By Nicky Wolcott and Christine Zhu, Capital Information Service
Every year, as much as 188 state lawmakers spend three months in Annapolis for the Maryland Normal Meeting’s session.
The 2023 session noticed a gaggle of legislators that was extra consultant of the state when it comes to race, gender, get together affiliation and age than a decade in the past, based on a Capital Information Service evaluation.
However underrepresented teams nonetheless face challenges within the state capital on the subject of getting their legislative priorities by way of.
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Race and Ethnicity
The Maryland Normal Meeting has step by step develop into extra various lately.
Roughly 57.8% of Maryland residents are white, based on 2022 U.S. Census estimates. The legislative physique isn’t fairly proportionate with 61.2% of 2023 politicians figuring out as white, but it surely’s a lot nearer than the 74.5% in 2014.
The share of Black lawmakers is near the final inhabitants: 33% of the state legislature identifies as Black, as does 31.4% of the general public.
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Prior to now decade, the variety of Asian legislators has not reached double digits. The 9 Asian lawmakers in 2023 make up 4.8% of the Normal Meeting, however 6.9% of Maryland’s inhabitants identifies as Asian.
The Division of Legislative Providers breaks down race into Caucasian, African-American, Asian and different. It doesn’t take ethnicity or Hispanic origin into consideration.
The Maryland Legislative Latino Caucus, nonetheless, retains monitor. Its membership has fluctuated all through its 9 years of existence however remained below 10, with seven within the present yr — 3.7% of the Normal Meeting.
About 11.1% of the Maryland inhabitants identifies as Hispanic or Latino, based on 2022 U.S. Census estimates.
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Latino Caucus Chair Del. David Fraser-Hidalgo advocates for electrical buses at a rally in entrance of the State Home on Feb. 22, 2022. (Christine Zhu/Capital Information Service)
Govt director Madelin Martinez stated the underrepresentation doesn’t cease on the legislative stage; it’s current in native authorities and colleges as effectively.
Training and healthcare entry are the caucus’ prime priorities. To cross laws, members search for similarities throughout cultures.
“Poverty is throughout all races,” Martinez informed Capital Information Service. “It’s a standard denominator for lots of our communities, so simply attempt to discover that frequent floor.”
Gender
The variety of ladies within the Maryland Normal Meeting has elevated by nearly 13% over the past decade, with 80 ladies serving throughout each chambers this yr in comparison with 56 in 2014.
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42.7% of the 2023 state legislature consists of ladies regardless of them making up 51.3% of Maryland’s inhabitants, based on 2022 U.S. Census estimates.
Valerie Graham, govt director of the Ladies Legislators in Maryland, stated ladies lawmakers are likely to introduce extra payments about points regarding ladies, and that underrepresentation within the state capital makes it tougher to advocate for these issues.
“The ladies which are right here should work actually exhausting simply to get their priorities by way of,” Graham informed Capital Information Service.
Graham stated the caucus had three fundamental coverage areas for this yr’s session: financial points, well being care, and prison justice reform.
To perform these objectives, ladies within the Maryland Normal Meeting should advocate for a slight majority of the state’s inhabitants as a minority within the state legislature.
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“The Ladies’s Caucus in Maryland is now over 50 years outdated,” Graham informed Capital Information Service. “There’s been unbelievable, extraordinary development in what ladies do on the state stage and the way they make their influence and advocate for themselves and for his or her constituents.”
Celebration
The Republican get together noticed positive factors in each chambers of the Maryland Normal Meeting through the 2014 normal election, when Maryland elected Larry Hogan as its second Republican governor since 1970.
The get together’s been barely overrepresented in comparison with its voter registration over the previous decade, however that modified after the 2022 election.
Republicans signify solely 23.9% of registered voters within the state, however 30.7% of voters registered as one of many two fundamental events are affiliated with the GOP, based on the state elections board’s February 2023 voter registration statistics.
The Republican get together noticed its proportion of lawmakers within the Normal Meeting drop beneath 30.7% for the primary time since 2014 within the present session.
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The variety of GOP legislators fell to a complete of 52 in 2023 — the bottom variety of Republicans throughout each chambers since 2010.
The lower in Republican state politicians coincided with Moore’s election in 2022, restoring the Democrats’ trifecta of management within the Home, Senate and governorship.
Republicans haven’t held a majority in both chamber in additional than a century, and the get together is now underrepresented within the Maryland Normal Meeting in comparison with the make-up of Democratic and Republican registered voters within the state.
Home Minority Chief Jason Buckel, R-Allegany, stated it’s develop into even tougher for the Republican get together to cross laws regarding its priorities, equivalent to crime and the financial system, with the decline in GOP lawmakers and the absence of a Republican governor.
“There are points and moments the place we work effectively and work in direction of compromise with the Democratic supermajority and their management, and there are moments and points the place we really feel like there’s not sufficient consideration given to compromise,” Buckel informed Capital Information Service.
