By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
As the 2025 Maryland General Assembly went into its second week, Chairwoman Del. Jheanelle Wilkins (D-District 20) led the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland (LBCM) in unveiling its legislative priorities. The proposed bills cover a variety of topics including wealth building and improving public safety.
During the press conference, Wilkins addressed the governor’s newly proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget.
“We did see that in the budget introduced yesterday that there was a funding change that would halt the funding for community schools,” said Wilkins on Jan. 16 in Annapolis, Md. “That really would impact the 585 community schools that are estimated to be up and running in 2025, mostly in the districts and communities represented by LBCM members. We look forward to working together to reverse that cut, to make sure that the students who are most in need are getting that funding.”
Though there’s tension when it comes to the blueprint, Wilkins assured attendees that the “governor continues to be our close partner.”
Education
The caucus’ top legislative priorities for education include protecting the integrity of the blueprint, reducing chronic absenteeism and strengthening restorative practices–an approach to teaching that encourages behaviour that is supportive and respectful, and focuses on resolving conflict, repairing harm and healing relationships;
“Maryland has the opportunity to strengthen restorative practices, which helps address the disciplining our Black children and close achievement gaps,” said Del. Bernice Mireku-North (D-District 14). “In addition, no matter how critical our measures are that we’re seeking to pass to support our students, none of it works if our students are not in the classroom. Our prioritization is seeking to reduce chronic absenteeism across the state.”
Mireku-North also acknowledged LBCM’s desire to diversify the teacher workforce.
“The teaching workforce in Maryland has persistently been White as our students are getting more diverse,” she said. “Over the last 10 years, just about 30 percent of our Maryland teachers have been teachers of color. The Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact will seek to address that problem by reducing the barriers to teacher employment, by allowing licensed teachers participating in the states involved in this compact to be qualified to be licensed to teach in Maryland.
“Our inclusion in the compact will further increase diversity among our teachers without losing our autonomy to impose state-specific requirements for our teachers,” she continued.
Wealth
Several of LBCM’s priorities include wealth-building opportunities that could especially benefit Black Marylanders. Those opportunities include creating a commission to study reparation proposals for African Americans in Maryland, supporting Gov. Wes Moore’s (D) Procurement Reform Act of 2025 and Maryland’s small business development fund expansion.
“The forthcoming legislation will create a commission addressing an issue that is both historic and urgent,” said Del. Aletheia McCaskill (D-District 44B). “For far too long, our communities endured the profound consequences of unacknowledged, systematic economic exploitation and physical mistreatment. This treatment – rooted in the legacy of slavery, segregation and discriminatory practices – has left lasting scars that have yet to be adequately addressed.”
“We have not undertaken any major statewide attempts to acknowledge or make amends for these historic injustices,” she continued. “The commission will carefully examine and evaluate a range of reparation proposals that will not only consider financial restoration restitution but will also explore strategies to support and uplift vulnerable communities.”
Del. N. Scott Phillips (D-District 10) discussed legislation that will further the caucus’ continual commitment to ensuring Black-owned businesses have the opportunities they need to succeed.
“For Black-owned businesses, we know access to capital is a barrier to entry and a barrier to growth,”
said Phillips. “In 1978, Maryland created the Maryland Small Business Development Finance Authority. Its purpose is to provide financing and economic support to small businesses that may not qualify for traditional loans or financing. The agency primarily focuses on helping businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged entrepreneurs, ensuring that they have access to the resources necessary to establish, sustain and grow their businesses.”
Phillips explained that proposed legislation will provide greater flexibility in the small business development fund and increase its ability to provide loan guarantees to commercial banks to lend to disadvantaged entrepreneurs.
“This will reduce the funds risk and increase the participation of commercial banks lending to small businesses in Maryland,” said Phillips. “This will increase opportunities for Black-owned businesses to secure funding for growth.”
Public safety and justice reform
The caucus will continue to focus on public safety and justice reform through many pieces of legislation, including a traffic stops bill, Eric‘s ID law and several expungement expansion bills.
“The first one is entitled ‘Safer Traffic Stops for All,’” said Del. Debra Davis (D-District 28), chair of the LBCM criminal justice subcommittee. “When passed, this bill would limit non-safety related traffic stops in Maryland. Violations like expired registrations, expired inspections, expired emissions or something hanging from your mirror…they are not an effective way to reduce road safety or fight crime.”
She also highlighted Eric’s ID Law, which would notify law enforcement during traffic stops that the driver may react differently to verbal instructions due to a non-visible disability, like autism.
Del. Malcolm Ruff (D-District 41) spoke on the package of expungement bills that will be introduced during the 2025 session.
“We know we live in a state that incarcerates the most 18-25-year-old Black men in the country, above Alabama and Mississippi. That is a narrative that cannot exist in a blue state, a progressive state and the state with the largest Black caucus in the country, ” said Malcolm Ruff. “The automatic expungement bill, which is championed by Del. David Moon (D-District 20), seeks to automatically expunge eligible convictions and there are numerous types of convictions that are eligible. If they are eligible by law, they will be automatically expunged by that bill.”
“The good cause expungement bill…allows anyone to petition the courts for expungement,” said Ruff.
Housing
Legislative initiatives on housing include banning the box on housing applications, good cause evictions and fair housing testing. All three bills are being re-introduced this session.
“The Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland will continue to combat housing discrimination and unfair housing practices,” said Del. Kym Taylor (D-District 23).
Taylor said she was “particularly excited about our new bill that seeks to address appraisal bias.”
“The first is legislation that seeks to mimic the Veterans Administration’s Tidewater initiative, which provides a reconsideration of value process for VA home loans,” she said. “Another recommendation is to have newly built home sales input in the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) or another publicly available portal, to ensure these new home sales can serve as comps.”
Health
Health bills prioritized by the caucus in 2025 include legislation that would expand the Prescription Drug Affordability Board’s authority, create a health equity data dashboard and safeguard federal and state healthcare protections.
“The Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland is pleased to support the legislative effort to expand the authority of Maryland’s first-ever in the nation Prescription Drug Affordability Board,” said Del. Jennifer White Holland (D-District 10).
Holland said the board is currently “poised to take action to make prescription drugs more affordable for state and local governments,” but they hope it will be expanded to “ensure that all Marylanders are able to see relief from the rising and skyrocketing costs of medications, which we know is even more significantly felt among Black Marylanders.”
Holland said they “will be focused on addressing cardiovascular health this year” and “will also be keenly focused, as we have in previous years, around eliminating health disparities.”
In part, that can be done through the proposed health equity dashboard.
“We desire to improve how we track, how we report and how we disseminate our data as it relates to health equity, to ensure that we better inform our public health intervention programs and policies,” she said.