Bills that passed
One of the bills that we opposed, HB1028 cross filed with SB0682, passed. This requires voters to decide if alcohol will be sold on Sundays in Garrett County. Hopefully they will vote yes, but we think that government should not be making religious practice based activity restriction decisions for everyone by citizen vote or by legislation. Religions make distinctions between different days of the week, government lacks sufficient secular justifications for implementing the same distinctions in the laws.
A bill that removes some of the Sunday hunting restrictions in Carroll County, HB0169 cross-filed with SB0219, passed. Two Allegheny County bills that remove some Sunday alcohol sales also passed. These were HB0994 cross-filed with SB0736, and HB0995 cross-filed with SB0878. We prefer that the blue laws be eliminated, but meanwhile we will support each little step that moves us closer to that goal.
A bill applying to Anne Arundel County that, among other things, replaced the sectarian word "church" with the more generic phrase "house of worship", HB0642 cross-filed with SB0033, passed. Although we take no position on the overall bill, we thanked the sponsor of this bill for taking a positive step towards our goal of dropping excessively sectarian language from our laws.
HB1005 cross-filed with SB0848, which requires insurers to cover contraception without fees or prior authorization, passed. Some religious people not only oppose contraception, they also oppose insurance coverage for contraception. Those people can be given an individual opt out, everyone else should not need to opt in.
Bills we opposed that failed
HB0016 allows places of public accommodation to discriminate in providing goods and services to weddings. Although this bill failed, the same provisions were previously written into a different section of the law. We want those provisions to be revoked.
HB0453, HB1213, and HB1343 cross-filed with SB0706, give millions of dollars in tax credits covering 60% or 70% of donations to private schools. If lawmakers want state government funding of private education then we suggest lending privately educated children the same textbooks utilized by public schools and allowing otherwise privately educated children to enroll in a limited number of public school courses.
HB0568 one sidedly allows health provider institutions to forbid employees from providing aid in dying to the terminally ill. We want the laws granting institutions the option to mandate that their employees not provide a health care service to also allow institutions to mandate that their employees provide the same health care service. We will oppose institutional level "freedom of conscience" bills lacking such reciprocity.
HB0603 cross-filed with SB0749 makes unsubstantiated factual assertions about fetal pain perception to justify banning most abortions at 20 weeks. HB1357 prohibits government funding of abortions or insurance that covers abortions.
HB0719 cross-filed with SB0522 gives a special sales tax exemption specifically for Boy Scouts of America which has a no atheists, and no atheist leaning agnostics, membership policy for both youth participants and adult leaders.
HB0955 requires all public schools to allow student prayer at all school sponsored events. Public schools are not free speech forums and prayer should not be privileged over all other speech at public school events.
Bills we supported that failed
HB0316 requires publication of video of government meetings. The videos are useful for understanding the bills.
HB0404 cross-filed with SB0418 makes it legal for doctors to give terminally ill people a prescription of barbiturates that they can self-administer to hasten their deaths. This bill creates procedures to protect the civil rights of health providers and patients.
HB0996 changes Easter Monday from a state wide public school holiday to an optional school district wide public school holiday. We think government closures on religious holidays should occur only when a majority of employees or customers say they will be absent on that day.
SB0948 requires schools receiving government funds to not discriminate.
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