New laws passed, others yet to be voted on, as Prince George’s Co. Council ends year

The Prince George s County Council is getting ready to wrap up its legislative year with a busy final two days of the session On Monday the council passed what s been dubbed as Zoey s Law The new law which passed by a - vote is named after -year-old Zoey Harrison who was killed in a crash caused by a someone trying to run from police She was one of three people killed within a -day span earlier this year The new law which will take effect in early aims to bring municipal police departments in line with the county s protocol of not pursuing someone in a bicycle unless they know the driver committed either a felony or violent misdemeanor or was likely to cause death or serious injury No child should ever or family have to ever go through what my family is going through mentioned Gina Pryor Zoey s grandmother after the bill s final passage This is a citizens vitality a residents safety issue and so we have to be mindful of the people at hand here We just can t be riding around like we want to and then think that nothing s going to happen The council can t require municipalities take up the new law but once the bill takes effect any municipal department that has any type of memorandum of understanding with the county department will have to abide by that provision to keep the agreement in place If they do not and they re not willing to follow the standard then they re not by law able to have an current MOU with the county police department of any kind reported Council member Krystal Oriadha who championed the new law The next aspect of Zoey s law will be taken up by state lawmakers in Annapolis Oriadha noted she s working with State Del Nicole Williams so that anyone who causes a fatal crash while running from police faces felony charges for doing so When I detected out that it s just a misdemeanor it would not be a felony it was critical for me to change that Oriadha reported WTOP People that are evading the law and that are committing a crime when doing so have to understand this isn t going to be a slap on the wrist We re not going to let this go The bill also requires departments to issue annual reports about van pursuits including whether or not they caused a crash injury or didn t abide by departmental policies What s on the agenda While the final day of votes on Tuesday will include regulation that reverses the county s ban on pit bulls and moves money around to pay the county executive s staff millions more than what was budgeted earlier this year the council also met for a rare Monday session to vote on a pile of bills Bills that passed include law banning the stopping or parking of vehicles in bike lanes on county roads The bill was championed by Council member Eric Olson who represents College Park and is hopeful the state will enact a similar law for state roads The council also fixed a loophole in a previous bill that indexed the minimum wage to inflation by agreeing to increase payment to what are known as direct promotion professionals people who help take care of the elderly and disabled for instance After the original bill passed there was concern that nonprofits would struggle to hire support workers without the extra boost in pay they get from the state and county Failure to address wages for direct sponsorship professionals when increasing minimum wage will drive up turnover and cause instability in services to vulnerable people with complex requirements explained April Gower-Getz executive director of the Prince George s County Provider Council This provision is a substantial step forward in ensuring that these professionals who serve our most of vulnerable residents can keep pace with the rising costs of living The council wraps up its work for the year on Tuesday with what is usually a marathon session of votes On the agenda are bills dealing with incentives aimed at driving up locally-owned businesses Another bill would allow county employees to use sick leave in order to attend legal proceedings including immigration hearings The council will also take up a resolution to scrutiny the feasibility of a county-owned grocery store Also on the agenda is a bill that would move around about million to the general fund About million of that would be used to pay people on new County Executive Aisha Braveboy s staff an office that was fully funded by the budget the council just passed shortly before Braveboy was elected In all it would boost the amount of money needed to compensate her band from about million to almost million With the county facing about a million deficit next year Braveboy defended the bump in pay by saying it was about right sizing her office But the matter is raising questions from specific activists around the county Why do we need these extra funds in the executive s office sought Dan Smith a -year resident of Cheverly Where are they coming from What is not being funded There just seems to be no transparency about what s going on The law says the money for that and other reallocations is coming from a boost in property tax revenue and money from the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission We went through a lot of effort and process to get a budget developed and now they re without really any scrutiny or explanation to the inhabitants moving things around Smith explained Source