By Adam Pagnucco.
County Executive Marc Elrich has expressed concerns to the county council about Council Member Will Jawando’s bill to mandate provision of menstrual products in bathrooms. While Elrich supports the bill, he believes that it will be a “major challenge” to enforce it.
In a December 11 memo to the council, Elrich wrote the following.
The bill will present a major challenge for DHHS to inspect public restrooms for menstrual products, even if only on a complaint-driven basis. The responsibility for inspection of complaints will fall on Licensure and Regulatory Services which already struggles with staffing levels to keep up with both state- and county-mandated inspection. An increase in Environmental Health specialist staff is recommended based on the number of businesses which will be impacted by the bill.
He also wrote this.
Bill 42-23 will have a fiscal impact on County facilities, particularly facilities heavily visited by the public, such as libraries and recreation centers. To ensure the success of such a program, the Department of Recreation would need an increase in operating funds, procurement assistance with contracts and various resources to ensure compliance.
Furthermore, Elrich would like the council to offer businesses incentives or grants to help them provide the products. That would increase the cost of passing the bill.
Part of this reflects a natural tension between the executive and legislative branches that I recall from my time working at the council. Council members and their staff delight in dreaming up new bills that would help residents and businesses and also garner political credit. It’s the executive branch that has to deal with the daily realities of enforcing them. That’s why we often held meetings with department officials prior to introducing bills in their subject areas. Sometimes we could head off problems through tweaking bill drafts. Sometimes there would be fights. That was the customary give and take between the branches.
This issue is a bit more than that. Elrich has previously expressed concern that county regulators are getting overloaded by enforcement requirements of new legislation. One example is that the county had to raid reserves to hire people to design and enforce rent control. The current county council is an activist body intent on expanding the role of government. If they continue to introduce these kinds of bills at their current pace, they risk straining the county’s regulatory ability as well as significantly increasing its enforcement costs over time.
Elrich’s full memo to the council appears below.