As Prepared for Delivery

KETTERING, MD  - Governor Martin O’Malley today, joined by students, educators and other officials, visited the Academy of Health Sciences, an innovative early college high school in partnership with Prince George’s County Public Schools and Prince George’s Community College, to highlight the Administration’s Early College Innovation Fund passed in the 2013 legislative session.

The Administration remains committed to increasing access to postsecondary education and helping students obtain credentials that position them to compete for jobs in growing sectors of Maryland’s economy like cybersecurity, biotechnology, and life sciences. The Early College Innovation Fund serves to encourage the development of early college access programs that provide accelerated pathways for students seeking career and technical education (CTE) or training in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines.

“Maryland’s economy is an Innovation Economy, Prince George’s Community College is an Innovation school, and Prince George’s County Public Schools are innovation leaders. The Early College Innovation Fund will support accelerated pathways for students seeking CTE or STEM training while increasing access to postsecondary education and allowing our children to obtain the skills they need to be competitive in a 21st century global economy,” said Governor O’Malley. “Working together with our educators and academic partners, parents and students, we can make the better choices to invest in our children’s future by giving them the tools they need for the jobs of tomorrow.”

The Academy of Health Sciences is the state’s most successful model for early college high school. Upon graduation, each student earns both a high school diploma and an associate’s degree.

“Governor O’Malley is the nation’s leader on college affordability. This year, Maryland became the first state in the nation to guarantee hardworking high school students college credit paid for by local school systems. It’s a game changer for middle and low income families. And Prince George’s, with the Academy of Health Sciences at the Community College and College Park Academy, where students will earn University of Maryland credits, is the leader in Maryland,” said Senator Jim Rosapepe, a member of the Senate Education Subcommittee and former member of the University System of Maryland Board of Regents.

“We are dedicated to giving our sons and daughters the freedom to excel,” said Delegate Jolene Ivey, a member of the Education Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee and Chair of the House Prince George’s Delegation. “Children who get an early start with STEM subjects can shoot for the stars. The Early College Innovation program is the rocket fuel.”

“We have had incredible success in creating early college opportunities for County high school students through an innovative partnership between the Prince George’s Community College and the Prince George’s County Public School system,” said Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker, III. “I want to thank Governor O’Malley for taking the time to come and see this fantastic program firsthand. His commitment to ensuring that our state has a top flight education system is unwavering. I believe our children can achieve anything when they put their minds to it. This program is about expanding opportunity and exposure. I want to see more students in our schools exposed to opportunities like this.”

The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) will generate competitive grants to fund partnerships of local school systems and higher education institutions to create early college high schools or other forms of early college access. The support would bridge funding intended to help eligible partnerships bear some of the start-up costs associated with creating new early college programs. Priority would be given to proposals that launch early college high schools (also known as “middle colleges”) focused on CTE or STEM and that provide students with credentials (in the form of degrees, certificates, and certifications, as appropriate) in fields for which there is high-demand in Maryland.

The O’Malley-Brown Administration has set the goal to Increase Student Achievement and College and Career Readiness in Maryland by 25 percent by the End of 2015. The State of Maryland is also working toward the goal to ensure that at least 55 percent of Maryland’s adults age 25 to 64 will hold at least an associate’s degree by the year 2025. For an unprecedented five years in a row, Maryland’s schools have been named #1 in the nation by Education Week Magazine. In 2012, Maryland elementary school students achieved their highest MSA scores ever in both reading and math. Maryland middle school students achieved their highest scores ever in math. According to the College Board, Maryland students have ranked #1 in AP success for seven consecutive years. Maryland students are graduating at a record rate, according to data from the class of 2011.

Maryland is the first state in the nation to set specific STEM education standards.To read more about the Administration’s Early College, affordable college, STEM, and innovation initiatives, click here.

As Prepared for Delivery

Thank you so much Dr. Sandra Kurtinitis, for your great leadership and for opening up your campus to us.

Today we’ve assembled quite a collection of public servants and leaders in the fight against human trafficking,…including U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein and the dedicated members of the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force. Thank you for all of your work over the last six years.

