Maryland Budget Action This Week

February 1, 2022

Each year, the Governor’s budget proposal kicks off the state budget decision-making process. The budget proposal. Get the highlights on our blog!

The Maryland General Assembly will review the Governor’s proposal, and then they will make decisions in the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Budget and Taxation Committees. Action kicks off this week with two Subcommittee hearings:

Action opportunity: your testimony about the state budget and making sure your own Delegates and Senators hear from you too

The state budget is a crucial opportunity to get things right for the work of child care and the families counting on us in Maryland. Our state legislators need to hear from us.

We are so glad to see that submitting written testimony online is an option again this year. This means we can be involved right from where we are!

There’s an important rule for sending in written testimony: testimony must be submitted exactly 2 business days before the hearing. So, testimony for the House Subcommittee hearing is submitted on Tuesday, February 1 between 10 AM and 3 PM and testimony for the Senate Subcommittee hearing is submitted on Wednesday, February 2 between 10 AM and 3 PM.

Set up your My GA Account

Please create your free online “My GA” (“GA” means General Assembly) today!  Just fill out this form and click the “register” button: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Account/Register/Tracking

  • Where it asks for an organization, you can list the name of your early childhood program or organization or you can leave it blank.
  • If you created an account in 2021, it will still work this year.
  • If you created an account already but forgot your password, click “Forgot Password” on the left side of the registration page.

Write your testimony – we can help!

Your testimony is a way to tell state legislators what you want them to understand and what you want them to do. It is your story, along with the action step you want them to take. In this case, the testimony is to ask them to do the right thing when it comes to investing state funds in our community.

The Resource Center team is happy to share these samples to help get you started. The samples ask for the same things and have the same prompts, but are addressed differently at the top.

  1. Click here to open this Word document for the House and then save it as a file on your own computer
  2. Click here to open this Word document for the Senate and then save it as a file on your own computer
  3. Click here to open this Word document for a sample letter to your own Delegate and Senator and then save it as a file on your own computer
  4. Add in your name, contact information and a little about your experience, and why their support for state funds for child care are a must-do this session. You’ll see a few places in the sample letters where we suggest you could type that in.
  5. Make any other edits you wish!

Two tips we learned last year about submitting written testimony using My GA:

  • your testimony document needs to be saved as a PDF after you’ve typed it and you’re all finished; and
  • submitting testimony works if you open an internet browser in Chrome or Firefox but did not work for us using Internet Explorer.

For the letters to your own Delegate and Senator, you can look up their names and email addresses here: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Members/District based on your address.

Optional: Advocacy “Office Hours” Wednesday, February 2

Want to work on your testimony together, submit your testimony together to the House and get a plan ready for the Senate, or celebrate teamwork advocacy?

Join the Resource Center Team on Zoom on Wednesday, February 2 between 1:00 and 2:00 PM: https://bit.ly/3u9sblQ

No need to register or sign up. Just pop by if there’s anything we can do to help or to let us know you’ve submitted testimony! We love a virtual high-five.

Mark your calendar:

  • Submit testimony to the House committee using your My GA account between 10 AM and 3 PM on Tuesday, February 1
  • Submit testimony to the Senate committee using your My GA account between 10 AM and 3 PM Wednesday, February 2
  • Join us for Resource Center “advocacy office hours” on Wednesday, February 2 between 1:00 and 2:00
  • Send your letter by email to YOUR State Delegate and YOUR State Senator by Friday, February 4, any time that’s good for you!

If you have questions or ideas, please contact Laura at lterrell@pgcrc.org