After one fully-charged Lobby Day, dozens of emails and calls and endless passion and commitment, YOU did it – you got the Maryland Healthy Working Families Act (SB 230/HB 172) passed in the House and the Senate! On March 16, the Senate passed SB 230 with 29 votes.

The amount of energy and effort our staff exerted was unprecedented. So many of you stepped up and fought for Paid Sick Leave - and the outcome was nothing short of amazing.  Even in the final hours as the bill was about to be called to a vote, you rapidly responded and reached out to lawmakers in droves. 

A big thank you to everyone who participated - and a special callout to the nurses, constituents and other staff members who jumped in at the last minute to champion Paid Sick Leave as Senators wavered. It’s no doubt that you made a huge impact. In fact, we were able to switch Senators Delores Kelley and Shirley Nathan-Pulliam from a ‘no’ to a ‘yes’ vote. 

Now, we’ve got one final hurdle to overcome. Once the bills are reconciled in both chambers, it goes to Governor Larry Hogan, who has promised to veto the bill if it comes to his desk. While it looks like the bill has a veto-proof majority, anything could happen. We’ll be working with our coalition partners and watching the bill closely to determine where to put our efforts next. In the days ahead, check back on our advocacy alerts to see how you can help make sure the Governor doesn’t backslide on this impressive progress.

And again, thank you for all the hard work you put into pushing this bill forward. It couldn’t have happened without you.