Legislative Session

The 2023 Legislative Session, February 11, 2023 (snow date February 18), is an in-person conference at Wheaton High School in Montgomery County.   This conference is only open to MASC Member Schools.   (January 4– January 25, 2023, advisors may register students from their school.)

There are openly shared documents from MASC’s Google Drive on this page.  Often a school system will block access to documents or drives outside of their system.  If you cannot access a document, please use a personal account and not a school account as when MASC receives a request for access, the response is also blocked.

Legislative Session 2023 is for MASC Member Schools ONLY

Workshop presenter information is at the bottom of the page.

• Saturday, February 11, 2023
• Location: Wheaton High School, Montgomery County
• On-Site Check-In: 8:00-9:00 a.m.
• Event Times: 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
• Candidate campaigning times (8:00-9:00 a.m. and during lunch)
• Registration opens Wednesday, January 4, 2023
• Registration closes
at 11:59 p.m., Wednesday, January 25
       – no extensions due to behind-the-scenes data work needed and ordering of food
• Signed Registration invoice (scan and email) deadline: 11:59 p.m., Monday, January 30, 2023
• Cost:  $30 for students and advisors ($25 for approved, selected presenters)

Note:  Cost includes light morning refreshments, lunch, on-site nurse, materials, and other behind the scene expenses.

• Agenda: LegSes Agenda 2023
Meet the SMOB candidates’ posts with speeches, virtual town hall registration, social media, etc. (link)
Legislative Session Frequently Asked Questions (link to MASC web page)
• Link to Pre-Filed Legislation: link to MASC legislation page
• Legislative Session General Assembly Standing Rules
• Student Member on the Board of Education Election Rules
• Parli-pro flow chart (pdf file)
• Bills flow chart (how a bill becomes law): PDF file MD-GA-BillFlowchart

Important Information:
Meet the student member on the Board of Education candidates:  click here

Please note that candidates must follow all campaign rules!  Prior to the interviews, all candidates are sent a copy of the campaign rules. Campaigning, as defined by the election rules (see link below) is, “The public statement of one’s candidacy to voting or non-voting delegates; the act of persuading voters to bolster one’s candidacy; the act of distributing materials directly related to a candidate by that candidate and/or the candidate’s campaign staff; any action that is directly related to assisting a person’s candidacy. Buying and preparing materials do not constitute Campaigning and Electioneering.”  Candidates may ONLY campaign on social media.

Students will attend workshops, listen to SMOB candidates speeches, participate in a Q&A session, vote for their top two choices for SMOB, discuss and vote on the revised MASC platform and youth-related bills in the Maryland General Assembly.

New delegates will attend the Bills and Advocacy and the SMOB workshops and returning delegates will attend the Bills and Advocacy/SMOB review workshop and Values and Decision Making in Leadership workshop.

Registration: NOTE: The registration process requires each advisor to create an account for his/her school.  This account will be used for each big MASC event.  It’s quick and easy.  Just follow the instructions on the page the registration link takes you to. (Once you have an account, you will use that for all of our MASC big events and have regular access to invoices, etc., all in one place!  With a login, the registration process is clearer and quicker than before!)

Registration is open for three weeks – Wednesday, January 4 through 11:59 p.m., Wednesday, January 25, 2023.
• Be sure to read the Registration Checklist and fill out the Registration Worksheet (links below).
• Click HERE to register.
PLEASE – Advisors only.  Students are not authorized to register a school delegation or themselves.

 

IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS
• Emergency Form: (PDF EmergencyForm2023LegSes) (Word EmergencyForm2023LegSes)
• Registration postmark deadline/or scanned form emailed; Monday, January 30, 2023. The signed invoice and payment guarantee must be postmarked or submitted electronically by this date.
• Registration Checklist (Instructions): pdf – RegistrationChecklist-LEG2023 Word – RegistrationChecklist-LEG2023
• Registration Worksheet: pdf – RegistrationWorksheet-LEG2023   Word – RegistrationWorksheet-LEG2023
• Check out this tutorial: Registration Tutorial (from 2016)
• Check out the new resource: Registration FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
(from 2016)

• Watch this short informational video from the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 State SMOBs!  (link to video)
• Read the candidate resumes and personal statements
Virtual SMOB Town Hall Webinar: 7:00 – 8:00 p.m., Tuesday, February 7
Virtual SMOB Town Hall Registration: January 18 – February 5, 2023

*  Candidates will be campaigning through social media.  In addition, the candidates’ optional pre-event speeches and “Meet the Candidates” voters guide will be published before the event so all attendees will be able to view and learn a little about the candidates before the event. 

The second major conference of the school year is the Legislative Session! Following our theme of the year, “The Magic of MASC – Spellbinding Leadership,” students will discover new areas of leadership, take stances on youth-related bills in the Maryland General Assembly, and participate in electing the final two candidates for the student member of the State Board of Education!

Delegates that are new to the Legislative Session attend workshops focused on advocacy and legislative business that will allow them to learn about the student members around the state and at the state level, how the legislative process works, and discover how they can become involved.  Delegates that have attended the Legislative Session in the past will attend workshops that have not been presented previously and will focus on building existing leadership skills.

Prior to this event, selected candidates from across the state will be campaigning on social media for the position of 2023-2024 student member on the State Board of Education (SMOB). As a member school of MASC, delegates vote on which two candidates MASC will recommend to the Governor for his final appointment.  Each candidate will deliver a speech of his or her composition and will participate in a question and answer period. During this time, delegates will have the opportunity to submit written questions and will hear candidates’ responses to the randomly selected questions.  Questions center around candidates’ experience, platform, goals, ideas, and other appropriate topics that will help distinguish the top contenders.  

Workshop Presenter Information:

Certified student presenters from MASC member schools are invited to apply to be workshop presenters at the Legislative Session.  Only MASC currently certified/recertified presenters from MASC member schools should apply.  After completing the workshop presenter application, when the regular Legislative Session Registration opens, workshop presenters will work with their school’s advisor to be properly registered for this event at a discounted registration fee.

Note – workshops for this event are prepared for the presenters.  Presenters will not need to write a workshop.  School Advisor permission IS REQUIRED to be a presenter at this event.

Presenters must be from a MASC member school and be available to attend the in-person January 21st training and the February 11th conference at Wheaton High School, Montgomery County

Workshop Presenter application – (open now through 11:59 p.m., Saturday, January 10, 2023) – MUST BE FROM A MEMBER SCHOOL
•  Presenter application:  Google form link   closes at 11:59 p.m., Saturday, January 10, 2023