next census. But because everyone else was doing it, and because we have to save our democracy, we have to have some balance.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

It was the right thing to do. So we passed it and it was a compromise. And the voters would get to vote on that if had it passed, and the Senate did not pass it. Right. Then I decided, well, let's send something else to the Senate. Let's send um some language, constitutional language, to fix the Bataglia decision. And we send that to the Senate. And again, the Senate did not pass it. So we in the House met

Utility Relief And Energy Accountability

SPEAKER_00 12:49

the moment. Mike Quakes wanted that. Then we went on and we took on the affordability issue, right? The the people are getting these bills that are so high that they cannot afford afford their utility bills. So we passed a utility relief bill. And I was very clear, Stuart, that this was not going to be a ceremonial bill. It was going to be a bill of substance. And it's a bill that has short-term benefits, midterm, and long-term. And people are going to get at least, but a lot more than that, $150 off their bills. But then we also put in language that says that data centers must pay for their energy. And that's a great thing to do because we are subsidizing Pennsylvania and Virginia as well. And we have a lot of other provisions.

SPEAKER_04 13:45

When you read The Capitol Gazette and the Baltimore Sun, you read sort of a not always a very balanced approach. I mean, it has clearly been taken over by Sinclair Broadcast. Absolutely. We know where they're coming. Very biased. Yeah, very, very biased. And against so many of the leadership in Maryland. But on that bill in particular, they just kept saying it was a bad bill because it was only $200 savings. Well, $200 is actually all people are getting in food stamps for a month now. I mean, there are people less than that even. And so that is real money to some people. It doesn't sound like real money to everybody. But more importantly, the bill really did fortunately do things to allow us to increase the supply of energy, the big picture things. And on the data centers, yeah, it finally addressed the issue of, you know, where's the power going to come from? So congratulations on the bill. I was disappointed to see that the focus was on the dollar figure.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

Because you want to distort things. That's the problem with today. Today with social media and with fake news, people make things up. They do not say the truth. It's easy to lie. It is easy to distort things. And that's why we must, uh as humans, we must look for the news, look at a, you know, uh reliable source, a respectable source. For example, the bill, it pauses uh speculative forecasting, right? Where utilities set rates using anticipated rather than actual cost. And that is really important. They didn't talk about that. Right? They didn't talk about the fact that it vends utilities from charging ratepayers for excessive employee compensations. They didn't talk about that either, right? They didn't talk about the fact that it shields households from paying to extend power lines far from where they live. They didn't talk about that because it is not convenient to talk about that.

SPEAKER_04 15:39

So was it a bipartisan vote?

SPEAKER_00 15:41

This bill, I believe, I think that we got a couple of people that voted for it.

SPEAKER_04 15:47

Because I can't imagine voting against all that.

SPEAKER_00 15:53

Yeah. But you know, it's it's a good bill. I am very proud of it.

SPEAKER_04 15:56

Yeah.

Immigration Bills And Public Trust

SPEAKER_00 15:57

Um, and then from that, we went on to immigration bills, right? To be able to give our brothers and sisters protection. As an immigrant, we come here, Stuart, because we want a better life. You know, most immigrants, Stuart, don't even get a traffic ticket. They're decent human beings, they work really hard.

SPEAKER_04 16:19

Well, the statistics from the Department of Justice, they took down the website that showed this, but that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

That's right. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 16:28

And it just flies in the face of what we're being told. But it's a f it's a fact based on statistics. And it's totally understandable because immigrants are more likely to be in the workforce, immigrants are more likely to work multiple jobs, and you don't have time to go get in trouble when that's happening. And then immigrants know that if they do get convicted of a crime, they're likely to be deported.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

That's right. So they're decent human beings. And you know, one of the bills we put in is one that bans 287 G programs, which you did right when you came in, which is why I love you and have so much respect for you. Because it's not always easy to do the right thing.

