On Saturday, I had the honor of speaking at a ceremony unveiling the new historic marker for suffragists Mary Bartlett Dixon and Mary Jenkins in Easton. Specifically, I spoke on many of the accomplishments of Mary Bartlett Dixon and her impact on not just women's suffrage, but Easton as a whole. Dixon not only was the chairman of the Woman's Suffrage Association of Maryland, but she was also considerably active on a remarkable number of health-related fronts locally, including raising funds for an emergency hospital in Easton (forerunner of Easton Memorial Hospital), creating a local nursing school in Easton, and chairing an Easton Civic Improvement Club Sanitation Committee to combat tuberculosis. She went on to serve as the first resident of the Talbot County League of Women's Voters.

Hail storm damage

Did the recent hail storm cause substantial damage to your property?

Please reach out to our office at adelaide.eckardt@senate.state.md.us with any questions, concerns or problems with insurance companies. We are happy to help connect you with assistance at this time

Baby formula guidelines

The Maryland Department of Health announced resources available for Maryland families impacted by the national infant formula shortages. 

Since the February recall of several infant formula products and current shortages, MDH has been working with partners to provide information and resources to families.

The Maryland WIC Program has expanded allowable sizes, brands and types of formula available with WIC electronic benefits, which are used to purchase infant formula in local retail stores. In addition, MDH is in contact with formula manufacturer Abbott Nutrition to monitor the supply and shipment of formula to Maryland.

MDH recommends the following for families in need of formula:

• If you are a Maryland WIC participant, contact your local WIC office for assistance locating products or making changes to your WIC food benefits.
• If you are not a Maryland WIC participant, visit the Maryland WIC website to learn how to apply, or call your local WIC office (or 1-800-242-4942) to find out if you are eligible for benefits.

General guidance

• Do not dilute infant formula. Adding extra water or other liquids to infant formula can be dangerous and life-threatening for babies, leading to serious nutritional deficits and health issues.
• Do not use homemade formulas. Formulas made at home often lack the critical nutrients that babies need.
• Use a different brand or type of formula if available. For most babies, it is OK to switch to any available formula. Call your child’s health provider if you have questions.
• If feeding a baby with human milk from a source other than the baby's mother, you should only use milk from a source that has screened its milk donors and taken other precautions to ensure the safety of the milk.

Specialized formulas

• If your baby needs a special formula, your child’s health provider can advise you on a comparable formula to use. 
• If you are still unable to find a speciality formula, contact a manufacturer’s hotline:

o  Gerber’s MyGerber Baby Expert

o  Abbott’s Consumer Hotline: call 1-800-986-8540

o  Abbott’s urgent product request line: Ask your OBGYN or your infant’s pediatrician to submit an urgent product request by downloading and completing the form - PDF

o  Reckitt’s Customer Service line: call 1-800 BABY-123 (222-9123)

Breastfeeding resources

• Maryland Breastfeeding Coalition
• Maryland WIC Breastfeeding Resources
• National Women’s Hotline: 1-800-994-9662
• National WIC Program/United States Department of Agriculture

For more information, families can visit the American Academy of Pediatrics or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

$198 million in small business relief

Gov. Larry Hogan announced that the state of Maryland will deploy up to $198 million in federal small business relief through the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). Maryland was the first state in the nation to submit its SSBCI deployment plan to the United States Treasury Department, and was one of the first five states to be approved.

Initially established by Congress in 2010 to provide loans and investments to underserved small businesses, SSBCI received a $10 billion allocation as part of the American Rescue Plan Act. The SSBCI funds will be administered by three state agencies, including the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, the Maryland Department of Commerce, and the Maryland Technology Development Corporation.

The funds from SSBCI will be used to augment existing business lending programs to support businesses with limited opportunities for growth whether due to the pandemic or historic disinvestment. Maryland's statewide SSBCI initiatives will target communities and areas with a high concentration of small, micro and Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Individual businesses to support ongoing state investments in underserved communities.

DHCD will receive up to $103 million and disburse the funds through the Neighborhood BusinessWorks program. The program provides financing to new and expanding small businesses impacting and operating within Maryland's designated Opportunity Zones, Priority Funding Areas, and Sustainable Communities and Community Development Financing Institution (CDFI) Investment Areas, often through partnerships with local and national CDFIs.

The Maryland Department of Commerce will receive up to $45 million for the Maryland Small Business Development Financing Authority (MSBDFA) program. Created in 1978 to promote the viability and expansion of Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Individual-led businesses, MSBDFA is now available to small businesses that are unable to obtain adequate business financing on reasonable terms. In particular, the program has become a well-established resource to support the growth of minority and women-owned businesses through a network of government agencies, local economic development organizations, banks, and private equity companies, as well as numerous business associations, chambers of commerce, and local professionals.

