Legislative Priorities

2023 Legislative Priorities

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The Maryland Federation of Republican Women is committed to empowering women from all backgrounds to take an active role in political, governmental and civic arenas.  With more than 1,400 members statewide, we are the strongest unified group of voting women in Maryland.

ECONOMY – ENERGY

• Balanced energy policies that provide citizens multiple, reliable and affordable energy choices.
• Repeal annual Consumer Price Index increases to Maryland’s motor fuel tax.
• Equal consideration/fair share allocation of transportation, construction and maintenance costs – electric vehicles vs. gas and diesel vehicles.

EDUCATION

The Blueprint for the Future adds extra layers of bureaucratic control and does not require that students perform at grade level in reading and math.  It limits parental involvement and does not require parental consent for education, social and health services.

• SUPPORT
  1. Education reform — Every child performing at grade level in reading and mathematics.

The 2022 NAEP results showed only 31% of Maryland 4^th graders scored at or above the proficient level in reading and mathematics, and only 25% of 8^th graders scored as proficient in mathematics and 31 percent as proficient in reading.

1. School choice (vouchers, charter schools, home schooling).
2. Girls’ competitive sports limited to biological girls in accordance with Title IX requirements.

Transgender girls are biological males with an unfair competitive advantage (disproportional muscle mass, etc.).

• OPPOSE Critical Race Theory (CRT) and its tenets in Maryland Public Schools’ curriculum, policies or teaching methods.
  1. Teaches children they are either oppressed or are oppressors because of their skin color.
  2. Promotes separation by race and justifies new racial discrimination to compensate for past discrimination.
• OPPOSE teaching, counseling or promoting gender transition in schools, including agreements between Boards of Education and hospitals or clinics for “gender-affirming” counseling, treatments or surgeries for children under 18 years of age.

ELECTION INTEGRITY   

• SUPPORT
  1. Government-issued photo ID requirement for voter registration and voting
  2. Vote count accuracy and security

• OPPOSE
  1. Ranked choice voting
  2. Ballot harvesting

PUBLIC SAFETY — Support for law enforcement and safety in our communities.

• Increase training for police officers in non-lethal methods of restraint and control of individuals or groups, including training for de-escalating tense or potentially violent demonstrations.
• Develop and implement effective tests for drug intoxication, distinct from alcohol intoxication.
• Strengthen penalties for demonstrators who:
  1. Physically attack bystanders, police or other protesters
  2. Set fires and/or destroy private or public property with graffiti or physical destruction
  3. Participate in looting and theft during protests, demonstrations and riots
  4. Use lasers or projectiles (e.g., frozen water bottles, gasoline-bottles, rocks) with the intent to obstruct or harm others.

RESPECT FOR LIFE

• SUPPORT
  1. Protection for pain-capable unborn children.
  2. More effective treatment (vs. incarceration) for opioid addiction

• OPPOSE
  1. Physician-assisted suicide or “death with dignity” legislation.
  2. Constitutional amendment to establish a right to reproductive liberty.
     1. Allowing minors to choose irreversible gender surgery.
     2. Allowing perinatal death due to a failure to act.

Existing Maryland law allows abortions up to 26 weeks, and thereafter for mental or physical health reasons.

Contacts:

Sharon Carrick, President  (sha54ron@verizon.net)                         

Ella Ennis, Legislative Chairman (eee437@comcast.net)