SPEAKER_02 17:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:06

And you got a lot of you know what, for doing it. Right. And I have so much respect when you stand for something and you have your values and they're solid. And what this bill does is that it says that we will not allow the 287G uh contracts, which for people that are listening, 287G is a program where the Federal Government deputizes local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws with the R. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_04 17:31

In detention centers and in some cases police. We had it in the detention center here, and and it was a bad deal for county for the county budget.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

That's right.

SPEAKER_04 17:38

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: They were doing ICE's work on our dime. We were sending them for training by ICE down in South Carolina, and they were they were doing it on our dime, and so we ended that.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

But it also creates distrust in the community. You are supposed to trust your law enforcement officers, right? How can you do that when now they are enforcing immigration laws and you and you don't trust them? It's not the right thing to do. So we have to do that.

SPEAKER_04 18:04

And how don't we want people who commit crimes to go through our criminal justice commission and serve time? That's right. That's right. Yeah. That means they'll come back and do it again. That's right. Punish people for their crimes. That's right. Why are people not for that? I don't get it. I don't get it.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

And let's get let's make this clear, Stuart. It's not that by us Democrats supporting those types of bill, that we do not support the police. That's BS.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

Police don't want to be doing that work.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

They don't want to do that work. And it doesn't also mean that when you support those bills, that you want people that commit these heinous crimes to be on our street. No, we want to. If you commit a crime, I want you to do the time. As a former prosecutor, okay, I want you to do the time.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:54

So but again, we twist things and the way things are reported in social media, people get away with writing stuff that they wouldn't tell you in your face.

SPEAKER_04 19:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

But yet they'll write about it.

SPEAKER_04 19:06

Well, thank you for passing that. And then the Trust Act was the follow-up that closed some loopholes, right? Especially when there were sheriffs who said we're not going to implement this and we can't. So you fixed that, right?

SPEAKER_00 19:15

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: We fixed that with a budget. And also, the bill that says that you cannot wear a mask as a law enforcement agent was also very good, and we passed that as well. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:27

People were terrified to have these masked people with guns that are unmarked. We had to actually change for the uniforms for the vests that our officers wear that just said police, now they say anorundal police. Because they showed up saying police. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: That's wonderful. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Yeah. People thought that the ICE officers were police officers, and our police don't want people to confuse the two because our police officers don't do the stuff ICE does. They don't run people over in cars and shoot them.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

That's right. And I as a House leader, I really felt, and so did my members, my caucus. And again, I was I'm a very inclusive leader in a very humble way. I met with my caucus and we discussed things, right, and make sure that people were comfortable, and they were. You know, we really feel that we have to do everything possible to

Health Care Costs And Safety Net

SPEAKER_00 20:17

protect our democracy. And yes, we did a lot regarding affordability for relief for utility bills. We pass uh bills that make our premiums more affordable. Maryland has one of the lowest premium rates in the nation as well. You know, we've done a lot on uh to make sure that people have access to health care. We put money for people that are facing eviction. In our budget, we put money to help the 687,000 people that are receiving SNAP because the Federal government cut it. You know, our budget reflected our values. But we did all of that.

SPEAKER_04 20:55

Yeah, yeah. And you and not just this year. I remember last year you passed a prescription drug affordability bill that created the board to set limits for cost for people.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

Not limits, but what we are able, what we want to, what Maryland wants to pay to be able to negotiate. Right.

SPEAKER_04 21:11

So for State and local government the first year. But then the second year you expanded. Last year you expanded it, right? And so they're just the board has just identified some drugs that are being were being gouged. That's right. And so first it will apply to State and local and save a lot of money, then it will apply to everybody eventually. And it is one of the most important things. It's one of the things that I am so appreciative that you all did. And you were the leader on that, yeah. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: That was my bill.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

And uh Vice Chair Collison also has worked very hard on that. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:40

And I have always believed that government should be judged on the health and the wellness of its residents. And public health is the most important lens through which we can look at all policy. So I know that's where you come from.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Very true, and that's my background. And I feel especially with again, and I hate to go back to the Federal Government with the decisions that are being made at the Federal Government. government regarding vaccine and everything else, that it is the states that are going to lead. And we are blessed to live in Maryland, where Maryland is considered a leader when it comes to many issues, but particularly health care. Trevor Burrus Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:13

Yeah. Okay.