Also with us are some leaders at the national level on these issues, and we’re very glad to have them here to share their expertise with us.

Pam Cammarata from the Department of Justice, Aashika Damodar from the Office for Victims of Crime, Carolina De Los Rios from the Polaris Project, and Nancy Winston from Shared Hope International. Thank you all so much for being here.

There is no such thing as a spare Marylander, or a spare American. We are here because we believe in the dignity of every individual.

There are things we can do and must do to protect every child from abuse and exploitation.

Effective Tactics and Strategies

Sadly, human trafficking is a problem virtually everywhere in the world.

In Maryland, we’re particularly vulnerable because of our geography and our infrastructure.

In fact, some of the things that make our State such an attractive place to live and work—our port, our airports, our railways and our interstates—are also things that make us a nexus for trafficking.

There are things we can and must do to fight back. And with common platforms, the latest technology, and your help—we are working across a number of fronts.

We have hired a Human Trafficking Intelligence Manager—and charged her with leading a unified front. Christine Rothlein is aggregating data from every part of our government—so we can “know what we know.” And using this information to lead a coordinated, effective, targeted attack.

We passed new laws—which we signed just last Thursday—during the last session to help our law enforcement bring traffickers to justice. And to give prosecutors more effective tools for securing convictions. Law enforcement agencies will be able to seize the property of these traffickers, as they already do in drug trafficking cases.

We’re actively seeking out victims, rather than waiting for them to come to us. By mining “escort” websites, we’ve been able to save 17 child victims so far this year. Last year, we saved a total of 76 victims.

We’re training our employees to ask better questions. This may sound simple, but it’s critically important. Throughout our State government we have literally thousands of employees who come into contact with vulnerable children and their caretakers day after day after day. At the Department of Juvenile Services, we’ve already found 34 victims of trafficking through better screening and asking the right questions. We’re implementing similar screening measures in the Department of Human Resources and the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

Finding victims is the first step in saving kids from a life of exploitation. But it is only the first step. Once they are rescued, we are connecting them with things like mental health treatment and treatment for substance abuse—regardless of whether they happen to have health insurance.

Stories

By making these better choices, we are delivering better results. Results which are saving lives.

It’s about a young girl found by an undercover agent in an Inner Harbor hotel in September of 2011. She was molested by her father and introduced to the underground world of sex trafficking by her sister.

She’s now building a life in Maryland thanks to the partnership between the state and the Maryland-based nonprofit TurnAround, which is doing great work.

It’s about a 19-year-old girl in Baltimore County. Investigators found her in a hotel in November, where she had been trafficked by a man she met online. She saw up to 20 customers a day.

After telling law enforcement her story, she said “The detectives treated me like a real person and it felt good to get everything off my chest.”

That’s what we’re dealing with. A crime so heinous that survivors are surprised and grateful to just be treated like humans.

Most of you in this room know many stories like this. It’s very easy, when we talk about screening processes and data sharing and prosecutorial tools, to forget about those stories.

We have to remember that data is a tool. A tool that we can use to prevent stories like this from being written.

In April, the good work of our Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force, alongside the Annapolis Police Department, led to the convictions of two men who were living in our state illegally, and using violence and intimidation to prostitute woman.

The most sacred duty of any government is to promote the safety of our people.

And you all are doing that. We’re making progress.

In the last six years, we’ve driven down female homicides by 18 percent.

To continue that progress, we’ve set a goal to reduce violent crimes against women and children by 25 percent by the end of 2018.

If we make better choices about how to use and share data, we will get better results for our most vulnerable people.

And one of the leaders in that effort has been Maryland’s U.S. Attorney, Rod Rosenstein, who has a few words for us.

“While the preliminary jobs data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the month of April indicates a loss of 6,200 jobs, together, Marylanders have created 34,600 new jobs over the past 12 months while driving our unemployment rate down to 6.5 percent – the lowest rate in more than four years.

