Frederick County Lawmaker Says Violent Crime Will Be A Big Issue During General Assembly

He also says the economy is another issue.Frederick County Delegate Jesse Pippy (Photo from Maryland General Assembly)Annapolis, Md (KM) The economy and the budget will be important issues during the 2024 Maryland General Assembly which gaveled into session last week. That’s according to Frederick County Delegate Jesse Pippy. “We have a situation now where the State  of Maryland has a budget deficit  so there’s going to be some significant cuts to various funding programs throughout the state,” he says. “One of those issues is there was cuts to funding to Route 15.”Early last year, the Governor proposed cutting $26-million in construction funding  for the widening of US Route 15 from Interstate 70 to Route 26.   Design funding is already in place.Pippy says another big issue is expected to be crime, particularly violent crime. “We’re hoping this year that we can do some common sense legislation addressing crime,”: he says. “There’s an uptick violence crime,  more specifically an uptick in violence crime among juveniles.”He  says there needs to an adjustment to Maryland’s laws so that communities are safe, and offenders are held accountable.  The Delegate  noted that last year, legislation was introduced which said that anyone under the age of 13 cannot be charged with a crime at all.   But Pippy said some juveniles have been committing violent carjackings. “The juvenile justice system is a complicated one. It’s more focused on rehabilitation rather than punitive measures. But at the end of the day, we have a responsibility to keep citizens safe in Maryland,” he says.As a Republican, Pippy says he has worked with Democratic majority in the House of Delegates  to get legislation passed, and he hopes he can do that when it comes to addressing violent crime. He says the Democratic leadership has expressed an interest in dealing with this issue. “What we’ve seen with the Governor, and the Speaker and even the Senate President have all indicated that this is an area that we need to move the needle. And we’re hoping we can work well with them and do just that,” he says.The 90-day Maryland General Assembly adjourns sine die on Monday, April 8th, 2024 at midnight.By Kevin McManus