Balancing The Budget Without Drama

SPEAKER_04 22:14

So let's talk budget.

unknown 22:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 22:16

Because I know that is one of the most important things that the State has to do. You have to balance a budget. And I'll tell you what my reaction was to not well this year definitely, last year somewhat as well is, you know, the press is saying it's a crisis, it's a deficit, and it it's uh it's a disaster, and they want to point fingers and blame somebody. No, it's a projection that we need to adjust revenues or spending, one or the other or both, to be able to make it balanced, and that's what you do.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

Trevor Burrus We are required by the Constitution to adjourn with a balanced budget.

SPEAKER_04 22:50

Trevor Burrus And you managed it this year early and with no drama. How did you pull that off?

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Well I found out that years ago there was a fiscal group that was actually the members were the Senate President and the budget committee chairs and DLS and in the House of the House Services, yeah. So I I asked, can we create it? And Senate was in law but it hadn't been implemented. And Senate President Ferguson who I have a good relationship with went ahead and said yes and we started meeting every week and every afternoon on Thursdays and we brought uh um the chairs for the particular committees when we were discussing a certain topic and we negotiated early and the team there as well? We had we talked to the governor as well. You know the governor we have the governor's budget but we stay in touch closely with Jake Weissman the but the secretary. Right. Yeah so that made a difference.

SPEAKER_04 23:54

Yeah. It really did I mean a budget always has things some people don't like especially a budget in a tough year where you have to make some cuts or or not in not do some increases. I think a lot of what people call cuts are we were projecting to increase something and didn't increase it as much as we you know we were planning to but thank you for that too. Thank you for I I I always feel as though people don't run on fiscal responsibility enough. But it is ultimately one of the things the voters care about most. They want to know that their money is being managed well and they're getting a return on their investment, which is the programs. But again the story isn't told the way in a in a balanced way so that destroy somebody thank you we were really intentional about the budget making sure that we didn't raise any taxes.

SPEAKER_00 24:43

We did not we made cuts. It made tough cuts even to the disability budget, right? The disability budget it's a budget that services 19,000 people and it's a budget that five years ago was a little over one point something billion dollars and today it's over three billion dollars. And we needed to make some adjustments um to it. It was tough because we do care. I know I have been a real just strong advocate for the disability community but we needed to make some adjustments. And you know when you talk about being responsible for the dollar right and and and being a good steward of of our money and taxpayers' money we actually passed a package of five bills this session that deal with accountability as you know a lot of the agencies are have audits and those reports come back with some deficiencies and we passed these bills that would address those deficiencies and put things in place to make sure that we're on top of that as

Leading Collectively And Elevating New Chairs

SPEAKER_00 25:54

well. So we were pretty conscientious.

SPEAKER_04 25:57

So can I ask you when you're talking about these bills and and all these things your role as a speaker is is a little bit different, maybe a lot different than when you were committee chair and and a delegate. Broad represent a hundred and there's 141 of us some people think some people accuse the Maryland General Assembly, the Senate and the House of of being run top down. And you know they used to you know Mike Miller and folks who were there a long time and they question how much voice the public has and how much voice some of the individual delegates have. Are you really making all the decisions or how does that work?

SPEAKER_00 26:36

No it's this is a collective effort. And I chose eight amazing chairs. We have seven standing committees and one rules committee and the seven standing committees and I created one additional one because we have not created the last time we created a committee was twenty-five years ago. And I've been here for twenty years so I have been observing and made some changes and implemented selected those people the characteristics I actually did not just select you because you supported me and voted for me. There are people that didn't vote for me that stay with their chairmanship. I was looking for people that were going to be in all honesty hard worker, kind people people that will bring people together people that were not going to be top down and were going to be something like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:38

And I and I mean that I know you do and and it's people have trouble believing that that could be true. They think that it's all about power and that you must be trying to consolidate your power and that everybody in public life is just trying to create power for themselves. And I'm I know you are having talked to you from even before I was a candidate and getting advice for you when I was a candidate that if I were trying to convince you that I should be a chair, I know that I would have to convince you that I was in it for the people and I had good ideas and I would listen to everybody.

