Newly elected state lawmakers to hold public hearing Saturday

Jack Hogan, The Frederick News-Post, Md.
·3 min read

Dec. 1—The newly elected members of Frederick County's delegation to the Maryland General Assembly are scheduled to hold a public meeting Saturday to hear from county officials and members of the public before the legislative session.

The meeting will be at Winchester Hall at 12 E. Church St. in Frederick at 10 a.m. The delegation members have a meeting at Winchester Hall around this time each year before the start of the 90-day session in Annapolis.

All but one of the 15 Frederick County delegation members have said they plan to attend the meeting, said Del. Ken Kerr, the delegation's vice chair.

Del. April Rose, one of three delegates elected to represent District 5 — which covers parts of Frederick and Carroll counties — cannot attend because of a family commitment, Kerr said.

Two lawmakers, District 5 Sen. Justin Ready and District 4 Sen.-elect William "Bill" Folden, plan to participate in the meeting virtually.

Below is a list of the 15 Frederick County delegation members. They are expected to be sworn into office at noon on Jan. 11, the first day of the legislative session.

District 2 (Frederick and Washington counties)

— Sen. Paul Corderman, R

Subdistrict 2A

— Del.-elect William "Bill" Valentine, R

— Del. William Wivell, R

District 3

— Sen.-elect Karen Lewis Young, D

— Del. Ken Kerr, D

— Del.-elect Karen Simpson, D

— Del.-elect Kris Fair, D

District 4

— Sen.-elect William "Bill" Folden, R

— Del. Jesse Pippy, R

— Del.-elect April Miller, R

— Del. Barrie Ciliberti, R

District 5 (Frederick and Carroll counties)

— Sen. Justin Ready, R

— Del. April Rose, R

— Del.-elect Christopher Eric Bouchat, R

— Del.-elect Chris Tomlinson, R

At the start of the meeting, the delegation members will elect a new chair, who will be responsible for running meetings and be the voice for the delegation in Annapolis. They will also elect a vice chair, who will assist the chair with those responsibilities.

Before the legislature voted in the 2022 session to redraw the state's legislative districts following the release of the 2020 U.S. Census, the county's delegation had eight members.

For the last four years, the delegation had four Democrats and four Republicans, and each delegation member served for one year as either the chair or vice chair. Such an arrangement would be more complicated with 15 delegation members, Kerr said.

During Saturday's meeting, the delegation members are scheduled to hear from county officials about the legislative package from the county executive and County Council. Representatives from the Frederick County Board of Education and the Frederick County liquor board are also expected to outline their legislative requests, Kerr said.

There will be a public comment period, too.

The meeting can be seen on FCG TV (cable channels 19 and 1085) and by streaming from FrederickCountyMD.gov/FCGTV.

People may call into the meeting by dialing 855-925-2801 and entering meeting code 9446. To watch live with closed captions that can be translated into more than 100 languages, go to PublicInput.com/KW1745.

A recording of the meeting will be available on the Frederick County government's website in the FCG TV video archive, FrederickCountyMD.gov/video.

Follow Jack Hogan on Twitter: @jckhogan