“There is no progress without jobs – and that’s why in Maryland, we’re working every day to harness the full potential of our Innovation Economy. With new initiatives like EARN, the Veterans Full Employment Act, and enhanced strategic tax credits – we are fueling innovation and investing in the things that create jobs, strengthen our workforce, expand opportunities for middle class families and give people the tools they need to compete and win in the 21st century economy.

“Our work has not gone unnoticed. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce ranks Maryland  #1 for the second year in a row for entrepreneurship and innovation, and Entrepreneur Magazine recently named us the best state in the nation to start a new business. But there is still more work to do. Only by working together can we build a better, stronger and more prosperous  future for our children.”

The capital budget invests over $698 million in K-12 and higher education. We’re investing $338 million to renovate, rebuild, and improve Maryland’s #1 public schools creating, supporting, and leveraging nearly 8,200 jobs. We’re dedicating over $285 million to our four-year public colleges and universities and $52 million to our community colleges.

Additionally, Governor O’Malley signed the Baltimore City Public Schools Construction and Revitalization Act of 2013, which invests approximately $1 billion to build as many as 15 new schools and renovate and replace approximately 30 of the City’s aging schools. Baltimore City, the School System, and the State will each invest $20 million annually to raise roughly $1 billion in construction funds through the sale of bonds.

To prepare our workforce to compete and win in this global economy, the budget makes investments to spur innovation. The budget devotes $11 million to the One Maryland Broadband Network and $5 million to the East Baltimore Biotechnology Park.

To prepare for our future and protect our quality of life, the capital budget invests $182.5 million for Bay restoration projects and $110 million for land preservation programs. We are investing $20 million in the Rental Housing Works initiative launched last year to build 900 new affordable housing units for working families and support over 1,500 jobs. And, $10.9 million for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects will ensure that we make smarter choices about the way we power our State.

This morning, Governor O’Malley also signed the job-creating Transportation Infrastructure Investment Act of 2013.

Through the FY14 operating budget, we took action to encourage private investments in Maryland for innovation and job creation. Learn more about the key investments and tax credits here.

As Prepared for Delivery

Thank you all very much,…

We’re here to sign some bills which can be summed up in a word:  “results.”  This session, we chose to move forward on a number of initiatives which have been proven to work and deliver results:

Results creating jobs and expanding middle class opportunity;

Results saving lives and improving public safety;

Results strengthening Maryland’s workforce.

Better choices; better results.

Before we get to signing them, Mr. Speaker did you want to share a few thoughts?  Mr. President,… Lt. Governor Brown,…

Bill Signing

First up is the Firearms Safety Act: a comprehensive approach to saving lives which includes common-sense licensing; a ban on the sale of enumerated, military style assault weapons and high capacity magazines with greater than 10 rounds; and better data sharing and protections in the mental health arena.  We also invested through the budget to improve school safety and mental health services.

In working through this legislation with Speaker Busch, Delegate Dumais and the House workgroup that the Speaker assembled, and Chairman Frosh in the Senate, we looked to strategies that have been proven to work and deliver results.

States with similar licensing provisions, for example, have substantially lower gun death rates than states that do not.  Better choices; better results.

A special word of thanks to all the members of law enforcement and criminal justice communities.  And thanks as well to everyone from the public health, victims’ advocates, and faith communities, along with so many other organizations and individual citizens – parents, hunters, civic leaders – who were a part of getting this bill passed.

We are extending the DNA Law with the same goal in mind: to save lives.  Since 2007, we’ve used DNA to produce 545 arrests.  Today we continue moving forward.

We are also signing new reforms to combat Human Trafficking.  No longer will a defendant be able to assert that they did not know their victim’s age as an excuse for trafficking a minor.  In addition, we are removing bureaucratic obstacles that prevent law enforcement from seizing property used for human trafficking.

These public safety bills are designed to save lives.  The Transportation Package we are signing will improve our quality of life and strengthen our Innovation Economy.  It will create an estimated 57,200 jobs over these next six years, and inject $4.4 billion into Maryland’s economy.

