The Baltimore City Council gave preliminary approval Monday to a bill that would “ban the box” on job applications that asks about criminal backgrounds and a bill that gives subpoena power to a committee investigating the city’s troubled speed and red light cameras.
Council members amended the “Ban the Box" bill to allow the question to be asked of applicants for jobs involving children, people with developmental disabilities and the elderly. The Archdiocese of Baltimore asked for the amendment, contending they needed it to protect children.
Advocates for the bill say employers use “the box” to unfairly weed out some job applicants. Councilman Nick Mosby, who sponsored the bill, said banning the box is a policy that will improve life in the city.
"It's time that we allowed Baltimoreans, the folks who want real jobs, the best chance and the best shot of getting those jobs," Mosby said, adding that it is "flat out wrong" to bar certain people from fairly competing for jobs.
He called the bill the “most progressive in the country” because it goes beyond municipal jobs and reaches into the private sector.
Councilman Jim Kraft, sponsor of the bill to give the Judiciary and Legislative Investigations committee permanent subpoena power, said it was an effort to clarify the committee’s authority because many believed it already had subpoena power.
"There's a history of this committee having used these powers but there has been a question over the last number of months as whether those powers in the past properly exercised," said Kraft, who chairs the committee.
Final votes on both bills will take place at the next council meeting on March 24.
Other Council Notes
The council also sent a bill that bans smoking within 50 feet of a playground or athletic field to a final vote; doing so after public swimming pools were added to the list...
The council wants final say when it comes to the Board of School Commissioners and schools CEO. Members adopted a resolution asking the Baltimore City Delegation to the General Assembly to sponsor and pass legislation requiring council confirmation of any nominee...
Jim Green, director of government relations with city police, was honored for 22 years of service to the city; the last decade with the police department. Green was appointed as a district court judge by Governor Martin O'Malley in February. Green was joined by his mother, wife and two children at the meeting. Councilmembers lauded Green for his institutional knowledge and professionalism, calling him a class act...
Niles Ford was confirmed as chief of the city fire department with only one no vote - Council President Jack Young. His spokesman Lester Davis said Young personally believes there are qualified candidates in the department to fill that role...