Pamela Beidle

Pamela Graboski Beidle (born July 21, 1951) is an American politician who has served as a member of the Maryland Senate from District 32 since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously represented the district in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2007 to 2019, and was a member of the Anne Arundel County Council from 1998 to 2006.

Early life and education

Beidle was born in Baltimore. She graduated from Archbishop Spalding High School and later attended Anne Arundel Community College, earning her associate degree in business in 1977, and Towson University, where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree magna cum laude in business administration in 1994.

Career

After graduating from AACC, Beidle started her own insurance company, Beidle Insurance Agency, which she ran with her husband until 2017. She was also a member of the Northern Anne Arundel Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Life Underwriters, and served on the boards of Leadership Anne Arundel and Hospice of the Chesapeake.

In 1998, Beidle won election to the Anne Arundel County Council in District 1, succeeding term-limited councilmember George F. Bachman Jr. She was sworn in December 1998, and served until December 4, 2006.

Maryland General Assembly

Beidle was sworn into the Maryland House of Delegates on January 10, 2007. She was a member of the Environmental Matters Committee (later renamed to the Environment and Transportation Committee) during her entire tenure.

In August 2017, Beidle filed to run for the Maryland Senate in District 32 in 2018, seeking to succeed retiring state senator James E. DeGrange Sr., who had encouraged her to run. The district was targeted by the Maryland Republican Party in its "Fight for Five" campaign in 2018. After running unopposed in the primary election, Beidle faced Republican county councilmember John Grasso in the general election, whom she defeated with 66.4 percent of the vote. ''Maryland Matters'' compared the general election to the 2016 United States presidential election, noting that Beidle was deep-rooted in local politics while Grasso had comparatively less political experience, held politically partisan views, and was known for making controversial Facebook posts.

Beidle was sworn into the Maryland Senate on January 9, 2019. She has been a member of the Executive Nominations Committee and the Finance Committee since 2019. In December 2022, Senate President Bill Ferguson appointed Beidle as the chair of the Executive Nominations Committee, a position she gave up to become the chair of the Finance Committee following the resignation of Melony G. Griffith in October 2023.

Personal life

Beidle is married to her husband Len. Together, they have three children.

Political positions

Education

During the 2017 legislative session, Beidle introduced legislation to create an elected school board in Anne Arundel County. The bill passed and became law.

During debate on the Blueprint for Maryland's Future in 2019, Beidle expressed concern with the education reform bill's Concentration of Poverty Grants, which provided extra funds to schools with high populations of students that receive free or reduced-price lunches, saying that she wanted the percentage floor required to receive the grants to be lowered.

Environment

During the 2021 legislative session, Beidle introduced a bill that would require the state to switch to safer alternatives in firefighting foam and ban PFAS chemicals in food packaging.

Gun policy

During the 2013 legislative session, Beidle was one of 18 Democratic state delegates to vote against the Firearm Safety Act of 2013, a bill that placed restrictions on firearm purchases and magazine capacity in semi-automatic rifles.

During the 2019 legislative session, Beidle introduced legislation to repeal of the state's Handgun Permit Review Board, which handled concealed carry applications. The bill passed, but was vetoed by Governor Larry Hogan; the legislature overrode Hogan's veto during the 2020 legislative session. She also voted against Hogan's appointments to the board, claiming that there was "too much secrecy" surrounding the board's decisions.

Health care

In 2019, Beidle voted against the End-of-Life Option Act, which would have provided palliative care to terminally ill adults.

During the 2022 legislative session, Beidle introduced legislation to prohibit health care companies from raising prices on "essential goods or services" by more than 10 percent during a state of emergency. She also introduced a bill requiring Maryland to stay in the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact for an additional eight years, which passed and was signed into law by Governor Larry Hogan.

In April 2022, Beidle spoke in support of legislation to provide paid sick leave, recalling when her business continued to pay a worker who took off after she and her mother were diagnosed with cancer.

Minimum wage

During the 2014 legislative session, Beidle voted against legislation to raise the state's minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by 2017.

Policing

During the 2021 legislative session, Beidle expressed concerns with the Maryland Police Accountability Act, also known as Anton's Law, especially with provisions to repeal the state's Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights, and introduced an amendment to the bill to remove "unfounded and unsubstantiated complaints" from records that could be obtained under the Maryland Public Information Act. The amendment was rejected by the Maryland Senate in a 21-26 vote.

Social issues

In 2012, Beidle voted for the Civil Marriage Protection Act, which legalized same-sex marriage in Maryland.

During the 2021 legislative session, Beidle supported legislation to decriminalize the possession of drug paraphernalia.

Taxes

During the 2013 legislative session, Beidle voted against a bill to index the state's gas tax to inflation to pay for transportation projects. In March 2023, she was one of five Democrats to vote for an amendment that would have repealed this bill.

During the 2022 legislative session, Beidle supported legislation to extend the state's tax on health insurance companies.

Transportation

In June 2002, Beidle said she opposed a proposal to build a maglev line between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. In April 2022, she introduced legislation that would make it more expensive for the Baltimore-Washington Rapid Rail company to build the maglev line by requiring it to pay 25 percent of costs associated with acquiring land through condemnation to the jurisdiction where the land is located.

In 2016, Beidle introduced legislation that would require the Maryland Department of Transportation to use a scoring system to determine which state transportation projects to fund. The bill passed, but was vetoed by Governor Larry Hogan; legislators overrode his veto later that year.

During the 2020 legislative session, Beidle supported legislation to add citizen members to the state's Chesapeake Bay Bridge Reconstruction Advisory Group.

Electoral history

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Beidle, Pamela
1951 births
Living people
21st-century American politicians
21st-century American women politicians
Democratic Party Maryland state senators
Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates
Members of Anne Arundel County Council
People from Linthicum, Maryland
Towson University alumni
Women state legislators in Maryland