A slew of new laws went into effect on Oct. 1 passed by the Maryland state legislature in the spring. Some new laws address health and safety from car seat rules to reducing waitlists for access to Medicaid waivers and a study to better understand suicide. Maryland's youngest passengers get more protection as now anyone transporting a child under the age of 2 is now required to use a rear-facing car seat that meets federalregulations.
Offenders will get a written warning for the first offense and then have to pay a $50 fine for each subsequent offense.
Fifteen other states, along with the District of Columbia, already require rear-facing seats for babies.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Highway and Transportation Administration recommend that children ride in rear-facing safety seats for as long as possible until they reach the height and weight limit allowed by the manufacturer for front-facing use.
Car seats reduce the risk of fatalities in a crash by 71% for infants and 54% for toddlers when installed correctly, according to statistics from the Maryland Department of Transportation.
Thousands of people are on waitlists for health care programs offered by the state, a new law seeks to change that.
Maryland offers a handful of Medicaid waiver programs ranging from care for people with traumatic brain injuries to services for children with autism.
A new law requires the Maryland Department of Health to submit a plan by Jan. 1, 2023 about how to reduce wait lists for seven of the programs by 50% and to implement that plan by next fall.
The waitlist for the Autism Spectrum Disorder waiver program had more than 6,200 people, as of September 2021.
The plan will assess whether the programs need to recruit and retain new providers, expand the capacity of the programs or change reimbursement rates.
To meet the goals for just the autism waiver program, the state’s Medicaid expenditures could increase by nearly $25 million each year.
Implementing those plans could range in the tens of millions of dollars for costs, according to the law’s fiscal and policynote.
Another law that went into effect is meant to tackle underling causes for suicide. It establishes a state suicide fatality review committee to identity and address factors contributing to suicide and to find ways to prevent them.
The number of suicides increased by 37% between 2000 and 2018. In 2020, there were 650 suicides in Maryland, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. There were more deaths by suicide than homicide, according to state law enforcement data.
Members of the committee will serve three-year terms. The new law sets aside about $300,000 each year until 2027 to fund the committee.
The panel will meet quarterly and “make determinations regarding issues related to individuals at risk for suicide, specifically trends, risk factors, current best practices in suicide prevention, lapses in systemic responses, and barriers to safety and well-being, and strategies for the prevention of suicide deaths,” according to the bill’s fiscal and policy note.
