Follow Up and Open Board Seat

Hello everyone!

Summer is usually quiet at the MVA and in Maryland but it will get more busy as we lead up to session which starts the 2^nd Wednesday in January and runs for 90 days. We have a few things to report and a few things to discuss as an organization.

First of all a big thank you to Candice and Chuck Gott who attended the Maryland association of Counties event this year in Ocean City. I was only able to make it down there for 1 event this year but I’m glad we had proper representation.

Here is a list of all the legislative touches we had at MACO:

President of Black Caucus Daryl Barnes

Sen. Brian Feldman

Del. Mark Edelson

Dem. Candidate for Governor Wes Moore

Senate President Bill Ferguson

Sen. Antonio Hayes

Dem. Candidate for Comptroller Brooke Lierman

Del. J B Jennings

Sen. Ben Kramer

Sen. Steve Hershey

Chief of Staff for speaker Jeremy Baker

Speaker of the House Adrienne Jones

Del. (soon to be Senator) Ben Brooks

Del. Mike Rogers

It is important that we attend these events every year because it helps build relationships and moves us closer to keep the vaping industry alive in Maryland. If you would like to attend next years event. Please let us know, the more the merrier!

There have been a few changes within the MVA that need addressed. One is that https://organization.voxel.guide/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/handshake.jpg Cage has moved across state lines and opened a vape shop and she has left the MVA so we have an open board seat available. If you would like to help out we will do nominations at the next meeting. We wish https://organization.voxel.guide/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/handshake.jpg the best of luck in her future endeavors.

Also our lead Lobbyist Isaac has left Compass Govt. Relations and moved onto a company where he will be lobbying in the clean energy sector and Tyler and Hannah will be taking over our account.

We have been working on our own legislation to prepare for the upcoming session starting in January. Nothing is set in stone at this point but it is in our back pocket and will discuss further in detail in our next organizational meeting.

We feel that the AVM(American Vapor Manufacturers) is leading the way in our industry right now. Recently 4 major companies have won their lawsuits against the FDA and also Greg Conolly has joined their ranks and we feel that we should support those who are taking action in our industry. We will talk more about this at next meeting. Since we plan to support AVM we are taking another look at members and dues and who is paying and not paying. If you need to update payment information or need direction, don’t hesitate to ask any board member and we will help you to the best of our ability. We will try our best to reach out to those who are not paying and try to update their payment or remove them from the MVA chat if they decide not to participate anymore. The MVA has accomplished a lot since its inception, and we pay a hefty sum of money for great lobbying representation and this industry is very pay to play so we try to keep this in mind as we move forward.

The next MVA organizational meeting will be on September 14, 2022 at 6pm where we will discuss and report the following:

Report from and introduce Tyler from Compass

Legislative strategy for the upcoming session

Joining of AVM and associated costs

Nominations for new board member