BALTIMORE — Gov. Wes Moore signed a series of public safety and health bills Tuesday, including legislation to protect developmentally disabled people during interactions with law enforcement.

Moore, House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones and Senate President Bill Ferguson, all Democrats, signed legislation allowing people with non-apparent disabilities to have discreet designations added to their identification cards.

The bill, known as Eric’s ID Law, will allow people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to voluntarily have a colorful butterfly symbol added to their IDs and driver’s licenses at the Motor Vehicle Administration to signify to police and other emergency personnel that they have a condition they may not be able to publicly disclose.

The law is named in honor of Eric Carpenter-Grantham, a Black man with high-functioning autism who created the symbol in hopes that he could keep himself and others in his community safe if they are stopped by the police.

Eric’s mother, Linda Carpenter-Grantham, said Tuesday that the white members of the developmental disabilities community were initially against the bill over concerns that it would cause them to be labeled. Now that the bill has passed in Maryland, she and her son are working toward making it a federal law.

“It’s not just for Black people. It’s for all people, to help save lives,” Carpenter-Grantham said.

Eric’s ID Law was introduced in prior sessions. Ferguson said that, over several years, the legislature worked through issues brought to the table by the disability community to bring forth the bill they signed Tuesday. Ultimately, he said, it’s Eric’s lived experience that “led to this greater awareness of non-apparent disabilities.”

“This is exactly what we most expect out of the General Assembly,” Ferguson said. “It’s to find a problem — maybe we have an idea of how to fix it — and it takes a couple sessions to really work through all of the details to get to a place where we enact it in law and move our society forward.”

Eric’s ID Law goes into effect Oct. 1.

Jail time for reckless driving

Moore, Jones and Ferguson on Tuesday also signed the Sgt. Patrick Kepp Act, which will classify reckless driving as an offense punishable by up to 60 days of jail time and a maximum fine of $1,000.

The law, named after a Montgomery County police officer who lost both of his legs after he was intentionally struck by a driver speeding over 100 mph while on duty, will also establish that drivers going 30 mph over the speed limit are participating in reckless driving.

Though the driver who hit Kepp was found guilty of second-degree assault in April, Moore said, “No legal action will ever undo the actions of that individual that day.”

“This year, Marylanders came together to turn pain into purpose and introduced the Sgt. Patrick Kepp Act, cracking down on reckless driving,” Moore said before the bill was signed. “Your name is in the rafters, Patrick.”

The law will go into effect Oct. 1.

Aid for reproductive care

Moore, Jones and Ferguson also signed a bill establishing the Public Health Abortion Grant Program, which will allow the Department of Health to issue funds to abortion care providers to aid people who are uninsured, underinsured or unable to use their insurance due to risks posed by communication from insurance carriers regarding coverage.

Funding for the grant program will be pulled from surplus insurance premiums mandated under the Affordable Care Act, which mandates that a $1 premium be charged per enrollee each month — exclusively for abortion coverage. Those funds are kept in separate accounts. During the legislative session, the bill’s sponsor, Del. Leslie Lopez, said that the Maryland Insurance Administration estimated that $25 million is currently available.

During the November presidential election, Marylanders overwhelmingly voted in favor of enshrining access to abortion in the state constitution. Jones said Tuesday that initiatives like the Public Health Abortion Grant Program are important, nonetheless, “because no matter how many times we affirm a woman’s right to reproductive health care, there will be those who continue to undermine it.”

The law will go into effect July 1.

Maryland officially has a ‘crush’

Effective June 1, the original Maryland Orange Crush will be designated as the state cocktail.

The orange crush — a summertime staple composed of fresh-squeezed orange juice, vodka, triple sec and a splash of Sprite or club soda — was first created at the Harborside Bar & Grill in West Ocean City in 1995.

To the consternation of Maryland natives, Delaware named the orange crush its state cocktail in 2024, leading to a battle over which state produces the best crushes.

Moore, Jones, and Ferguson signed the bill on Tuesday. The bill originally only had provisions to designate chromite as the state mineral.

“Eventually … we had a number of conversations about moving forward, about how we make this session and find some things that Marylanders can really be proud of, and take back from Delaware what was rightfully ours from the beginning, which was adding in … the orange crush,” Ferguson explained.

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(Baltimore Sun photographer Karl Ferron contributed to this article.)

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