The 2021 Legislative Session ends on April 12th
Annapolis, MD (KB) Less than two weeks left of the 2021 Legislative Session in Annapolis.
Frederick County Delegate Jesse Pippy said he is working on a bill, HB1000, that deals with vulnerable adults and children.
“There is a court-appointed guardianship program where, if you have an individual that needs help managing an estate, what this bill does is it ensures that those court-appointed attorneys have to follow certain ethical guidelines to ensure that these vulnerable adults and children are not taken advantage of,” he explained.
Pippy said the General Assembly has addressed a number of important issues this week, including HB409 which involves juveniles who are charged and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
“These offenses are usually first-degree murder, first-degree rape, kidnapping, and sex offenses of minor children,” he said. “And the debate and the legislation that was put forward was to allow these individuals to get out early.”
He gave an example:
“We had a law enforcement officer in Harford County, Amy Caprio, that was essentially murdered by juveniles,” said Pippy. “Legislation like this would allow those individuals to potentially get out early.”
Pippy noted it’s unfortunate a bill like this passed.
Pippy also spoke to this week’s update in the House version of the police reform bill, calling it “terrible.”
“The restrictions they put in there, they take away protections from law enforcement, they completely re-wrote all the rules pertaining to how to get a warrant,” he explained. “This severely impacts public safety in Maryland. The Senate’s version is much more moderate. Right now, there is tremendous debate on which version they are going to move forward, and that’s kind of where we are in that process.”
The 2021 General Assembly ends on April 12th, 2021.