MANNO HAILED AS
“HERO OF WORKING FAMILIES”
Silver Spring, MD – This week freshman State Delegate Roger Manno was hailed as a "Hero of Working Families" after receiving the highest legislative score according to the Progressive Maryland Education Fund (PMEF), a non-profit, non-partisan organization that monitors and reports on public policy issues of concern to working families.
Manno and advocates for working families after committee consideration
of HB644, the "Apprenticeship Opportunities Act"
Manno’s score of 98 percent, well over the statewide average of 67 percent, was the highest score achieved on the group's 2009 statewide Scorecard, tied with Delegate Cheryl Glenn (Baltimore City) and Senator Jamie Raskin (Takoma Park). This is Manno’s second straight year in the top spot.
Governor O'Malley's recent bill signing of the Apprenticeship Opportunities Act
This year, PMEF scored a number of key initiatives, including The Workplace Fraud Act (SB 909), The Fair Share Act (SB 264), Prevailing Wage – Suits by Employees (SB 406), and Manno’s Apprenticeship Opportunity Act (HB 644) and “Shift Break Worker Relief Act” (HB 16).
Manno addressing huge crowd at a recent labor rally in Annapolis
“These have been a tough few years for working families and small businesses who are struggling through this economic downturn,” stated Manno. “Every day I receive calls, letters and emails from families who are loosing their homes, jobs and health care -- from small business owners who are closing shop or laying off employees due to the skyrocketing costs of providing health care for their workers and the uneven playing field in which they must compete -- from workers who are at a competitive disadvantage do to the lack of available skills-training and workforce development -- and increasingly, from small and family-owned farms that have been under downward pressure from large multi-national enterprises and developers who seek to gobble up these smaller shops or rezone that green space for redevelopment. It’s a dangerous trend because in most cases, once we loose those Maryland jobs and businesses, they don’t come back. I try to focus on their struggles every day, and throughout my work in Annapolis.”
Manno interviewed on Inside Annapolis, discusses
HB16, the “Shift Break Worker Relief Act”
Manno’s high overall score was largely attributable to his highest “leadership score”, which accounts for 20 percent of a legislator’s overall score. “Many of the legislative solutions that we advocated for or advanced were difficult political lifts. How we vote is some indicator of that work, but the vast majority of what we do is the leadership that is done behind the scenes. In fact, in my estimation, 95 percent of who a legislator is, philosophically and politically, is that work that most people never see -- the water that we carry and the bullets we take between votes when no one is looking -- in order to advance the public interest. I am pleased that PMEF makes the effort to appraise that.”
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