Update From The General Assembly

Posted Thursday, January 24, 2019 9:18 am

Nic Kipke

By Nic Kipke
Delegate, District 31

The 439th annual session of the Maryland General Assembly is underway! It began with swearing in a new legislature and Governor Larry Hogan. Our swearing-in was really meaningful for me as it is such an amazing privilege — thank you for your trust! It was special for me to have Susannah and the kids with me during the ceremony.

I was once again elected Republican leader in the House, and our caucus will work aggressively this session to advance meaningful and commonsense solutions to issues we face here in our state. We have a legislative package that includes accountability in courtrooms to expose judges with a record of leniency of violent repeat felons, creating a repeat violent offender registry, and adding the option of cameras in the courtroom so the public will be able to more easily witness criminal sentencing. We plan to add school resource officers in public schools and will support Governor Hogan’s accountability in education legislation to create better safeguards against waste, fraud and abuse. We will also work to reduce taxes on retirement income.

As a member of the Health and Government Operations Committee, I plan to introduce legislation that will expose pricing schemes in the prescription drug supply chain. I believe patients are paying way too much for many aspects of health care, especially pharmaceuticals. Furthermore, there is also a real threat to community-based pharmacies like Mike’s Pharmacy and other EPIC pharmacies that could be forced out of business. I have a series of bills designed to protect these pharmacies from unfair monopolistic practices.

Locally I am working with Senator Bryan Simonaire and Delegate Brian Chisholm on numerous issues. One of those issues includes finding a solution to the part of Fort Smallwood Road inside Baltimore City in Curtis Bay. Even though this is outside our district, many of our citizens use this stretch of road to reach Interstate 695 or Ordinance Road, and it’s in deplorable condition. I hope to report good news on this in the near future.

It’s not too late to reach out to me regarding issues that you’d like to see addressed in the community or legislatively. The best way to reach me during session is by email at nicholaus.kipke@house.state.md.us or by calling 410-841-3421.