BALTIMORE — Maryland’s Legislative Black Caucus is prioritizing a slate of bills aimed at equity and justice reform for Maryland youth, while pushing to reverse Gov. Wes Moore’s proposed cuts to education funding.

“We’re saying ‘yes’ to our children,” House Judiciary Committee Vice Chair Sandy Bartlett, an Anne Arundel County Democrat, said at an Annapolis news conference Thursday.

Sponsored by Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Chair Will Smith from Montgomery County and Del. Karen Toles of Prince George’s County, both Democrats, the Youth Equity and Safety, or YES, Act would end the automatic charging of children as adults for certain offenses and reduce the requirement that kids be placed in restrictive housing when they are held in Department of Juvenile Services facilities.

The bill has yet to be introduced. A previous version of it was sponsored in 2023 by former Sen. Jill P. Carter, a Democrat from Baltimore. That legislation would have ensured that children enter the justice system through juvenile court rather than adult criminal court. The burden would have been on the local state’s attorney to petition that the case be waived up to the adult court system.

Currently, children who are charged as adults must petition the court to have their cases sent to juvenile court.

According to Del. Cheryl Pasteur, a Democrat from Prince George’s County, Maryland leads the nation in the incarceration of Black men. Maryland’s prison population is 72% Black, but the state’s overall population is only 31% Black. Bartlett said that the passage of the YES Act could alleviate that inequity.

“The automatic charging process disproportionately affects Black and Brown children, exposing them to unsafe and traumatic experiences within the justice system,” Robin Salter, the Regional Director of Youth Defense for the Maryland Office of the Public Defender, said in a statement. “To think, if prison is used as a punishment system for adults, then placing children — who are still developing mentally, physically, and emotionally — in the adult system is purely torturous. “

Smith said the 2025 version of the bill will be “pared down” from Carter’s previous bill to leave out some of the more violent offenses.

“I deeply believe that we need to end the practice of auto-charging. I believe that, fundamentally,” he said.

Smith also said that, “in any other element of government,” similar actions would be seen as fiscal responsibility and efficiency measures.

“You’re going to save money, you’re going to get better public safety outcomes,” he said, noting that kids who go through the juvenile court system are more likely to get access to services and supports they need than those who are adjudicated in criminal court. “It’s a better way to operate government.”

The Legislative Black Caucus is also prioritizing a bill to strike Maryland’s felony murder rule for children.

Felony murder is akin to guilt by association.

Under current Maryland law, people can be found guilty of murder if someone is killed during the commission of a crime, even if they did not commit the fatal act or know that someone had died. For example, if two people rob a convenience store and one of them ends up killing the clerk, both could be convicted of first-degree murder.

According to Maryland Public Defender Natasha Dartigue, felony murder historically has resulted in mandatory life sentences for those who are convicted, and prosecutors are not required to prove that there was an intent to kill.

Legislation to end the practice would require that the state provide evidence that the person involved in the crime committed murder.

Previous iterations of the bill, which has yet to be introduced, were sponsored in past sessions by Del. Charlotte Crutchfield, a Democrat from Montgomery County.

At a briefing on felony murder in the House Judiciary Committee Thursday, Howard County State’s Attorney Rich Gibson testified in favor of maintaining the policy, calling it “a critical tool for ensuring public safety, deterring dangerous crimes, and delivering justice to victims and their families.”

“Felony murder laws provide justice to victims’ families. They provide fairness because they create a potential outcome that captures the harm committed by the choice of the criminal act,” Gibson said. “Felony murder laws recognize that when criminals act in group, they tend to enable and assist each other, and if they played a role in committing a crime where death resulted, they must face the appropriate consequences.”

Beyond juvenile justice policy, members of the Legislative Black Caucus also have their eyes set on cuts to education funding Gov. Wes Moore made in his proposed budget.

Del. Jheanelle Wilkins, a Montgomery County Democrat and the chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, said community schools are a key priority for the caucus when it comes to implementing the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform plan.

Schools with a higher number of students receiving free and reduced meals can be designated as community schools. These schools offer additional personnel and wraparound services like extended learning time, school-based health services and more mental health services. They are funded through a concentration of poverty grants through the Blueprint.

Under Moore’s proposed budget, however, funding for community schools would be frozen at fiscal 2026 levels, which would impact hundreds of schools across the state.

Moore is planning to make adjustments to the Blueprint, saving $2.5 billion over five years to support future investments in the education plan, according to Maryland Budget Secretary Helene Grady.

“We see this as a significant step for clearing up the Blueprint funds while improving on its execution and focusing on the results for kids,” she said.

The Legislative Black Caucus plans to work to reverse the cuts.

“If we’re talking about halting, pausing, cutting funding, we’re talking about cutting those supports to those students and to those schools that are the most in need,” Wilkins said.

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