Madeleine Mosher
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
The Baltimore County Council on Monday passed police reform and tenant protections acts, concluding weeks of debate and planning for both bills.
The Tenant Protections During an Emergency Act, introduced Sept. 8 by Second District Councilman Israel “Izzy” Patoka, a Democrat, will require notices and restrictions of rent increases and rent-related fees during a state- or nationwide emergency.
The Strengthening Modernization, Accountability Reform, and Transparency (SMART) Policing Act will bring changes to the Baltimore County Police Department. Both acts take effect Oct. 19.
The SMART Policing Act passed 6-1.
“The bill does offer resources that our police need,” Councilman Wade Kach, R-Third District, said, “and I absolutely vote yes.”
Council members Tom Quirk, Julian E. Jones, Jr, Cathay Bevins, David Marks and Patoka sponsored the act, which includes:
- Restrictions against hiring officers who were fired or resigned from a previous position due to disciplinary reasons
- Training for De-escalation techniques, implicit bias and use of force
- Requirements that police officers report use of unnecessary or excessive force and injuries resulting from it
- A prohibition on neck restraints (chokeholds, strangleholds or carotid restraints) except when an officer is defending him or herself against serious injury or death.
The act, which Jones introduced at the council’s Sept. 8 meeting, also included an amendment requiring the Baltimore Police Department chief of police (or a representative) to report on the state of policing in Baltimore County to the council and the public every year. The report must include crime statistics and officers’ use of force.
Seventh District Councilman Todd K. Crandell voted against the act. He didn’t explain the vote during the meeting but said during the council’s Sept. 29 work session that the act was redundant. He cited abuse-avoidant guidelines that already apply to police.
The council voted 5-2 to pass the Tenant Protections Act, which prevents landlords from raising rent until they’ve given tenants 60 days’ notice. It also prevents landlords from reporting a tenant’s failure to pay rent to a credit bureau or rating agency or charging late, court, or payment processing fees.
Each of these provisions is effective for 90 days after the declaration of a county or state-wide health emergency as described in the act.
“I’m asking my colleagues to approve a bill that will provide relief to families in suffering,” Patoka said a few days before the Monday meeting.
The act’s original title was Tenant Protections During Emergencies, but its new name reflects new changes Patoka and stakeholders made to center the act on the COVID-19 emergency.
When Patoka introduced the act, it contained four situations, at least one of which needed to occur to invoke it. These covered both state- and county-wide economic and health emergencies.
This version of the act faced opposition from Crandell, who said at the council’s Sept. 29 work session that the act didn’t protect or consider landlords. He voted against the act Monday.
The Baltimore Watchdog reached out to Crandell’s office for a comment Monday but received no response.
According to Patoka, the Maryland Multi-Housing Association (MMHA) expressed concern about the bill’s broad scope and it’s mixing of economic and health emergencies. The MMHA wanted an act that would deal specifically with the COVID-19 emergency.
To reflect the MMHA’S concerns, Patoka, MMHA, and tenant advocacy groups led by CASA de Maryland (which approached Patoka with the tenant-protection issue originally) met to write amendments to the bill.
Patoka and the stakeholder groups reduced the four situations to two COVID-19-related scenarios: A national or statewide eviction moratorium lasting at least 30 days, or
The continuation of Maryland’s COVID-19 emergency.
Though the act requires compromise, Patoka said it will be effective, commenting that all successful legislative action includes compromises.
Bevins, Jones and Marks praised Patoka for his hard work on the act. Jones congratulated Patoka on his willingness to hear others’ opinions.
Bevins said of the bill, “I do believe that it’s going to be very much needed later on.”