House Elects New Speaker; Democrats Override Reparations Veto

– photo courtesy of Delegate Nino Magoine–

A Special Session was called by Governor Wes Moore on Tuesday to elect a new Speaker of the House after Speaker Adrienne Jones gave up the position.

Democrats were able to unite out of session and verbally selected Joseline Pena-Melnyk.

Instead of waiting until the first day of session to officially elect Pena-Melnyk, Democrats had to waste taxpayer money on a Special Session.

Although the Democrats did get some other work done and thanked the governor for calling the session by overriding some of his vetoes from the 2025 Session.

The main bill that was overridden was Senate Bill 587 – State Government – Maryland Reparations Commission.

The bill “establishes the Maryland Reparations Commission to study and make recommendations regarding potential benefits for individuals whose ancestors were enslaved in the State or who were affected by certain inequitable government policies.”

All Republicans in the House and Senate voted to abstain Moore’s veto but every Democrat in both chambers voted to override their Democratic governor’s veto.