Baltimore City is fighting to stop a ballot initiative that would give new parents in the city $1,000 cash infusions, claiming the legislation would be illegal under both state and local laws.
The “Baltimore Baby Bonus” was certified by the Board of Elections on July 1st, 2024, after the Maryland Child Alliance collected more signatures than the ten thousand required.
The alliance claimed on Thursday that it was notified by the Baltimore City Council and the Mayor’s office that a lawsuit to strike the incentive from the ballot had been filed.
“While Mayor Scott is supportive of the proposed amendment’s objectives, charter amendments that effectively commandeer the role of the legislature go against Maryland law and the City’s charter,” the Mayor’s Office stated. “That is why we have directed the Law Department to oppose the amendment as improper, despite our sympathies toward the underlying policy.”
Putting aside the improperness, the city stated that it would not have the resources to continue the program and urged the alliance to support its efforts to lobby the federal government for a universal basic income.
The mayor’s office stated that, “At the local level we currently don’t have the resources to make that type of support permanent, which is why we’re advocating for the federal government to look at the success of guaranteed income pilots like ours to make it possible for more Americans.”
The group behind the initiative stated that the $7 million required for the suggested initiative would be drawn from the general fund of the City, contingent upon an evaluation of property values. But there would be no tax increase.
We are aware of a poll from Brandon Scott’s team showing that Baltimore voters support the Baltimore Baby Bonus.
They are hiding this info from the public. We have submitted a Public Information Act request for them to release the poll.
— Baltimore Baby Bonus (@bbbfund) July 12, 2024
In a social media statement, the Baltimore Baby Bonus Fund termed the lawsuit a “grave disservice to Baltimore’s families and children” and claimed that the mayor’s rhetoric “does not match his budget.”
Scott supported the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund in 2016 while he was a councilman, and the group claimed that its founders “rigorously studied case law to ensure that our proposal was permissible” and removed the funding structure from that organization.
“In reality, this is about power and taking away city voters’ opportunity to enact the Baby Bonus Fund,” the group stated. “We are fully confident that the courts will reject this attack on democracy.”
