Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, City Council sue to remove ‘unlawful’ Baby Bonus from ballot

BALTIMORE — Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and the City Council filed a lawsuit aiming to remove the Baby Bonus from the ballot, according to a Thursday filing in Baltimore Circuit Court.

The bonus, a $1,000 payment to city residents following the birth or adoption of a child, was designed to combat child poverty in the city. The initiative, started by the Maryland Child Alliance, a group of educational professionals, garnered 14,000 signatures from city voters and was certified by the Board of Elections to be on the ballot July 1, the Baby Bonus organizers wrote in a social media post.

A spokesperson for the mayor’s office said the city views the referendum as unlawful and an overreach of the residents’ authority in the governance process because it too closely resembled city legislation.

“While Mayor Scott is supportive of the proposed amendment’s objectives, charter amendments that effectively commandeer the role of the legislature go against Maryland law and the City’s charter,” the statement read.

The statement compared the baby bonus to the city’s guaranteed income pilot program which offers $1,000 monthly cash assistance to qualifying Baltimore parents. Participants of this program are ages 18 to 24 and receive an income at or below 300% of the federal poverty level — about $69,000 for a three-person household.

“At the local level we currently don’t have the resources to make that type of support permanent,” the statement said. “We’re advocating for the federal government to look at the success of guaranteed income pilots like ours to make it possible for more Americans.”

Baby Bonus organizers were informed of the Scott and the council’s lawsuit Thursday, they said.

“Scott has frequently talked about the need to provide income support to families,” the post read. “He’s now outright rejecting it.”

The ballot referendum was structured in the image of Baltimore’s Children and Youth Fund, and would cost the city at least $7 million annually to make $1,000 payments to the roughly 7,000 families who welcome a child each year. It would not have an income or age qualification, unlike the guaranteed income pilot program. If the case were to be rejected and the voters were to pass the referendum, it would be up to the Baltimore City Council and the mayor to figure out where to get the money.

City ballot measures almost always pass. Voters in Baltimore haven’t rejected a ballot question since 2004 when they were asked to lower the age requirement to serve on the Baltimore City Council.

“The attempt to remove us from the ballot is a grave disservice to Baltimore’s families and children,” the organizers said in the post. “We are fully confident that the courts will reject this attack on democracy.”

-------