Legislative Session
Quaker Voice invites you to join us in advocating during the 2025 legislative session.
Priority topics, bills, and partners:
Climate & Environment
Abundant Affordable Clean Energy | RENEW Act | Reclaim Renewable Energy Act | Maryland Bottle Bill
Partnering with MD League of Conservation Voters, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Choose Clean Water Coalition, and Sierra Club
Criminal Justice
Geriatric-Medical Parole | Juvenile Court - Jurisdiction | Reducing use of solitary / restrictive housing
Partnering with Maryland Alliance for Justice Reform (MAJR) and Interfaith Action for Human Rights (IAHR)
Protections for Immigrants
Maryland Data Privacy Act | Protecting Sensitive Locations Act | Ending 287(g) Agreements
Partnering with CASA Maryland and other faith-based groups
Access to Housing
Good Cause Eviction (actively advocating) | Housing for Jobs Act (actively educating)
Partnering with Renter's United Movement (RUM) and Maryland Just Power Alliance
Action Alert - Do you have a representative on a key committee?
This week (3/10 - 3/14) we are asking our f/Friends with representatives on key committees to send an email ASAP (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday) to urge our priority bills to be scheduled for a vote before March 17th!
Status on Quaker Voice Priority Bills: All of our bills have had committee hearings, but only one has been scheduled for a vote. Committee Chairs schedule bills for voting after the bills committee hearing and before Cross-Over Day on March 17th. Bills must get voted out of their assigned committee to make it to the next step of possibly becoming a law. Bills that don’t get scheduled for a vote before Cross-Over Day are held back from making it to the next step.
How to Take Action:
(1) Know your district and representatives. You can you the “Look up” button to search by your address to figure out what your district is and who your representatives (Senator, Delegates) are.
(2) Check the key committee member list for Quaker Voice. Do you see your representative on one of these committees?
Senate – Education, Energy and the Environment
Senate – Judicial Proceedings
House – Economic Matters
House – Environment and Transportation
House – Judiciary
(3) Use the committee links in the Action Alert Instructions to jump to instructions on how to send an email! We are only having people with representatives on the committee sending emails – to act you need to have a representative on one of these five committees.
Contact Quaker Voice if you have any questions on how to take action! Quakervoicemd@gmail.com
List of House & Senate committees, including membership, that will be considering our priority bills.
Quick reference for priority bills, what they are about, and resources where you can learn more.
Quick links to testimony submitted by Quaker Voice of Maryland to support priority bills.
Bill Progress Updates & Upcoming Events
Week 10 (3/10 - 3/14)
Last full week before Cross-over Day on March 17th! So far ONE BILL - Geriatric-Medical Parole (SB181) has been voted favorable (with amendments) out of committee - yay! The goal is to have ALL of our bills voted on this week!
Call to Action - Email your representatives to support our priority bills if they are a member of key committees - Check out the Action Alert (above) to learn who your representatives are, whether they are members of key committees for our priority bills, and - if so - how you can send a supportive email for our bills!
Excited to advocate, but still would appreciate some guidance? Friendly Persuasion Learning and Sharing workshops will continue this week. Individual and small group session will be scheduled as needed, upon request. These sessions will focus on preparing and submitting testimony, tracking bill progress, follow-up advocacy, and other topics as requested. Send an email to erinn (at) campmansour (dot) com to schedule a session time that works for you! (A link will be sent to you when you schedule the session.)
Check out our calendar for all upcoming testimony due dates, bill hearings, and events.
Priority Bill Tracking Sheet
The sheet below includes a tab for each of our priority topics: Climate & Environment, Criminal Justice, Protections for Immigrants, and Access to Housing. Scroll across the sheet to learn about committees and bill progress - including upcoming hearings! - and links to advocacy and education resources. This sheet is updated weekly between Jan. - April.
Quick Link Resources for Advocacy Work:
Not sure how to use the Maryland General Assembly website? Want to sign up for witness testimony or submit written testimony? Need tips for monitoring bills? Check out these great videos offered by Friendly Persuasions!
Check out this Guidelines document created by the Maryland Association of Counties; helpful information includes when testimony is due broken down by Senate and House committees.