The General Assembly has ended. In terms of the Progressive Working Group's priorities, we had two clear victories.

Last year, many groups came together for the first Progressive Summit, which proved very successful, and we would like to make this year's Summit an even bigger event.

On March 12, we will be lobbying key legislators, including committee chairs, beginning at 3:30 pm. We will have appointments and a summit meeting until 8 pm, so come as early as you're able. Our meeting room, from 3 to 8 pm, will be the Ways and Means Committee Meeting Room in the House Office Building in Annapolis.

Second Annual Progressive Working Group

Last year PWG held a successful Monday night event in Annapolis. We combined several missions into one evening – a press conference about war funding, a dialogue of our issues with invited legislators, and lobbying where constituents visited their legislators on our chosen topics.

We would like to have a similar event this session in Annapolis, but we need your assistance and feedback, including whether to retain or modify the format of last year's event.

You are invited to a community forum to hear from and ask questions of our elected Maryland state legislators from Districts 14, 18, 19 & 20.

Proposed cuts to the state and federal budget could mean an economic crisis in Maryland in 2012.
There have been nearly $7 billion in state budget cuts made over the last five years and some elected officials will push for even deeper cuts in 2012, despite the negative impact it would have on our communities.

Here is the final disposition of the PWG's priority issues in the 2011 General Assembly.

Eighty-four attendees, including 20 Maryland state legislators, and 64 members of 34 community organizations took part in a successful First Annual Progressive Summit and Lobby Night. The event was organized by the Progressive Working Group (PWG) in cooperation with Progressive Maryland.

It took place March 7th, 2011 at the Maryland General Assembly's House of Delegates in Annapolis.

In organizing the event, the PWG wanted legislators to know two things. First, progressive coalitions are getting bigger and more effective by the day. Second, progressives are united in their support for NINE priorities this session. The priorities are the same as those six that were deliberatively selected at the end of 2010 by PWG member organizations, plus 3 more highly actionable issues.

Let's start off with thanks to the clear majority of Montgomery County delegates who voted to allow the state to revisit the Maryland General Assembly's ill conceived corporate tax giveaway, custom fit to exempt the Lockheed Martin training facility with its 183 guest suites from the state's "sales and use tax." On February 4th, 2011, the Montgomery County House Delegation to the Maryland General Assembly took a vote on whether to file a bill to rescind the exemption.

Like legislators around the country, members of the Maryland General Assembly are facing a tough legislative session full of painful choices.

Thankfully, some progressive legislators in Maryland have been looking at the situation, and they've realized that they can't just focus on what to cut or how they might be able to raise revenues.

Instead, they have also been working with a new coalition called "Fund Our Communities, Bring the War Dollars Home" to start advocating for new priorities at the federal level.

The Progressive Working Group (PWG) met Sunday, December 12, 2010 at the Wheaton Regional Library. At that meeting, the PWG members voted to focus on 6 issues during the 2011 General Assembly session: