ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Governor Larry Hogan, along with President of the Senate Mike Miller and Speaker Pro Tempore Adrienne Jones, signed into law more than 170 bills Tuesday morning.
Some new laws will have a wider impact than others. Some of the new laws will benefit Maryland First responders. Because of the added cancer risk fire fighters incur at their jobs, renal cell cancers will be added to the coverage. Renal cell cancers include bladder and kidney cancers.
Other laws will enhance the electric vehicle tax credit by doubling the money available for clean car tax credits.
One bill that received a lot attention this year will effect the University System of Maryland's Board of Regents. The measure requires more transparency because of the board's handling of University of Maryland football player Jordan McNair's death last year. The board is now required to livestream its open meetings online. It also adds four members to the 17-member board and requires vote tallies from meetings be made available to the public.
"We are dealing with the death of a football player, the aftermath, all of it was just totally unacceptable and then we had a Chancellor who made some really terrible decisions and had some real conflicts of interest. There is evidence here in Maryland we have a problem and hopefully these bills will enhance the transparency," said Senator Bill Ferguson.
Four years ago, Chuck Nossick was killed by a drunk driver at Route 2 and College Parkway. Nossick did not have a will, he and his wife were married for 28 years and did not have any children. Under current law, because he died without a will his wife could not access certain money, and it was turned over to his parents, who took the money, leaving his widow without the nest egg the two had been saving for almost three decades.
"Close to a half-a-million, including company stokes, bonds, IRA's and the hardest part was we were reaching our retirement age and there's no way of recouping that money," said Kathleen Nossick.
The new law says if the couple is married for at least five years, the surviving spouse will receive the estate.
