BILL#: HB359
TITLE: Education – Interscholastic and Intramural Junior Varsity and Varsity Teams and Sports – Designation Based on Sex (Save Women’s Sports Act)
COMMITTEE: House Ways and Means
SYNOPSIS: Requiring certain interscholastic and intramural junior varsity and varsity athletic teams or sports sponsored by certain schools to be expressly designated based on biological sex; prohibiting certain entities from taking certain adverse actions against a school or county board of education for maintaining separate interscholastic and intramural junior varsity and varsity athletic teams and sports for students of the female sex; and providing that certain individuals have the right to bring a civil action under certain circumstances.
POSITION: SUPPORT
STATUS: In the House - Hearing Tuesday, 3/07 at 1:00 p.m.
WITNESS SIGNUP DEADLINE: Friday, 3/3 8am-3pm
CALL TO ACTION (in order of IMPACT): Please consider ACTING on ALL or at least ONE of these suggestions
1. IN-PERSON WITNESS TESTIMONY (MOST IMPACTFUL): Create an MGA Account and SIGN UP FOR In-Person Witness Testimony!*
2. WRITTEN TESTIMONY (IMPACTFUL): Create an MGA Account and submit a Written Testimony*
3. SUBMIT YOUR POSTION THROUGH YOUR MGA ACCOUNT (IMPACTFUL) At the bare minimum, we hope all of you will do this!*
4. EMAIL/CALL COMMITTEE MEMBERS (IMPACTFUL): Voice your support by calling and emailing Committee Members (link to House Ways and Means Contact list HERE: http://mfrw.org/house-ways-and-means-group-email-list/ )
*HOW TO TESTIFY AT THE MGA
To sign-up to testify on a bill, you must first make a “MyMGA account”.
You can do so HERE: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Account/Register/Tracking
You will be asked to provide identifying information and a confirmation will be sent to your provided email address. NOTE: ONLY enter an organization in the last field if you've been given express permission and instruction by that organization to speak on its behalf.
SPECIAL NOTE:
The signup window for Senate bills is only available one business day ahead of a bill's hearing between the hours of 8am and 3pm. To speak during a hearing on Monday, one must signup on the preceding Friday.
The signup window for House bills is only available two business days ahead of a bill's hearing between the hours of 8am and 3pm. If a bill is scheduled to be heard on Monday or Tuesday, signup is available on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
Use the Bill Tracking feature to keep track of when your Bill’s window is open
Once you've signed in, navigate to “Witness Signup” which you can get to by clicking the MyMGA logo in the top right of the webpage.
Select the bill or bills you'd like to testify on and whether you are speaking, submitting written testimony, or you can (and we encourage you to!) select "Both." The committee does not have to let you speak, as the Chairs have wide discretion over how the hearing proceeds, but your written testimony and stance will always be with the bill file.
Take your time here and be deliberate with your choices. Review your choices before clicking the Save button toward the top of the chart.
