ANNAPOLIS — State Sen. Mike McKay said the 2024 Maryland General Assembly ended as one of the busier sessions in recent years, with his colleagues seeing 102 more bills than they did last year.
McKay, a Republican representing Allegany and Garrett counties as well as a portion of Washington County, serves on the Judicial Proceedings Committee in the Senate.
“It was an unusually high number,” McKay said. “There were bills that just didn’t get heard.”
McKay said the time given to witnesses who testify for or against a bill was shortened in some cases.
“Witnesses typically received two minutes, but because of the plethora of bills, in some cases with a lot of witnesses, they reduced it to one minute,” McKay said. “Toward the end of committee there were bills we weren’t going to debate to vote on because we just didn’t have time for it.”
McKay offered updates on several bills that passed and are on the governor’s desk for final approval.
Fast-tracking nursing students
Senate Bill 0718, the Pathways to Nursing Pilot Program, requires the Maryland Secretary of Higher Education to make available grants to agencies assisting prospective nursing students. It also establishes the Maryland Pathway to Nursing Advisory Committee to assist the secretary in the development and implementation of the program.
McKay said the bill impacts rural areas statewide.
“It’s designed to quickly help people get their education and licenses fast-tracked because we need so many nurses in the outlying areas,” said McKay.
“Life happens and we see some drop out before they get their licenses. Some take other jobs because they need to provide for their family. Instead of dropping out, this will help fill the gap and see them complete the nursing certification.
“It provides tuition assistance, loan repayment and education costs. It supports the students in their licensing and practicals for gaining work experience.”
Addiction treatment
Senate Bill 1071, titled Hospital Opioid Overdose and Related Emergency Medical Treatment, is designed to offer overdose patients certain medications and treatment pathways.
“That was a big win,” McKay said.
McKay said the bill permits training in Suboxone as well as any other medications to treat addiction. Suboxone is the brand name for buprenorphine with naloxone, an opioid-receptor blocker that reduces the effect of narcotics.
“In our emergency rooms, if someone goes there and they have had an overdose, the doctors and nurses have not been trained to administer pain medication treatments, so they will just put you together and send you back out (on the street).”
According to McKay, many fall victim to their cravings and overdose again, subsequently returning to the emergency department.
McKay said $500,000, a portion of money gained in the opioid litigation settlement with several large pharmaceutical companies, will be used to train medical professionals in suboxone treatment.
“If you overdose, that is the best time to get you on the right path and get you some mental health treatment. They will direct them to get services once they leave the hospital with the goal that they don’t return to the hospital as an overdose patient.”
Luke/Westernport sanitary system
Senate Bill 0135, which establishes a workgroup to study funding for the Westernport Wastewater Treatment Facility, also passed.
A sanitary system, which serves the communities of Luke and Westernport, was constructed decades ago to process effluent from the former Verso Corp. paper mill in Luke, which closed in 2019.
The industrial-sized wastewater treatment plant is located in Westernport and operated by the Upper Potomac River Commission. Since the paper mill closed, the communities are left with trying to maintain and pay for an enormous industrial system, McKay said.
“The cost of that system is just going to be more than the citizens of Westernport and Luke can sustain,” McKay said.
Although Verso is still subsidizing the system financially, the company will soon discontinue support. The bill established a workgroup to study how the sanitary system can be reduced in size to be a small municipal system.