TEDCO will receive up to $50 million and will allocate the funds into four existing programs targeting technology-based Maryland businesses and entrepreneurs. Three programs—the Venture Equity Fund, Venture Capital Limited Partnership Equity program, and Seeds Funds Equity program—are primarily focused on venture capital and startup funding. The fourth, the Social Impact Fund, provides investment and support to entrepreneurs who demonstrate economic or social disadvantage. Through these four programs, TEDCO will continue to leverage its relationships with top-tier technology companies, entrepreneurs, and investors in the state while collaborating with universities, regional business accelerators and incubators, and other organizations.

The State of Maryland expects to begin deploying SSBCI resources through these programs in the summer of 2022. Business owners and lending institutions wishing to apply for financing should visit open.maryland.gov/ssbci/ to submit an expression of interest form to be notified when funds become available.

TidalHealth adopts electronic health records tool

TidalHealth Peninsula Regional, in partnership with The Living Legacy Foundation of Maryland, is the first hospital in The LLF’s Maryland-based service area to implement Copernicus, an electronic referral system that allows hospital staff to quickly notify The LLF when they have a potential lifesaving organ or tissue donor on their unit. The system went live on May 17.

All hospitals in Maryland are required by law to notify The LLF, the organ procurement organization for the majority of the state, when a patient has met necessary qualifications in their treatment course that open the potential for organ donation. This includes consideration of brain death testing, mention of organ donation by next-of-kin or moving into end-of-life care.

Previously, hospital staff would place a phone call to The LLF to convey the patient information and be notified whether organ donation would be pursued based on that information. This process was time consuming and only a select few of the patients would ultimately be identified as organ donors, due to a rigorous screening process. With the implementation of Copernicus, this process is streamlined, and staff can enter patient info into the secure automated computer system in a much shorter time, and will only need to call if the patient meets eligible criteria to pursue donation.

As of its implementation, TidalHealth Peninsula Regional is the only health system in The LLF’s service area, consisting of the majority of the state of Maryland excluding Charles, Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, to utilize Copernicus. It was first adopted in New England at Yale New Haven, where it is said to have saved 470 hours of nurses’ time in 2020.

Additional H-2B visas

The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor announced the availability of an additional 35,000 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas during the second half of fiscal year (FY) 2022. These visas are for U.S. employers seeking to employ additional workers on or after April 1 through Sept. 30.

The supplemental H-2B visa allocation consists of 23,500 visas available to returning workers who received an H-2B visa or were otherwise granted H-2B status during one of the last three fiscal years. The remaining 11,500 visas are reserved for nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Haiti, regardless of whether they are returning workers. The semiannual cap of 33,000 visas for the second half of FY 2022 was reached on Feb. 25.

The H-2B program permits employers to temporarily hire noncitizens to perform nonagricultural labor or services in the United States. The employment must be for a limited period of time, such as a one-time occurrence, or seasonal or intermittent need. Employers seeking to hire H-2B workers must take a series of steps to test the U.S. labor market. They must provide certification from DOL that proves there are not enough U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified and available to do the temporary work for which they seek a prospective foreign worker, and that employing the H-2B workers will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers.

DHS will subject employers that have committed certain labor law violations in the H-2B program to additional scrutiny in the supplemental cap petition process. This additional scrutiny is aimed at ensuring compliance with H-2B program requirements and obligations.

MTA fare increase

As required by the Transportation Infrastructure Investment Act of 2013 approved by the Maryland General Assembly, the Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Transit Administration will increase transit fares by 10 cents for core service – Local Bus, Light RailLink and Metro SubwayLink – effective Sunday, June 26. This increase was scheduled to go into effect on June 27, 2021, but was mitigated by Gov. Larry Hogan through use of funds from the American Relief Plan Act of 2021.

The Transportation Infrastructure Investment Act of 2013 requires MDOT MTA to increase fares for core service by a minimum of 10 cents or more every two years. The calculation is based on the increase in the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers. As a result, single-trip fares will increase from $1.90 to $2 for core service, which were last changed in 2019. Single-trip fares for MobilityLink paratransit service will increase from $2.10 to $2.20.

Higher commercial auto limits

In order to better serve Maryland’s commercial vehicle drivers, Maryland Auto insurance has sought and received approval from the Maryland Insurance Administration to offer combined single limits coverage up to $1 million for eligible businesses and vehicles.

Many contracts, particularly governmental contracts, require commercial drivers to be covered for up to $1 million. Business owners who are unable to obtain these higher limits in the standard market, are prevented from bidding on these jobs.

Maryland Auto continues to offer split limits coverage starting from the State’s minimum required $30K/$60K/$15K up to $100K/$300K/$100K for eligible vehicles. The new combined single limit coverage is available at the levels of $500K, $750K, and $1M.

Maryland Auto works through a statewide network of authorized providers who sell Maryland Auto insurance policies. This network of more than 1,400 agents located throughout the state can help businesses owners with their commercial auto needs.