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Sponsor seeks to restore original charge of Maryland Commission on Health Equity
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Summary
Sen. Mary Washington introduced SB560 to restore members and duties the sponsor says were removed when the commission was redirected to focus on Maryland's AHEAD health‑care financing model; sponsor said the shift narrowed the commission's ability to address social determinants of health such as transportation and the environment.
Sen. Mary Washington told the Senate Finance Committee SB560 would restore the Maryland Commission on Health Equity to duties the legislature originally intended when it enacted the Shirley Nathan Pulliam Equity Act in 2021.
Washington said the commission was created to analyze systemic drivers of health disparities across housing, transportation, environment, employment and access to care. She told the committee that a 2024 law (House Bill 133) had repurposed the commission to help implement an AHEAD model focused on health‑care financing and payers — a change she said narrowed the commission’s mandate and removed some agency and community seats.
“While the AHEAD model plays a role, its narrow focus reduced all of the work to look at health equity broadly to just looking at health systems,” Washington said, adding that the original commission was intended to “break down silos” across transportation, environment and corrections agencies.
Washington outlined two technical fixes in SB560: restore transportation and environmental agencies to the membership list and reaffirm the commission’s charge to employ a health‑equity framework addressing social determinants and proximity to health care. She said the state has already contracted with AHEAD implementation partners and the bill is not intended to disrupt that work; rather it would broaden the commission’s remit in parallel.
Other senators asked how the commission would intersect with any new statewide cabinet‑level equity initiative and whether the commission could responsibly carry both the AHEAD work and the broader social‑determinants work. Washington said she favored using the commission rather than creating a new body and argued a broader membership would enable both kinds of work.
No formal committee action was recorded at the hearing. The sponsor requested a favorable report.
