ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Maryland's new House speaker says she will "most likely" push to protect abortion rights in the state's constitution next year, as her predecessor sought to do this year.
House Speaker Adrienne Jones said Thursday she expects the issue to come back before Maryland lawmakers, especially after Alabama's governor signed the strictest-in-the-nation abortion ban.
Her predecessor, Michael Busch, introduced a constitutional amendment this year to protect abortion rights in Maryland's constitution. But Busch, who died last month, withdrew the proposal, after Maryland's Senate president said ballot questions should be approved in the year they go before voters.
Maryland voters won't go to the polls again until next year.
A constitutional amendment requires a three-fifths vote in the House and Senate to put it on the ballot for voters to decide.
Comptroller Peter Franchot
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Maryland's comptroller says he's urging the state's pension system to divest itself from Alabama-based companies due to the state's strictest-in-the-nation abortion ban.
In a Facebook post Thursday, Comptroller Peter Franchot said the law was "a malicious assault on the rights and protections of women everywhere."
Franchot, a Democrat elected in a statewide vote, is the vice chairman of Maryland's State Retirement and Pension System. He says he's asking the system to undertake a review of all relationships the system has with businesses in Alabama.
He says that will include an inventory of assets that are invested in Alabama-based companies, as well as all investment managers, brokers and consultants that are headquartered, or have regional offices, in the state.
He's also asking that no system employees travel to Alabama.
