Frederick County Drafting 2021 Legislative Package

The Council is being asked for its ideas.                                                                                                    

 

Frederick, Md (KM) The Frederick County Council is being asked for its input into a proposed Legislative Package for 2021. The job of crafting this “wish list” is that of the County Executive, who has been soliciting ideas from the municipalities and 80 civic and government organizations.

During a meeting on Tuesday, Councilwoman Jessica Fitzwater asked that she  and her colleagues be provided with letters and policies from citizens that didn’t make it into the final legislative package. “They might not be the right thing for Frederick County. They might not be the right thing for that particular session,” she said. “But it still might good information for us just know what’s interesting that’s out there.”

“We always provide you with the statements from wherever we get them from,” responded Joy Schaefer, the Director of Government Affairs for the county. “When I come back to you again and when you look at the packet for the final time, you’ll get  the entire packet of all of the input we’ve received. We have to put that together for the town hall.”

The town hall on the 2021 Legislative Package is scheduled for Thursday, October 8th at 7:00 PM. A location has yet to be determined.

Councilman Steve McKay says he will resubmit a bill for the upcoming session which calls for special elections to fill vacancies on the Board of Education. “The Council supported that last year. The Executive supported that last year. The Delegation supported that last year. And then it ran into a combination some politics in Annapolis unrelated to that bill, and then the whole truncated COVID schedule,:” he said.

The Council has until September 29th to present its ideas for the Legislative Package.

The package is expected to be finalized by  the first week of November, and then there’s a meeting with the Frederick County Delegation Scheduled for Wednesday, November 18th at 12:00 noon.

The Delegation will hold its own public hearing on Saturday, December 5th. No time or location has been determined.

The first day of the 2021 Maryland General Assembly is scheduled for Wednesday, January 13th beginning at 12:00 noon.

 

By Kevin McManus