The day after the Maryland General Assembly concluded its 2024 session, Calvert County’s local government officials were able to savor some significant accomplishments.
“This year we did very well with our legislative effort,” Commissioner President Earl F. “Buddy” Hance (R) said.
The board president thanked “all those who were involved” in making sure the state lawmakers were aware of Calvert’s request for authority to enact a local preference procurement policy.
“This was our third session trying to get that local bill passed,” Hance said. “We could not have done it without the support of the minority business community, the chamber of commerce and all those others that testified, and participated in the process.”
“For too long businesses in Calvert County have lost opportunities to those outside by a small margin due to the absence of local preference,” Kathryn Maney, Calvert County Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, told members of the House of Delegates Health and Government Operations Committee during a February hearing in Annapolis.
Maney said giving the commissioners the ability to enact a local preference for contracts would give Calvert’s businesses “a chance at a level playing field so they can prosper in the place where they work hard, play hard, raises their families and spend their money”
“Other counties in Maryland have preference procurement policies,” Edsel Brown Jr. of the Southern Maryland Minority Chamber of Commerce told the committee, adding that such a policy could “stimulate growth by supporting local vendors.”
“Millions of contracts go outside our county, and go outside our state,” Mark Frisco, a Calvert chamber board member testified. “This is a no brainer. We should be keeping dollars in our backyard.”
The governor must sign the measure, which would then become law July 1.
Following Tuesday’s meeting of the county commissioners, John Norris, the county attorney, affirmed that a public hearing would have to be held before a local preference ordinance may be enacted in Calvert.
Another successfully passed local bill prohibits roadside solicitation in Calvert County. If signed by the governor it would take effect Oct. 1. Like the local preference bill, the roadside solicitation ban was sponsored by the Calvert County delegation.
The measure makes it illegal for anyone to stand in a roadway, median or intersection and solicit money or donations from the occupants of a vehicle. A maximum fine of $500 could be levied and any violators could face as much as 60 days in jail.
Charles County currently has such a bill. The measure was supported by Calvert County State’s Attorney Robert H. Harvey (R).
Hance said legislation requested by Calvert Citizens United related to the county’s ethics code also passed.
In a letter to the chair of the House Environment and Transportation Committee, Susan Dzurec of Calvert Citizens United noted the bill had “unanimous bipartisan support of the Southern Maryland Delegation and the Calvert County Commissioners.”
To the same committee chair, in a letter signed by all five Calvert County commissioners acknowledged the bill adds “the penalty of removal of a county elected official” in cases where the ethics code is deemed to have been violated.
“We base our support of this legislation upon the proposition that public trust should never be jeopardized,” the commissioners stated.
As part of his remarks during Tuesday’s meeting, Hance thanked county staff for helping handle a “little legislative hiccup” a few days before the end of the legislative session.
The incident Hance was referring to was the subject of a “media statement” that was issued April 4 by the county government’s communications and media relations department.
The missive noted an amendment to Senate Bill 1, titled “Electricity and Gas, Retail Supply, Regulation and Consumer Protection,” would ban the establishment of a data center located near the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Lusby. Such action could eliminate a possible 1,000 jobs and result in a revenue loss to the county, the media statement said.
On Tuesday, county government officials confirmed the proposed amendment was withdrawn prior to the end of the session.
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