WMAL Interview - NIC KIPKE - 04.05.17

Interview – MD Delegate NIC KIPKE – House Republican Leader, Maryland General Assembly and Minority Leader in the MD House of Delegates

Preview MD legislative session ending on April 10th and what’s been accomplished vs what legislation didn’t make it through
Less than a week remains in the Maryland General Assembly’s legislative session and lawmakers still have a lot of work left to do on issues like paid sick leave and medical marijuana.
National politics still driving Dems in Annapolis, GOP lawmakers say. (Maryland Reporter) — A late attempt to introduce an Internet privacy bill on Monday illustrated a common complaint from the Republican minority this session: Democrats continue to make Washington politics their priority. House Majority Leader Bill Frick asked the House of Delegates to allow introduction of an emergency bill to prevent Internet service providers from selling or sharing personal information without notification and consent of their customers. Frick’s eleventh hour pitch on the House floor was an attempt to replace an Obama-era FCC rule that was repealed by the Republican controlled Congress last week. House Minority Leader Nic Kipke said the bill was just another attempt by Democrats to bring national politics into the General Assembly. “We see this as [one in a] series of bills that have been introduced this year that’s intended to drag us into the Congress of the United States,” Kipke said. “This was our opportunity to say no and we had the votes to sustain it.” Kipke, R-Anne Arundel, echoed McMillan and said the bill would not fix the issue of privacy across the Internet. He said Internet users were exposed to privacy risks using Google and Yahoo and that the solution was in Washington. “Let’s have a comprehensive look at this issue, preferably in Washington, D.C.,” Kipke said.