SPEAKER_00 28:11

That's right. And that's what I ask that's my only request. Yeah and the people that I selected are those kind they have those attributes and I have a lot of respect for them.

SPEAKER_02 28:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

And um and they're they are amazing people and I chose people that are were overlooked and were have never been given an opportunity some of them an opportunity. I chose more women as well you know out of the six committees that we had there were only two of us that were women chairs. Now you have six out of the eight that are women.

SPEAKER_04 28:42

Yeah and and and with a couple of them from Anna Rundle that were new.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

Uh Sandy Bartlett Judiciary Heather Bagnell and there you know for example Sandy Bartlett that is the Judiciary Committee where they said all and they said all the laws for criminal justice in our state that committee in a hundred and ninety something years Stuart has never had a woman as a chair or a black individual.

SPEAKER_02 29:13

Really?

SPEAKER_00 29:14

Seventy percent of the people incarcerated in the state of Maryland are African American and you don't have someone leading that committee that is from that committee.

SPEAKER_04 29:27

Well and I know Sandy Bartlett and she's amazing regardless of it.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

And look I love the former chair he's my good he I chose him as my speaker pro temp.

SPEAKER_01 29:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 29:37

Uh he's amazing and I have so much respect and he was a great chair but I wanted to give other people opportunities and I explained that to him and others. It's not anything it's not personal. I just want others to grow and have opportunities because I am where I am because I was given an opportunity and I don't take that for granted so as we're looking to next year anything you want to say about next

Next Year’s Budget Headwinds

SPEAKER_00 30:02

session?

SPEAKER_04 30:02

We've got an election between now and then so of course you'll have some different faces.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

So we we do have an election on June 23rd as you know a primary then we have to come together and and come together as a party and work hard for November. But looking at next year's budget I know it's going to be tough. It's tough for many reasons. You know Maryland is a state that is the the uh state that is the most impacted of all 50 states because we're so close to the federal government. Right. But also because the federal cuts but also there's a lot of people that work for the federal government that live in Maryland twenty five more than 25,000 Federal workers that reside in Maryland have lost their jobs. In October loans toward 10,300 people federal workers lost their jobs. That means that we don't have that revenue right that we have to provide services for them as well which we have done.

SPEAKER_04 31:02

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 31:02

So we have a lot of challenges same budget challenges have the blueprint that we have to you know it is funded for this year but it's not funded for next year and we're very committed to education. I'm the poster child of why in education is important, right? Yeah that's investment we can have in our future so we're going to start meeting in June I again I asked for a group between the s the Senate and the governor and myself to come together starting in July to discuss the budget because I don't want to do it in the summer vacation right well in no summer I have not had a day off but this is so important. It's really important to be ready and to do it in a way that is it's a uh intelligent way to do it, that it's inclusive and that we look at all the options and we have to look at health, you know, education, transportation, right? All the different funding formulas we have you know what's working, what's not working and we have to come together and do it early, not a last minute.

Final Thoughts On Kindness

SPEAKER_04 32:06

You know I've got a bunch of things here that I haven't gotten to and we're we're going to have to do this again sometime. We could go on for hours. We have to do that. I know you have to get somewhere we try to end at about thirty minutes. We we're we're already over why don't you have the last word but well before I even say that is just thank you because there are you are an extraordinary combination of toughness and and kindness.

SPEAKER_03 32:26

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 32:27

And those two things together are incredibly powerful so keep on doing what you're doing as far as I'm concerned.

SPEAKER_00 32:33

Thank you for the support and for always being so kind and that is something that we lack today it's just kindness and empathy and I and you have that thank you have that to share a lot of it and I thank you. But yeah you get the last words in the process