During the 2022 legislative session, beginning today, lawmakers will be focused on measures including legalizing recreational marijuana, paid family and medical leave, and how to allocate the state’s budget surplus.

This will be the last session before every Senate, House of Delegates, and the governor’s seats are up for election. Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is term limited so can’t serve again. During this session, lawmakers will also be redrawing state delegate and senate district maps based on new census data, and that will have an impact on who wins re-election. Lawmakers’ ability to work together for results for constituents is crucial if they want to be re-elected. In Hogan’s case, his legacy is part of the picture, as is — as some are suggesting — a possible run for president in 2024.

Here are five things you need to know about the upcoming legislative session:

Marylanders may soon see legal recreational marijuana

Maryland already legalized medical marijuana in 2014. This year, House Speaker Adrienne Jones has already said that legalizing recreational marijuana is her top priority for the session, and created a panel of lawmakers to study how the state could implement a recreational marijuana market. However, Jones and Senate President Bill Ferguson have two very different opinions on how they’d like to see recreational marijuana legislation passed.

The House bill would leave the decision up to voters in the November general election. If approved via ballot referendum, recreational marijuana usage would go into effect eight months later. There would also be complementary legislation created by House lawmakers, including Del. David Moon, who represents Takoma Park and has been trying to pass recreational marijuana for the past seven years. The complementary legislation would focus on equity.

Maryland got off to a rocky start with the sale of medical marijuana. The majority of those who got licenses to sell were white, and a state commission had to go back to address equity to give some advantages to business owners who are people of color to obtain licenses. Equity in legislation for recreational marijuana also refers to making sure those previously convicted with possession of marijuana can have their records expunged, Martin Mitchell, president of Prince George’s County’s Young Democrats, told DCist/WAMU.

On the other hand, state senate President Ferguson has suggested that a senate bill would not turn the legalization of recreational marijuana over to the voters for a referendum; instead, the legislature would make decisions on how to implement the program, including how taxing, how much people can have in their possession, and whether people can grow it in their homes.

While it’s unclear which bill will pass, legalizing recreational marijuana does have strong support among Marylanders. Last year, a Goucher College Poll revealed that two-thirds of Marylanders are in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana. Mileah Kromer, the director of the poll, said in a statement that’s the highest percentage of support recreational marijuana has received since they began polling on legalization in 2013.

Interest in expanding paid family, medical leave

During the pandemic many parents have had to make difficult decisions about who would stay home with the kids or care for a sick loved one.

Prince George’s County Del. Kriselda Valderrama is proposing legislation that would create a family and medical leave insurance program. The state already protects state employees and private companies with at least 50 employees by allowing them to take 12 weeks of unpaid family and medical leave. Valderrama’s measure would help employees at private companies and those who are self-employed get paid while they’re on leave. Eligible employees would have to work a minimum of 680 hours in the 12-month period immediately preceding the date when their leave begins.

The bill would require employees to add to the fund each year starting Jan. 1, 2023 and employers would have to match those funds. The fund would be managed by the state treasurer’s office. But it’s likely this legislation will get pushback from moderate Democrats and Republicans because — according to a fiscal policy note from when this bill was introduced last year — it would add significant cost to small businesses, local county governments, and the state’s department of labor to administer the project. It could also be difficult to get buy-in from the business community.

How to spend a $6 billion surplus?

Lawmakers will also be voting on the fiscal year 2023 budget. Like many states, thanks in part to federal recovery funds, Maryland has a $6 billion surplus this year, some of which will be incorporated into the upcoming budget. Hogan has already said he’d like to spend it on items like the rainy day fund, shoring up the federal food aid program, known as SNAP, and additional pay for state employees, including police officers.

Lawmakers are in agreement with some of those uses, like SNAP benefits, but many Democrats would like to see money spent on long-term capital improvement projects like addressing the $65 million maintenance backlog at state parks, converting all public school buses to electric (a measure Montgomery County has already approved) and increasing rapid bus infrastructure throughout the state. So there will have to be some negotiation between lawmakers and the governor on the budget.

Keep in mind, the governor holds substantial authority over the budget. Lawmakers can only subtract — but not add — funds to the budget. Voters overturned that rule via a 2020 ballot referendum, but the change doesn’t take effect until 2024.

Tenants could see their rights expanded

During last year’s session, lawmakers passed legislation that gave tenants access to an attorney in eviction cases, but they fell short on additional measures that would have funded that access to attorneys.

Prince George’s County Dele. Wanika Fisher (D) told Maryland Matters that getting housing reform across the finish line should be a top priority for the legislators. Last week, the state’s Attorney General Brian Frosh (D) and a 15-member task force, created last year by lawmakers to recommend ways to fund access to counsel for tenants, released its first set of recommendations to state and local governments.

Those recommendations include educating tenants about their rights, creating a repository for pre-filing eviction notices, and establishing a system that simplifies the process of obtaining legal assistance.

Dels. Luke Clippinger (Baltimore City-D) and Jheanelle Wilkins (Montgomery County-D) will be proposing legislation aligned with those recommendations, but the bills have not been made public yet.

Abortion rights advocates could see expanded access to abortion

Maryland codified access to abortion into law in 1992.

However, with Texas and other states demanding the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court take up cases to ban abortions, Montgomery County Del. Ariana Kelly (D), a former executive director at NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland, told DCist/WAMU that she will be introducing legislation to expand abortion access in the state.

Kelly’s measure would include increased access to training for abortion providers, allowing midwives and nurse practitioners to provide abortions, ensuring Medicaid covers abortion procedures, and getting rid of copays and deductibles for abortion procedures.

While the bill could face widespread support by Democrats in the House, who are in the majority, it could face added scrutiny in the Senate.

In previous legislative sessions, bills on abortion rights and right-to-die narrowly passed out of the House and then failed to pass out of the Senate. Major opposition to a bill expanding abortion access is likely to come from Catholic groups and anti-abortion rights activists across the state.