2013 Legislative Session Report
Apr 16, 2013 Comments Off adminRead Delegate Hucker's 2013 end-of-session letter and a summary of his sponsored bills.
Continue ReadingEnvironmentalists barely pass legislature
Jul 28, 2012 Comments Off adminDel. Tom Hucker, a Montgomery County Democrat who scored 100 percent after sponsoring the wind legislation and a bill that bans arsenic additives in chicken feed, said he hoped Gov. Martin O’Malley would make offshore wind one of his legislative priorities again in 2013. The governor backed the bill in 2012, and was disappointed when it failed.
Continue ReadingGeneral Assembly approves stormwater fee for nine counties
Apr 20, 2012 Comments Off adminDespite a Republican filibuster attempt in the Senate, the General Assembly successfully passed legislation that would implement a stormwater pollution fee to raise revenue to cleanup the Chesapeake Bay. Approved by the Senate and House of Delegates minutes before the end of the legislative session, the bill requires nine counties and Baltimore City to establish a watershed protection and restoration program.
Continue ReadingMaryland Leads the Nation in Banning Arsenic Products In Chicken Feed
Apr 12, 2012 Comments Off adminMaryland is now the first state in the nation to officially ban Roxarsone, a product added to chicken feed to prevent disease and produce fatter chickens. Senate Bill 207/ House Bill 167 was one of many bills passed over the weekend as the Maryland General Assembly rushed to complete work by the end of the 90-day session at midnight on Monday.
Continue ReadingMaryland legislators consider 6 anti-human trafficking laws
Mar 28, 2012 Comments Off adminA sixth bill, introduced by Del. Tom Hucker (D-Dist. 20) of Silver Spring, would require owners of bus stations and truck stops in the state to post signs with the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline number. “Even once law enforcement has recommendations, it’s hard to educate all the members of the Maryland General Assembly about why this is needed on top of laws we already have,” Hucker said. “The mill grinds slowly here; unfortunately … this really has expanded greatly in just the last few years.”
Continue ReadingMaryland proposes ban on ‘forced bundling’ by insurers
Mar 26, 2012 Comments Off adminometimes called "forced bundling," the practice requires consumers to buy a product or service they don't want in order to get something they do want. It's not new. Consumers for years have complained about such bundling among phone service providers and by cable companies that package unpopular channels with must-see TV. But now this take-it-or-leave-it bundling is coming to insurance. Maryland is weighing legislation that would ban the practice before it becomes commonplace here.
Continue ReadingMaryland State Delegate Tom Hucker joins Foundation Board of Trustees
Oct 21, 2011 Comments Off adminRepublished from Montgomery Parks Foundation State Delegate Tom Hucker joins Montgomery Parks Foundation Board of Trustees The Montgomery Parks Foundation Board of Trustees elected Tom Hucker at their September meeting. His appointment was approved by the Montgomery County Planning Board on Thursday, October 20, 2011. Mr. Hucker has been a member of the Maryland House [...]
Continue ReadingMd. lawmakers plead to Congress for mercy
Jul 28, 2011 Comments Off adminRepublished from the Washington Examiner Maryland state lawmakers say members of Congress are pointing a “double-barreled shotgun” at their state by threatening not to raise the debt ceiling. “It is possible no state would be hit as hard as Maryland by a failure to raise the debt ceiling,” said Sen. Jennie Forehand, D-Rockville, as Maryland [...]
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Chicken drug pulled from market amid arsenic worries
Jun 9, 2011 Comments Off adminRepublished from the Washington Post By John Wagner Some Maryland lawmakers sought to seize the moment Wednesday as word spread that a drug given to chickens for decades is being pulled off the marketafter federal scientists found low levels of a potentially carcinogenic form of arsenic in the livers of the animals. Del. Tom Hucker [...]
Continue ReadingThousands of cars drive past stopped school buses
Mar 17, 2011 Comments Off adminMaryland Del. Tom Hucker, D-Silver Spring, is sponsoring a bill that would place monitoring cameras on county school buses to record motor vehicle violations. "We knew it was a very rampant problem, and that's why we put the bill in, but this only makes a stronger case for the bill and the need for the General Assembly to address the problem," Hucker said. Hucker said he thinks the committee is likely to pass a measure to improve school bus safety, because he and Del. Patrick Hogan, R-Frederick, have introduced similar legislation.
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