Nancy J. King
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Nancy J. King (born October 7, 1949) is an American politician who is a member of the
Maryland Senate The Maryland Senate, sometimes referred to as the Maryland State Senate, is the upper house of the General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. Composed of 47 senators elected from an equal number of constituent single-m ...
from the 39th district since 2007. A member of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
, she has served as the majority leader of the Maryland Senate since 2020. King previously represented the district in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2003 to 2007.


Early life and education

King was born in Niagara Falls, New York, where she graduated from LaSalle High School and attended Niagara County Community College from 1967 to 1969. She later moved to
Montgomery Village, Maryland Montgomery Village is a census-designated place (CDP) in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, and a northern suburb of Washington, D.C. It is a large, planned suburban community, developed in the late 1960s and 1970s just outside Gaithers ...
, where she became the vice president of her family's consulting and forensic engineering company, Trecor Inc., in 1987.


Political career

King was appointed to the Montgomery Village Foundation Board of Directors, where she served from 1991 to 1996. In 1993, she became the president of the Montgomery County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations. King was elected to represent the first district of the Montgomery County Board of Education in 1994, serving until her election to the Maryland House of Delegates in 2002. During her tenure, King served as the board's president from 1997 to 1998 and from 2000 to 2001, and was critical of Montgomery County Executive
Doug Duncan Douglas Michael Duncan (born October 25, 1955) is a former American politician from Maryland who served as Rockville City Councilman, Rockville Mayor, Montgomery County Executive, and candidate for Governor of Maryland. He is a member of the D ...
's fiscal conservatism, especially toward cuts to the county's education funding. She also supported expanding the school system's
school resource officer The United States Department of Justice defines School Resource Officer (SRO) as "sworn law enforcement officers responsible for safety and crime prevention in schools." SROs are employed by a local police or sheriff's agency and work closely w ...
program following the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
, supported studying later start times for classes, and reduced standardized testing.


Maryland House of Delegates

King was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 2002, and was sworn in on January 8, 2003. She served on the Ways and Means Committee and as deputy majority whip from 2006 to 2007.


Maryland Senate

In July 2007, following the resignation of Patrick J. Hogan, King applied to serve the remainder of his term in the Maryland Senate. She was appointed to the seat by Governor Martin O'Malley and was sworn in on September 5, 2007. King was elected to a full term in 2010 after defeating state delegate
Saqib Ali Saqib is the Persian pronunciation originally from the Arabic name, Thaqib (ثاقب ''thāqib''), is a masculine given name which means "influential notion of the well-chosen, the truthful". Notable people with this name include: * Saqib Ali (bor ...
in a competitive primary election in which she ran with the backing of the Maryland Democratic Party establishment and used campaign material to try to embarrass Ali. King has served as a member of the Budget and Taxation Committee since 2007, and was its chair in 2019, and has been a member of the Executive Nominations Committee, the Rules Committee, and the Legislative Policy Committee since 2019. In January 2018, she delivered the Democratic response to Governor Larry Hogan's State of the State Address. In July 2019, King endorsed former vice president Joe Biden in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries. She would later serve as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention pledged to Biden. In December 2019, after
Thomas V. Miller Jr. Thomas Vincent Miller Jr. (December 3, 1942 – January 15, 2021), known as Mike Miller, was an American politician from Maryland. He had been a Maryland Senate, state senator representing the 27th District (Calvert County, Maryland, Calvert, Ch ...
said he would not seek re-election as
president of the Maryland Senate The president of the Maryland Senate is elected by the State Senate. The incumbent is Bill Ferguson who has held the role since 2020. The Maryland Constitution of 1864 created the new position of Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, elected by the vot ...
, King explored running to succeed him but ultimately decided against it. In January 2020, following the election of Bill Ferguson as Senate president, Ferguson appointed King to serve as majority leader of the Maryland Senate.


Personal life

King is married and has three children.


Political positions


Education

In 2001, King supported efforts to repeal the county's ban on cell phones in the classroom, calling it a "security blanket" for students and parents amid the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
. In 2002, King said she opposed condom demonstrations in sex education classes, arguing that it was the responsibility of parents to teach their children how to use contraceptives. During the 2007 legislative session, King introduced legislation to prohibit student school board members from voting on personnel matters. In 2011, King voted for Maryland's Dream Act, a bill that extended
in-state tuition Tuition payments, usually known as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in Commonwealth English, are fees charged by education institutions for instruction or other services. Besides public spending (by governments and other public bo ...
for
undocumented immigrants Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwar ...
. During the 2014 legislative session, King introduced a bill to stop the state from administering the Maryland School Assessment. In 2015, King introduced a bill to provide $20 million annually to allow Montgomery County to issue $700 million in bonds for school construction. During the 2018 legislative session, King introduced a bill to allow school districts to extend their school calendar up to five days past the state's June 15 deadline for closing schools without needing permission from the
Maryland State Department of Education Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) is a division of the state government of Maryland in the United States. The agency oversees public school districts, which are 24 local school systems—one for each of Maryland's 23 counties plus one ...
. The bill passed and was signed into law by Governor Larry Hogan. In 2019, she supported a bill that would repeal Hogan's executive order requiring schools to start after Labor Day and dismissed proposals from Hogan to hold a referendum on school start dates, calling it "silly" and "unnecessary". During debate on the Blueprint for Maryland's Future bill in 2020, King introduced an amendment that would reduce funding for the Blueprint implementation if the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
reduced the state's revenues. The amendment was added to the bill.