President Miller and Speaker Busch put many hours of work into making this a reality – and they, along with their outstanding staffs, worked very closely with my team, led by Stacy Mayer and the soon-to-be-gone, but never forgotten Matt Gallagher.  Special thanks are also due to County Executive Leggett, Chairman Kasemeyer, Chairwoman Hixon, Delegate Frank Turner, and the members of the Budget & Tax and Ways & Means committees.

To create jobs and expand middle class opportunity in a 21st century Innovation Economy we need a 21st century infrastructure.  We also need a stronger workforce.

Senator Pinsky’s and Delegate Kaiser’s work on the College and Career Readiness and College Completion Act of 2013 will help us advance toward our goal of getting 55% of Marylander adults (25 and older) an Associate’s Degree or higher by 2025.

Let’s sign some bills.

“Working together with Senate President Miller, Speaker Busch and the members of the General Assembly, we have guaranteed a sustainable transportation funding source that will support more than 57,200 jobs, create a safer, more efficient transportation network, and spur economic development,” said Governor O’Malley.  “This historic transportation bill allows us to move forward with the first new major transportation projects in more than eight years and get our construction industry back to work. Today, I am pleased to announce $1.2 billion for key new highway and transit projects from Western Maryland to the Eastern Shore.”

The $1.2 billion in new highway and transit projects are:

• $82 M for construction – US 15/Monocacy Boulevard Interchange in Frederick County/Western Maryland;
• $125 M for construction – I-270/Watkins Mill Road Interchange in Montgomery County;
• $100 M for construction – MD 210 at Kerby Hill Road/Livingston Road Interchange in Prince George’s County;
• $20 M for design – New Thomas Johnson Bridge in Calvert and St. Mary’s counties/Southern Maryland;
• $100 M for MARC Enhancements (Penn-weekend service, Camden-weekday 2 new roundtrips, New locomotives) – Baltimore and Washington, D.C. regions;
• $60 M for construction – I-695 Leeds Avenue Interchange reconstruction and bridge replacement in Baltimore County;
• $49 M for construction – US 29 northbound widening to three lanes from Seneca Drive to MD 175 in Howard County;
• $44 M for construction – Aberdeen Proving Ground BRAC Intersection Improvement in Harford County;
• $54 M for construction – US 301/MD 304 Interchange in Queen Anne’s County/Eastern Shore; and
• Transit Funding for Final Design (Red Line $170M, Purple Line $280M, Corridor Cities Transitway $100M) – Baltimore and Washington, D.C. regions.

Over the summer months, the State will continue to review project needs and make investment decisions.  The Maryland Department of Transportation’s draft six-year transportation budget will be published on September 3^rd.  This budget, known as the Consolidated Transportation Program, will provide a full list of the new projects funded by the Transportation Act.  This budget will be posted on MDOT’s website at www.mdot.maryland.gov.

The Transportation Act allows the State to activate long-term funding strategies to invest in Maryland’s roads and transit systems.  By putting people back to work in the transportation industry with this new funding, Maryland will create hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity and provide Marylanders with the transportation infrastructure necessary to grow and prosper for decades to come.

“The D.C. and Baltimore metropolitan areas are the 1^st and 5^th most congested in the nation,” said Speaker Michael E. Busch. “House Bill 1515 earned the support of numerous business groups and chambers of commerce because our transportation network is the backbone of the State’s economy.  We worked hard to balance the impact on the consumer with the urgent need to address the State’s aging infrastructure and relieve road congestion.”

“One of the best ways to continue to attract employers to Maryland is to invest in our infrastructure.  This legislation will create thousands of jobs and allow Maryland’s economy to continue growing,” said Lt. Governor Anthony Brown. “Combined with the Public-Private Partnership law that is estimated to create 4,000 jobs, we’re sending a clear signal that Maryland is the best place in America to launch and grow a business.”

