In a whirlwind week of events threatening a tsunami of evictions and homelessness, activists urged the state government to protect renters against eviction as courts re-opened, a federal judge voided national tenant protections (and then reinstated them) and yesterday (Thursday, May 6) executives of the state's biggest population centers jointly urged Gov. Larry Hogan to stop Maryland courts from enforcing evictions when tenants were often unable to appear in the newly opened courts to defend themselves. See more in this blog post.
The advocacy group Progressive Maryland has launched a new political action committee to elect progressive Democrats in races for the General Assembly and local offices, as Maryland Matters recounts below.The New Era PAC's inaugural virtual fundraiser on Saturday was keynoted by Benjamin T. Jealous, the 2018 Democratic nominee for governor and current president of the national civil rights group People For The American Way, who spoke at the even
“This is not a time for ‘play-it-safe’ politics,” Jealous wrote in an email invitation to the event. “In Maryland, just like in our country as a whole, we are in a new age, filled with unprecedented challenges and unprecedented opportunities, ready to be met and seized with bold, progressive leadership.”
A Session like no other. We focus on the good, but yield to the urge to mention some bads and some uglies. As legislators often say, “it takes three years to get a good bill through the General Assembly. A bad bill takes only one year.” 
Maryland Coalition for Justice & Police Accountability (MJCPA), advocates and individuals impacted by police brutality, celebrate the successful organizing that has advanced police transparency and accountability, but say Maryland’s historic police reform package still does not meet the moment. That moment -- when George Floyd's memory is being defiled by the desperate defense of Derek Chauvin while more Black people die at police hands in seemingly every news cycle -- required more from our Assembly than they delivered, and will require more from Progressive Maryland activists and allies to meet these still-dangerous moments coming every day.
We need to prepare for the next phase and push for COVID relief and for healthcare for all. Please come to the 
Spending for social needs, which was pretty much on hold during the Trump administration, is back on the table this spring and suddenly the schedule is everything. In an excellent roundup from People's Action's campaigns director Sondra Youdelman, we see that timelines for work in the House and Senate are complicated by juggling both the Biden admin's budget, which has huge increases for education, health and the environment, and the big infrastructure bill, which demonstrates how social needs and the transportation, power grid and broadband deficiencies are deeply intertwined. Activists are going to have to learn fast and follow the back-and-forth of events almost daily to know when to put our muscle to work to keep this legislation oriented toward people and not corporations and the rich.
From the Diamondback student newspaper, a bill passed this week by House and Senate in the General Assembly is favored by a union organizing workers at numerous campuses because it would enable one master agreement with the University System of Maryland.