Remarks as prepared
Delivered on Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Good afternoon, and welcome to the Maryland State House.
I’d like to take a moment to thank our partners inside the work.
House Speaker Adrienne Jones;
Senate President Bill Ferguson;
Committee leaders in the House and Senate – and all of our state legislators;
Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller and our cabinet;
And most importantly: All of the Marylanders who traveled to Annapolis to make their voices heard.
I also want to give a shout-out to my friend Delegate Jazz Lewis, and the team behind the Protect our Federal Workers Act.
Today: We also sign a suite of legislation focused on public safety.
From Day One, our strategy to make Maryland safer has centered on an all-of-the-above approach.
We have focused on bringing everyone to the table to deliver results – from our public defenders, to our state’s attorneys, to local law enforcement.
We have both ensured measures of accountability for those who break the law and rehabilitation for those who would benefit from a second chance.
And we have uplifted programs that drive crime prevention and ensure more people can access opportunity.
I refuse to be a governor who attends funerals and offers thoughts and prayers, while our people suffer. We needed to deliver change – and that is what we’ve done in partnership.
Together, we broke the back of 300+ annual homicides in Baltimore. And according to preliminary data, we are on track to have the lowest number of homicides statewide since 2014.
And it’s not just homicides.
Carjacking is down.
Non-fatal shootings are down.
Juvenile crime is down.
Maryland is seeing some of the most impressive drops in crime in the entire country.
These kinds of results don’t happen by accident.
They happen because we made the choice to work together – from delivering record funding to local law enforcement to uplifting crime prevention programs at the local level.
Through the ENOUGH Act, we are finding ways to invest in community violence intervention programs.
And this year, the work continues.
Today, we will sign legislation like HB 413, to ensure we crack down on ghost guns and charge the theft of a firearm as a felony.
And I want to thank Majority Leader Moon for his leadership on this bill.
Today, we will sign legislation like the Second Look Act, so Marylanders have the opportunity to go before a judge and petition for an appeal on their sentence.
And I want to thank Delegate Pasteur for her leadership on this bill.
Today, we will also sign the Expungement Reform Act, one of the bills I introduced at the start of the session.
We know that for far too many Marylanders, their criminal record is an albatross tied around their necks – for life.
They can’t get a loan. They can’t get a home. They can’t get hired. Often, it’s because of an offense they committed years ago.
We must confront the myth that every sentence is a life sentence. That is what the Expungement Reform Act of 2025 is about.
Our legislation empowers individuals who violated their parole or probation to petition to have their records wiped clean.
These Marylanders have served their time and paid their debt to society. They often have no more than a simple, technical violation of their parole.
All they are asking for is a real second chance.
The Expungement Reform Act will help us build new pipelines to opportunity for more Marylanders – and advance our commitment to uplifting Young Men and Boys in our state.
As the father of a son and a daughter, I want both of my children to grow up with all of their God-honoring and God-given opportunities.
But if we want to truly unleash Maryland’s potential, we need to make sure our young men and boys aren’t still falling behind.
Suicide rates among men under 30 have risen by more than a third since 2010, nationwide.
College attainment levels are the same now for men and boys as they were in 1964.
In Maryland, labor force participation for young men is nearly the lowest it has been in two decades.
We are leaving too much potential on the table, including when it comes to men and boys who are returning citizens.
Because over 95% of Maryland’s incarcerated population is male. And many of those men deserve a real second chance.
Men like Carlos Battle.
Carlos Battle is a member of We Our Us, a nonprofit that connects men and boys with mentorship in their communities.
Right now, he’s leading a transitional housing program to help returning citizens in Baltimore.
Carlos has served our state with distinction.
But under current law, Carlos can never get his criminal record wiped clean because of a technical violation of his parole that happened years ago.
Our bill changes that, so he can petition for expungement. So every time Carlos applies for a job or a home loan, he doesn’t constantly have to be shadowed by a decision he made decades ago.
Carlos was in the audience during my State of the State Address, when I discussed our agenda for Young Men and Boys and announced this bill.
I remember looking up at Carlos, seated in the gallery, and saying to him: “Carlos, we are going to get this done.”
Well, Carlos, we got it done.
I would like to call Carlos up to the podium to receive the first ceremonial pen of today’s signing.
I will now hand it over to Senate President Bill Ferguson.