Maryland General Assembly Student Page: Journal Entries Week 1

Hi, I’m Tyler Seawell and I am a senior at Calvert High School. Over the next few months, I will have the honor of participating in the Maryland General Assembly Student Page Program. Highly competitive, the program was founded in 1970 and has allowed students to increase their knowledge of the Maryland State Legislature. I am excited to share some of the valuable information I am learning in this program. 

My first week as a student page to the Maryland General Assembly has been one of the best experiences of my entire high school career. The week started on Monday, February 21 (President’s Day). I was lucky enough to hear Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski III, President of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, speak about how President George Washington’s qualities are still seen today. Dr. Hrabowski commented on the importance of recognizing our “blind spots” and how we have gone from a time when a leader would not have recognized an African American to a time when African Americans are in leadership positions.  

My page colleagues and I formally met for the first time on Tuesday, February 22. We listened to the Senate Floor Proceedings, where many bills were passed on third reading unanimously. This was surprising, as we live in a time when almost all media outlets point to the polarization in our government. It was very exciting as well as inspiring to see the bipartisan work being done on the floor. We also heard from Senator Cory V. McCray (D) as well as hearings from the Senate Finance Committee.  

On Wednesday, February 23 we listened to proceedings on the house floor. In the Maryland Legislature, there are two different houses: the House of Delegates and the Senate. There was a lot of interesting debate on House Bills 1, 153, and 837. While I will not go into detail on the substance of the debates (there is too much to talk about), there is a link at the bottom to view information on these bills from Maryland Legislative Services.  

Over the course of my time as a page, I will follow House Bill 361, which deals with mold inspections and remediation. The bill is sponsored by Delegate Shaneka Henson (D), meaning that she will present the bill for consideration. Over the course of the week, we listened to both the hearing on HB361, as well as asked questions of Delegate Henson. This April, we will hold a mock floor hearing on this bill. As of March 24, 2022, this bill has been withdrawn from consideration, but I still look forward to researching and annotating this bill. 

On Thursday, February 24 and Friday, February 25, we listened to more senate floor sessions. Shout out to Gabriel Hallberg, senior at Calvert High School, who completed an in-person day visit of the state capitol, on Thursday! On Thursday, we met with Delegate Henson who discussed house bill 361.  

The Maryland State Student Page Program has been an awesome experience thus far. Getting to work with the leaders of our great state on a day-to-day basis has been wonderful, and I look forward to continuing with this program in the coming days. Make sure to check back soon to hear about my two in-person visits of the Maryland Capitol. 

Link to Maryland General Assembly Website: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/ 

Simply search “HB or SB ‘Bill #’” to do more research on the bills discussed in this article!