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Age
There are extra Maryland Normal Meeting members below age 50 in 2023 than some other yr previously decade.
The age of legislators usually shifts following election years. Whereas the variety of lawmakers between the ages of 20 and 34 rose by simply 4 after the 2018 election, these above age 65 dropped from 63 to 39 for the 2019 legislative session.
Dels. Joe Vogel, D-Montgomery, and Jeffrie Lengthy Jr., D-Calvert and Prince George’s, made historical past final November once they turned the primary Gen Z politicians elected to the Maryland Normal Meeting.
Each males turned 26 between Election Day and the beginning of the 2023 legislative session.
Vogel is the youngest present member of the Normal Meeting. He stated he sees his age as an asset and ran on a marketing campaign with multigenerational help.
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“I’m not simply combating for younger folks, I’m combating for folks of all ages,” he informed Maryland Issues in November.
Del. Joe Vogel through the Home’s flooring session on March 30, 2023. (Christine Zhu/Capital Information Service)
In the course of the earlier election cycle, Sen. Sarah Elfreth, D-Anne Arundel, earned the title because the youngest lady to serve within the higher chamber at age 30.
She known as age variety a “particular energy” to the state legislature as a result of it brings about totally different views and experiences.
“The entire level of the Normal Meeting is to have a consultant physique,” Elfreth informed Maryland Issues in November.
Michigan State football heads out east looking to open Big Ten play with a big-time victory.
The Spartans will play at Maryland on Saturday afternoon in their first conference game of the year. Michigan State enters this matchup with a 1-0 record on the year following last week’s win over Florida Atlantic. Maryland is also 1-0 thus far on the season, picking up a blowout non-conference win over UConn last week.
Maryland enters this game as a more than touchdown favorite depending on the sports book. The Terps have won the last two meetings between these two schools.
Below are the details for Saturday’s matchup between the Spartans and Terps:
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Game time: 3:30 p.m. ET on September 7
Location: SECU Stadium (College Park, Md.)
TV: Big Ten Network
Live Stream: fuboTV (try it free)
Listen: Spartan Media Network or MSUSpartans.com
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Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on Twitter @RobertBondy5.
Suicide is the third leading cause of death for young people between the ages of 10 and 24 in Maryland. That’s according to a new suicide prevention action plan produced through the state’s Department of Health.
Suicide is the third leading cause of death for young people between the ages of 10 and 24 in Maryland. That’s according to a new suicide prevention action plan produced through the state’s Department of Health.
Scott Poland, the director of the Office of Suicide and Violence Prevention at Nova Southeastern University College of Psychology, talked to WTOP about the action plan he authored with his wife, Donna, who is a career educator.
The “Maryland Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in K-12 Schools” serves as a reference guide to school administrators and the community, and was developed in cooperation with the state health department’s Office of Suicide Prevention.
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Poland said one thing that surprises people is that children as young as 8 years old may consider taking their own lives.
“I hear from school personnel all around the country (asking if they) have to take it seriously (if a fourth or fifth grader is talking about suicide). And the answer is absolutely yes,” Poland said.
Among the data points in the action plan is a survey of students in the “Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey of 2021/2022.” According to that survey, 21% of high school students “seriously considered suicide” in the past year, and 27% of middle schoolers considered suicide at some point in their lives.
Poland said it’s important to talk about suicide with young people, and that the idea that talking about it might encourage a young person to consider suicide is a “myth.”
“When we actually bring it up, it gives someone a chance to unburden themselves, to realize that they’re not alone, that there are alternatives and that there is help available,” Poland said.
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But he said young people are most susceptible to imitating suicidal behavior: “It is important that we not glorify the suicide victim.”
Instead, Poland said, the emphasis after a suicide should be on healing those affected and helping them find appropriate ways to deal with their emotions and mental health.
The plan released this week includes providing intervention action plans for a young person who may be considering suicide.
“Part of that, of course, is removing lethal means and developing a written safety plan with them,” he said.
Poland said that can include helping people understand “the importance of calling 988, doing things that can calm themselves down,” and reaching out to the nearest trusted adult.
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People can reach the national resource for crisis response services and suicide prevention by dialing 988.
Poland said social media is “wreaking havoc” on children’s emotional well-being, often making them feel “not smart enough, not rich enough, not good enough.” Poland said he’s currently working with the state of South Dakota on developing tools to help “young people be a little more mindful and make better decisions about their screen time.”
Poland said parents can help — when it comes to the hours and hours that many people spend online — by modeling healthy amounts of screen time themselves. And he said adults need to think about how they introduce technology to their kids.
“We’re in too (much of) a hurry to give kids smartphones and 24-hour internet access,” Poland said.
“I really have to compliment Maryland,” Poland said, on coming up with the new plan.
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Poland said Maryland does not have an especially high rate of suicide, but “I think we all recognize that losing one young person to suicide is one too many.”
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