Gambling

During the 2014 legislative session, King introduced a bill to repeal Maryland's ban on placing wagers on games of poker played at home. In 2020, she introduced legislation creating a ballot referendum to repeal the state's ban on
sports betting Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. The frequency of sports bet upon varies by culture, with the vast majority of bets being placed on association football, American football, basket ...
, which passed and was approved by voters in November 2020. In 2023, she proposed a ballot referendum on legalizing
online gambling Online gambling is any kind of gambling conducted on the internet. This includes virtual poker, casinos and sports betting. The first online gambling venue opened to the general public was ticketing for the Liechtenstein International Lottery i ...
.


Gun policy

During the 2006 legislative session, King supported a bill that would allow for the confiscation of weapons before a judge orders a final protective order. During the 2013 legislative session, King voted for the Firearms Safety Act, a bill that placed restrictions on firearm purchases and magazine capacity in
semi-automatic rifle A semi-automatic rifle is an autoloading rifle that fires a single cartridge with each pull of the trigger, and uses part of the fired cartridge's energy to eject the case and load another cartridge into the chamber. For comparison, a bolt-a ...
s.


Israel

In November 2023, King and eight other state senators signed a joint letter that threatened to defund immigrants rights group CASA de Maryland because it had called for an immediate ceasefire in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war and condemned the "utilization of US tax dollars to promote the ongoing violence."


Social issues

In 1996, King abstained from voting on a bill to ban discrimination against homosexuals in public education, saying that she thought the county no longer needed to spell out what groups needed special protections. In 1997, she voted against allowing a high school television production class to air a debate about
same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...
on the school's public cable channel. In 2006, King voted to uphold a committee decision blocking a bill to amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage. During her 2010 Senate campaign, she called legalizing same-sex marriage a "very, very difficult issue in our district" but said she would vote for it if a bill to do so was introduced. She voted for the Civil Marriage Protection Act in 2011 and 2012. In June 2001, King said she would support renaming an elementary school in
Germantown Germantown or German Town may refer to: Places Australia * Germantown, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region United States * Germantown, California, the former name of Artois, a census-designated place in Glenn County * Ge ...
after Lillian B. Brown, a retired Black teacher who taught at a nearby school during
segregation Segregation may refer to: Separation of people * Geographical segregation, rates of two or more populations which are not homogenous throughout a defined space * School segregation * Housing segregation * Racial segregation, separation of humans ...
. During the 2013 legislative session, King voted to repeal the death penalty. In 2019, King supported the End-of-Life Option Act, which would have provided
palliative care Palliative care (derived from the Latin root , or 'to cloak') is an interdisciplinary medical caregiving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Wit ...
to terminally ill adults, likening it to getting an abortion.


Taxes

During the 2013 legislative session, King introduced legislation to give Lockheed Martin $450,000 in tax breaks. In 2018, she supported a bill providing $5.6 billion in tax incentives to
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...
to build their second headquarters in Montgomery County. During the 2019 legislative session, King introduced a bill that would provide tax credits toward child and dependent care costs. The bill passed and was signed into law by Governor Larry Hogan.


Transportation

King supports proposals to add
high-occupancy toll lane A high-occupancy toll lane (or HOT lane) is a type of traffic lane or roadway that is available to high-occupancy vehicles and other exempt vehicles without charge; other vehicles are required to pay a variable fee that is adjusted in response ...
s to Interstate 270 and the
Capital Beltway The Capital Beltway is a Interstate Highway in the Washington metropolitan area that surrounds Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and its inner suburbs in adjacent Maryland and Virginia. It is the basis of the phrase " inside ...
. In April 2021, she criticized a bill that would require more scrutiny over state
public–private partnership A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sector institutions.Hodge, G. A and Greve, C. (2007), Public–Private Partnerships: An International Performance Review, Public Adminis ...
s as an "attempt to add time and costs" to the highway projects. King blocked the bill from receiving a vote after Maryland Transportation Secretary Pete Rahn said it would result in a three-year delay to the highway projects.


Electoral history


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Nancy J. 1949 births 21st-century American legislators 21st-century American women politicians Living people Democratic Party Maryland state senators Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates People from Montgomery Village, Maryland Politicians from Niagara Falls, New York School board members in Maryland Women state legislators in Maryland 21st-century Maryland politicians