Click to download a PDF version of this report. 2014MLAWAGENDAFinal

HB 968/SB 753  Labor and Employment – Maryland Earned Sick and Safe Leave Act
This bill would have required employers to allow employees to earn a certain number of annual paid sick and safe days. The safe time component required employers to allow survivors of domestic abuse or sexual assault to use paid sick leave to care for their health after these incidents or seek legal protections or new housing.
Outcome: No action in the Senate Finance Committee or the House Economic Matters Committee.

HB 1026/SB 737  Labor and Employment – Unpaid Parental Leave – Birth or Adoption of a Child
Provides employees a total of 6 workweeks of unpaid parental leave in a 12-month period under specified circumstances. Also includes certain requirements and restrictions on the use of the leave.
Outcome: PASSED the House and Senate.

HB 27/SB 656  Correctional Services – Healthy Births for Incarcerated Women Act
Prohibits the use of physical restraint on an inmate while she is in labor or during delivery except under certain circumstances. Requires the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services and other officials to develop policies for each correctional facility.
Outcome: HB 27 PASSED the House and Senate.

HB 309/SB 334  Family Law – Domestic Violence – Permanent Final Protective Orders
The legislation makes it easier for domestic violence victims to obtain permanent protective orders. The legislation adds the crime of second degree assault to the list of enumerated crimes, a significant change because many domestic violence perpetrators are convicted of second degree assault. As amended, it also alters the language of the law so that the respondent must serve at least 12 months rather than five years of the sentence.
Outcome: PASSED the House and Senate.

HB 307/SB 333  Peace Orders and Protective Orders – Burden of Proof
This bill changes the burden of proof for those seeking final protective and peace orders from “clear and convincing evidence” that abuse has occurred to “preponderance of the evidence.” This is the traditional standard of proof in the civil cases, including matters related to families, and is the standard required in every other state in the country.
Outcome: PASSED the House and Senate.

HB 958/SB 411  Rape Survivor Family Protection Act (Akin’s Law)
This bill would have allowed rape victims who become pregnant as a result of the rape to ask the family law court to end the parental rights of the rapist.
Outcome: Passed the Senate, but no vote in the House Judiciary Committee.

HB 775/SB 41 Protective Orders – Persons Eligible for Relief
This bill would have moved dating violence and sexual assault out of the Peace Order statute and into the protective order statute, by adding an individual who has had a consensual or nonconsensual sexual relationship with the respondent.”
Outcome: Passed the Senate, but no vote in the House Judiciary Committee.