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Bill to let Baltimore City sheriff’s deputies and some court officers bargain wages draws unanimous support at hearing
Summary
Delegates and Baltimore City sheriff’s office representatives told the Appropriations Committee that HB 10‑91 fixes statutory language so deputies and certain court security officers can collectively bargain wages, with an effective date of June 1 to allow inclusion in ongoing negotiations.
Delegate Stephanie Smith and representatives of the Baltimore City Sheriff's Office told the committee HB 10‑91 would correct statutory language so sheriff's deputies and some court security officers can collectively bargain over wages.
“For the record delegate Stephanie Smith and I'm here to present to you house bill 10 91,” Delegate Stephanie Smith said. Assistant Sheriff Nicholas Blende told the committee the bill is “designed to sort of make a quick, timely, and urgently needed fix, to the statute that authorizes collective bargaining.” Blende said prior language left confusion about whether wages were included; the fix would make wages a permissible subject of bargaining.
Blende said the bill includes a technical amendment and sets the effective date as June 1 to allow current contract negotiations — the existing contract expires June 30 — to include wages. “This would fix that problem by saying, right now it's got a section in there that says excluding wages … that makes it including wages,” he said.
Supporters included representatives of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge and labor counsel Kieran Dowdy, who described the measure as a correction to an earlier drafting mistake. “This is really a fix to something that happened a few years ago. It was inadvertent. Everybody agrees that we should have the ability to bargain wages,” Dowdy said. The Maryland State Fraternal Police also testified in support.
The hearing record shows no opposition testimony and no committee vote recorded in the provided transcript. Committee members asked for brief clarifications and sponsors requested a favorable-with-amendment report to adopt the technical language and the June 1 effective date so the current bargaining round can address wages.