By creating a sustainable transportation funding source that is sensitive to inflation for the first time in Maryland’s history, Maryland’s Transportation Trust Fund will be able to keep up with the ever-increasing demand for highways, transit and rail and the growing cost of materials and labor needed to build major infrastructure projects.  Improving Maryland’s infrastructure is vital to quality of life and economic prosperity.  Marylanders commute 32 minutes on average to work, the longest commute in the nation, and lose $6.2 billion each year on our congested and deteriorated roads.  Furthermore, 95 percent of goods shipped annually from Maryland travel on state roads, and quality infrastructure is a key factor businesses consider in deciding where to locate, invest, expand and create jobs.(Fast Facts Sheet)

In a recently released report, AAA states that average gas prices are down 20 cents statewide and down 22 cents in Baltimore City in the last month alone.  Since a year ago, average gas prices are down about 45 cents statewide and in Baltimore City.  Bucking normal trends of rising gas prices in the spring and summer, AAA predicts gas prices will continue to decline this summer.

For a full list of the 268 bills signed today, click here.

“Together with the men and women of the General Assembly, a strong coalition of advocates, and the people of Maryland who overwhelmingly support policies to reduce gun violence, we’ve chosen to take action by advancing the strategies that work to save lives,” said Governor O’Malley. “Together with the brave men and women in law enforcement, we’ve driven down violent crime in our State to historic lows, but just one life lost to senseless violence is one too many. The legislation signed today takes a comprehensive, common sense approach to help keep our communities safe while striking a balance between protecting the safety of law enforcement and our children, and respecting the traditions of hunters and law-abiding citizens to purchase handguns for self-protection.”

“The Firearms Safety Act is the culmination of months of study and deliberation by lawmakers involving many hours of stakeholder testimony and input,” said Speaker Michael E. Busch. “These reforms will reduce gun violence in our State and enhance public safety for our citizens.”

Lt. Governor Anthony Brown led the Administration’s community outreach efforts on the Firearm Safety Act this past session, traveling the state and holding a number of town halls to engage with Marylanders on the Administration’s public safety agenda.

“By passing the strongest gun safety laws in the nation we will reduce gun violence and make our streets, communities and schools safer,” said Lt. Governor Brown. “Many questioned if we could succeed in taking on the special interests, but this legislation proves Marylanders want sensible gun safety laws.”

Together with local, state and federal law enforcement partners, Marylanders have driven violent crime, homicides and property crime down to 30-year lows. The comprehensive legislation signed today is summarized below:

On gun safety, the O’Malley-Brown Administration’s plan: 

• requires licensing, fingerprinting, and safety training to purchase a handgun- important steps that experts at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research say are effective in preventing gun violence;
• bans the sale of 45 types of assault weapons (including the AR-15) and certain copycats, weapons that have been used to gun down at least 461 Americans since the federal ban sunset in 2004 including at least 35 police officers;
• limits magazine capacity to 10 rounds (previously 20 rounds) aligning Maryland’s magazine capacity limit with that of states’ with the lowest firearm death rates nationwide;
• makes the use of “cop-killer” bullets in any violent crime a separate offense;
• requires mandatory reporting to law enforcement of lost or stolen firearms making failure to do so punishable by a civil fine (or a 90 day misdemeanor for a subsequent offense);
• bars persons who receive probation before judgment for violent crimes from possessing firearms;
• establishes a single automated gun application process between gun dealers and the Maryland State Police;
• strengthens the Maryland State Police’s ability to regulate gun dealers allowing them to shut down rogue dealers whose guns result in a disproportionate number of crimes; and
• prohibits persons who cannot lawfully possess firearms, such as those prohibited based on a prior conviction or a mental health disqualifier, from possessing ammunition.

On mental health, the O’Malley-Brown Administration’s plan:

• creates safeguards to keep guns away from people who may be dangerous to themselves or others due to mental illness including expanding the category of persons prohibited from possessing guns to include anyone involuntarily committed for any length of time;
• facilitates unprecedented levels of information sharing among federal and state partners for background checks;
• improves mental health services in Maryland;
• establishes a Center for Excellence on Early Intervention to advance understanding and public awareness of the signs and symptoms of mental health problems;
• expands Maryland’s Crisis Intervention Teams and Crisis Response Services; and
• establishes a Department of Health and Mental Hygiene-led Task Force to improve continuity of care for individuals in Maryland’s mental health system; discontinuity of care in mental health treatment is a risk factor for poor outcomes and violence.

