SEE LATEST
SPONSORED LEGISLATION
SB720 - Correctional Services - Formerly Incarcerated Individuals and Individuals on Probation - Re-Entry Services
Joanne C. Benson
Last updated 8 months ago
1 Co-Sponsor
Establishing a program within the Division of Correction that provides formerly incarcerated individuals and individuals on probation with certain services; requiring the facility that administers the program to be located in Prince George's County; and requiring the Governor to include in the annual budget bill for fiscal year 2026 and each fiscal year thereafter an appropriation of $3,000,000 for the program.
STATUS
Introduced
SB721 - Prince George's County - Income Tax - Credit for Employers Providing Parental Engagement Leave
Joanne C. Benson
Last updated 8 months ago
1 Co-Sponsor
Allowing employers who provide certain parental engagement leave to certain qualified employees during the taxable year a credit against the State income tax; requiring the State Department of Education, in consultation with the Comptroller, to develop and make available a certain certification form; requiring a certain qualified employee to obtain the signatures of a certain county board member and certain school personnel under certain circumstances; and making the credit refundable under certain circumstances.
STATUS
Introduced
SB722 - Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - Seniors - State Supplement
Joanne C. Benson
Last updated 8 months ago
1 Co-Sponsor
Increasing the amount of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit that the State is required to provide for a household that includes an individual who is at least 62 years old.
STATUS
Introduced
SB719 - Criminal Law - Crimes Against Minors - Sensitive Locations
Joanne C. Benson
Last updated 8 months ago
1 Co-Sponsor
Prohibiting a person from committing a felony against a victim who is a minor within 5 miles of certain locations; and establishing that a violation of the Act is a felony and punishable with imprisonment up to 15 years.
STATUS
Introduced
SB724 - Motor Vehicles - School Buses - Seat Belts
Joanne C. Benson
Last updated 8 months ago
1 Co-Sponsor
Prohibiting certain persons from allowing pupils to stand in a school bus while the school bus is in motion; requiring that school buses purchased after October 1, 2024, be equipped with seat belts that are accessible to passengers; requiring school buses in operation on October 1, 2024, to have seat belts installed that are accessible to passengers for every seat on the bus on or before October 1, 2026; prohibiting a person from operating a school bus unless the person and each occupant are restrained by a seat belt; etc.
STATUS
Introduced
SB738 - Freedom to Read Act
Nancy King, Pamela G Beidle, Joanne C. Benson
Last updated 5 months ago
20 Co-Sponsors
Establishing a State policy that local school systems operate their school library media programs consistent with certain standards; requiring each local school system to develop a policy and procedures to review objections to materials in a school library media program; prohibiting a county board of education from dismissing, demoting, suspending, disciplining, reassigning, transferring, or otherwise retaliating against certain school library media program personnel for performing their job duties consistent with certain standards; etc.
STATUS
Passed
SB723 - Baby Food - Toxic Heavy Metals - Testing and Labeling (Rudy's Law)
Joanne C. Benson
Last updated 4 months ago
1 Co-Sponsor
Requiring, beginning January 1, 2025, manufacturers of baby food to test a representative sample of each production aggregate of baby food for toxic heavy metals; requiring, beginning January 1, 2026, manufacturers of baby food to make certain information related to the testing and a link to certain guidance and information publicly available on the manufacturer's website; requiring a consumer to report baby food to the Maryland Department of Health if the consumer believes the baby food is being sold with toxic heavy metals; etc.
STATUS
Passed
SB725 - Real Property - Residential Leases - Renter's Insurance Requirement
Joanne C. Benson
Last updated 8 months ago
1 Co-Sponsor
Requiring a residential lease to include a requirement that a tenant hold a renter's insurance policy; prohibiting a lease from containing certain requirements regarding a renter's insurance policy; and requiring a landlord to acquire a renter's insurance policy on behalf of a tenant if the tenant does not have a policy.
STATUS
Introduced
SB608 - Public Safety - Police Accountability - Time Limit for Filing Administrative Charges
William Folden, Jack Bailey, Joanne C. Benson
Last updated 6 months ago
7 Co-Sponsors
Altering a requirement for a law enforcement agency to file administrative charges relating to alleged police officer misconduct that is required to be reviewed by an administrative charging committee within 30 days; requiring a law enforcement agency to file any administrative charges arising out of an investigation of alleged police officer misconduct that is not required to be reviewed by an administrative charging committee within 1 year and 1 day after the date that the agency became aware of the incident; etc.
STATUS
Engrossed
SB584 - Motor Vehicles - Parking - Armed Forces Special Registration Plates
Bryan Warner Simonaire, Johnny Ray Salling, Joanne C. Benson
Last updated 8 months ago
6 Co-Sponsors
Prohibiting a political subdivision from adopting or enforcing an ordinance, a regulation, or a policy that requires payment of a fee for parking a motor vehicle in a parking space served by a parking meter if the motor vehicle has an individually-earned, combat-related armed forces special registration plate or a U.S. Department of Defense Gold Star recipient special registration plate.
STATUS
Introduced
BIOGRAPHY
INCUMBENT
Senator from Maryland district SD-024
COMMITTEES
Maryland Senate
BIRTH
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ABOUT
Joanne C. Benson was born on August 29, 1940, in Washington, D.C. She currently resides in Landover Hills, MD. She earned a B.A. in sociology from Winston Salem State University in 1962. She earned a M.A. in political science from Howard University in 1963. She earned a Ed.D. in higher education administration from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri in 1971. She is married and has 3 children.read less
OFFICES HELD
Maryland Senate from Maryland
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