SPH Students Makes a Difference at Maryland General Assembly

On a visit to the Maryland General Assembly in March, we had the chance to catch up with Monica Machado, a UMD SPH graduate student working on completing her Masters in Health Administration this spring. She shared with us some of her experiences as an intern for Delegate Hubbard and how they relate to public health.

How did you end up interning with Delegate Hubbard?

I first met Delegate Hubbard and learned about his relationship with the School of Public Health and the University of Maryland on a field trip to the Maryland State Assembly in my Health Policy and Politics course in Spring 2010. On the field trip, we learned about his bills on BPA in baby bottles and chemicals in detergents. He emphasized that he thought very highly of UMD SPH and that in the past he had had interns from the school. He encouraged the students in my class to apply for an internship the next year and to encourage fellow students as well. Since then, I have had my eye set on getting the internship. Wes Queen in SPH knew about my intentions, so in the fall of 2010 when Delegate Hubbard’s office was looking for students to help organize student volunteers for the primary campaign, Wes asked if I was interested. I took the opportunity and I got PHEAR (Public Health Engaging and Representing) involved. I organized five students to help at the polls. Delegate Hubbard won the primary and then I volunteered at the polls for the general elections. After he won the general election, I contacted his office and applied for the internship. Delegate Hubbard has a good relationship with many of the faculty and staff in my Department. I was well recommended and soon started on the paperwork to make me official! I started my Capstone Experience/Project during the first week of the legislative session in January 2011.

My time interning with Delegate Hubbard is my Capstone Experience and it is structured similarly to an internship. My Capstone Project is on how to effectively advance state-level health policy and the role of academia and research on health policy. I am working on a specific bill, which will serve as a case study for my larger project.

What do you like most about it?

I really like the excitement about all of the bills being discussed and having up to the minute details about the progress of some of the more controversial bills (gay marriage was the biggest one). I really like the pace here. The beginning of session was sort of slow because there weren’t too many bills introduced because it was an election year.

What are your major responsibilities?

My main responsibility is researching, coordinating, and providing testimony on one bill. This includes finding out what other states have done on the issue, looking at federal recommendations, finding the legislative history, talking to advocacy groups, helping to draft amendments, preparing testimony, and delivering testimony to a committee. 

After that, I provide support for the many other bills that Delegate Hubbard sponsors. This includes making copies of testimony, getting amendments, drafting letters, and talking with constituents, lobbyists, and advocates.

Which bill are you supporting and why?

The bill I am working on is HB1150: Trauma-Informed Care. I chose to work on this bill because I am interested in patient safety and because it was grounded in research. This bill calls for improved patient safety in state mental health facilities, including training and separating male and female bedrooms. This bill was originally written by the Maryland Disability Law Center, which is the designated Protection and Advocacy agency for the State of Maryland, mandated to advance the civil rights of people with disabilities. They approached Delegate Hubbard to ask him to be the sponsor for the bill and after reviewing it, he agreed.

How is the bill progressing?

The House bill has been cross-filed (the same language as the House bill) in the Senate (SB 556), and was discussed by Senate committees earlier in the session than the House bill was. I provided my testimony to the Health and Government Operations Committee on March 17^th. In the Senate, the committee members, the MDLC, and the Mental Hygiene Administration (they must implement the bill) have come up with amendments that all parties can live with, and the bill is going to be voted out of committee soon.  In the House, the bill has not yet been assigned to a sub-committee, but we have already drafted amendments to match what happened in the Senate. The next steps are to discuss the House bill in a committee hearing and approve the amendments. After that it will be voted out of committee, voted on the floor, and then sent to the Senate to make the second to last approval. After that, it goes to the Governor to sign.

At the current point in the process, there have been some compromises on the bill, and it looks like the bill will pass!