On school safety, the O’Malley-Brown Administration’s plan:

• dedicates $25 million of school construction dollars for school security enhancements;  establishes a Maryland Center for School Safety; and
• ensures that the Maryland State Department of Education and Maryland’s higher education institutions will work with the State Police to review all school emergency plans to identify and address any gaps.

The right balance between protecting families and safeguarding our Second Amendment rights, the law:

• does not prohibit lawful citizens from obtaining or owning a handgun;
• does not require additional licensing procedures for hunting rifles and shotguns;
•  does not force citizens who lawfully possessed an assault weapon prior to the bill’s passage to surrender their weapon or to register it;
• does not require companies who manufacture assault weapons in Maryland to stop production; and
• does not require current lawful gun owners to retroactively obtain a license.

For a full list of the 268 bills signed today, click here.

 “Frank Weathersbee brings more than 40 years’ experience as a prosecutor to the Maryland Parole Commission,” said Governor Martin O’Malley.  “He has worked tirelessly to defend the rights of individuals who have been the victims of crime and worked to protect the communities and ensure the safety of the citizens of Anne Arundel County.

“This moment comes with many mixed emotions,” said Mr. Weathersbee.  “I remain proud of the work I have done for Anne Arundel County and look forward to serving the State of Maryland in the years ahead.  I am grateful to Governor O’Malley for this opportunity and will bring my many years of experience in the field of criminal justice to my service on the commission.

Mr. Weathersbee served as a prosecutor for almost his entire legal career, becoming an Assistant State’s Attorney in 1969. An advocate for victims’ rights, Mr. Weathersbee built a Victim-Witness Services program that has been modeled by many other prosecutors’ offices. He received the State Board of Victims Services’ top honor – The Ginny Mahoney Memorial Award – for his efforts on behalf of victims’ rights. Mr. Weathersbee has created legislation and coordinated efforts to strengthen the rights of victims, including the Maryland Victims’ Bill of Rights. He serves as the president of the County’s Domestic Violence Coordinating Council and is a charter member of the Maryland State Board of Victim Services.

Mr. Weathersbee is a past president of the Maryland State’s Attorneys Association and remains active in the group. He is a charter member of the Anne Arundel County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, bringing together members of various law enforcement agencies. Additionally, he served on the Maryland Commission on Juvenile Justice Jurisdiction, the State Task Force to Implement the Victims’ Rights Amendment, and the Maryland Commission for the Future of the Courts.  On a national level, Mr. Weathersbee is active with the National District Attorneys Association, where he serves on the organization’s Board of Directors and has served as their treasurer.

Mr. Weathersbee, a resident of Crownsville, received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Maryland, College Park and his Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland School of Law.

Today, Governor Martin O’Malley visited the set of House of Cards, the critically acclaimed series that is filming its second season in Maryland. The Governor talked with producers and crew members about jobs, opportunity, and why Maryland is fast becoming the premier destination in America for film production. Kevin Spacey, star of the House of Cards, summed it up best:

“Look, it all comes down to what makes a State great and it’s the people who are here. And, the fact of the matter is, you look at film production in the United States and around the world, the reason that places like Prague become such a great place for film- European film- one of the biggest reasons is because they learned how to ‘crew up.’ They hired really terrific, great people. And that’s what’s been happening here in Maryland.

To date, the Maryland Film Production Tax Credit has created 5,700 jobs, with the promise of more job creation now that the credit has been expanded. Marylanders from across the state are working on the crew of House of Cards.  The show employs nearly 2,200 Maryland residents as crew, actors and extras. The net impact of the program on Maryland’s economy is $150 million.

In the first quarter of 2013, Maryland created jobs faster than any other state in the region and at the fourth fastest rate in the nation. Maryland’s dynamic private sector led that growth, creating nine out of every 10 new Maryland jobs. As of March 2013, our work alongside thriving businesses has driven down the unemployment rate to a four-year low and allowed us to recover 97 percent of the jobs we lost in the national recession.

Learn more about Governor O’Malley’s job creation initiatives >