Read more about the article Baltimore City Sues Hyundai, Kia Over Rash of Car Thefts
County News / Courts / News You Can Use / Public Safety and Corrections
Baltimore City Sues Hyundai, Kia Over Rash of Car Thefts

The City of Baltimore joins Seattle, St. Louis, and several other cities nationwide in filing a lawsuit against Hyundai and Kia for failing to equip their vehicles with industry-standard vehicle immobilization technology. Without this feature, vehicles can be started without a key, a flaw that has been the subject of numerous TikTok videos demonstrating the ease with which these cars can be stolen. This has led to a rash of thefts of these vehicles in…

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May 11, 2023
Read more about the article MD Supreme Court Reverses Lower Court, Upholds State’s Digital Ad Tax
Courts / Education / State Budget and Fiscal Issues / Taxes and Revenues
MD Supreme Court Reverses Lower Court, Upholds State’s Digital Ad Tax

The Maryland Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that struck down the state's first-in-the-nation tax on digital advertising, saying the court lacked jurisdiction over the case. As previously reported on Conduit Street, in October, Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge Alison Ali struck down the novel tax, ruling that the law violated the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution, the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA), and the First Amendment. While the Maryland Supreme…

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May 10, 2023
Read more about the article Court Accessibility Reform Didn’t Pass in 2023 Session but Research Stands
Courts
Court Accessibility Reform Didn’t Pass in 2023 Session but Research Stands

Accessibility continues to be a major barrier to court appearance for resources scarce communities, landing people in local jails and depleting resources.  In partnership with The Pew Charitable Trusts, three counties in North Carolina brought together a group of judges, prosecutors, public defenders, clerks, and members of law enforcement to study the major reasons individuals do not appear in court and to propose solutions. According to the Pew article, two of the three counties, with…

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May 3, 2023
Read more about the article National Labor Relations Board: Employers May Not Offer Severance Agreements Requiring Employees to Broadly Waive Labor Law Rights
Courts / Employee Benefits and Relations / Human Resources / Labor
National Labor Relations Board: Employers May Not Offer Severance Agreements Requiring Employees to Broadly Waive Labor Law Rights

The National Labor Relations Board recently ruled that employers may not offer employees severance agreements that require employees to broadly waive their rights under the National Labor Relations Act. On February 21, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board issued a decision in McLaren Macomb returning to longstanding precedent that employers cannot offer employees severance agreements that require employees to broadly waive their rights under the National Labor Relations Act. The case involved severance agreements offered to furloughed…

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February 27, 2023
Read more about the article NACo Tackles Reducing Jail Populations
Courts / NACo and Federal Issues / Public Safety and Corrections
NACo Tackles Reducing Jail Populations

Join NACo for a webinar on reducing jail populations on February 2, 2023, 2:00 - 3:00 P.M. Reducing the number of people in jail for technical violations can help decrease jail populations and improve outcomes and compliance with supervision conditions. Counties can reduce this kind of incarceration by reducing case processing times and implementing specialized caseloads. In October 2022, NACo released its County Guide to Reducing Jail Populations and Costs, a web-based toolkit with key policies,…

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January 19, 2023
Read more about the article Maryland’s Court of Appeals is Officially Supreme
Courts
Maryland’s Court of Appeals is Officially Supreme

Governor Hogan signed a proclamation on December 14th, officially changing the name of a 246-year-old institution. In a press release last week from the Maryland Courts, the voter-approved measure to change the name of Maryland's two highest courts has officially been enacted. From the release: Effective immediately, the Court of Appeals of Maryland is now the Supreme Court of Maryland, and the Court of Special Appeals is now the Appellate Court of Maryland. Established by…

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December 19, 2022
Read more about the article Judicial Selection Workgroup Gets Closer to Recommendations
County News / Courts
Judicial Selection Workgroup Gets Closer to Recommendations

Legislative committee prepares recommendations on the merits of elections verses appointed pathways to the bench. Last week the Legislative Committee Workgroup to Study Judicial Selection convened a public hearing and heard the testimony of twenty witnesses on the subject of whether or not changes should be made to the current process of judicial selection. The current procedure in place allows for both appointments and contested elections and arguments were made by judges on both sides…

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December 8, 2022
Read more about the article Baltimore City Sues Contingent of Tobacco Companies
Courts / Health and Human Services
Baltimore City Sues Contingent of Tobacco Companies

In a unique move, Baltimore City files a lawsuit against six named entities for cigarette filter waste.  According to a press release, Baltimore City has jointly filed a lawsuit to hold cigarette manufacturers accountable for cleanup costs associated with tobacco filter litter. The city cited a $5.3M annual price tag specifically for mitigating cigarette filter litter. The announcement went on to highlight that remediation includes clearing sewage and drainage pipes of clogs from the non-biodegradable…

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November 22, 2022
Read more about the article First $60M in Opioid Settlement Funds Comes Through – Here’s Where It’s Going
Courts / Health and Human Services
First $60M in Opioid Settlement Funds Comes Through – Here’s Where It’s Going

Maryland's counties will receive a total of $36.2M from almost $38M in the first round of disbursements to local governments. In a press release, Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh announced yesterday that all counties and municipalities participating in settlements with the former opioids manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson, and opioid distributors, McKesson, Cardinal Health, and Amerisource Bergen will begin receiving their first payments in the coming weeks. The total amount Maryland expects to receive as…

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November 8, 2022
Read more about the article Landlords Face New Eviction Laws Enacted During the Moratorium
County News / Courts / Housing and Community Development / Policy Deep Dive
Landlords Face New Eviction Laws Enacted During the Moratorium

As rents have risen across Maryland, post-COVID eviction laws could provide an additional buffer for tenants struggling to pay as emergency rental assistance runs out in the coming months. Despite a slow start, more than 91,000 Maryland renter households have received over $482 million in emergency rental assistance funds through August 2022 according to a recent article in the Herald-Mail by Dwight Weingarten. With emergency rental assistance almost fully expended and rental rates in Maryland going…

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November 2, 2022
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