Benjamin F. Kramer

Benjamin F. Kramer (born March 5, 1957) is an American politician who has served as a member of the Maryland Senate representing District 19 since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, Kramer previously represented the district in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2007 to 2019.

Background
Kramer was born in Wheaton, Maryland on March 5, 1957. He was one of three children born to father Sidney Kramer, who would later serve as a state senator and Montgomery County Executive, and mother Betty Mae. Kramer's sister, Rona, would later serve as a state senator and as Maryland Secretary of Aging from 2015 to 2023. He attended Montgomery County public schools, graduating from John F. Kennedy High School, and later attended the University of Maryland, College Park, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in law enforcement in 1979.

Kramer owns the Wheaton Speedy Car Wash and a real estate business. He was a member of the Montgomery County Liquor Control Task Force and the Montgomery County Police Department Citizens Advisory Board.

In 1994, Kramer unsuccessfully ran for the Montgomery County Council, losing to incumbent Republican county councilwoman Nancy Dacek in the general election. He ran for an at-large seat on the county council in 1998, during which he was defeated in the Democratic primary, placing seventh in the eight-way primary.

In the legislature
In 2006, Kramer ran for the Maryland House of Delegates in District 19. He won the Democratic primary on September 12, placing third with 14 percent of the vote and edging out his opponent, Paul Griffin, by a margin of 307 votes. He was sworn in on January 10, 2007. Kramer was a member of the Judiciary Committee from 2007 to 2010, afterwards serving in the Economic Matters Committee for the remainder of his tenure.

In 2009, Kramer unsuccessfully ran in the Montgomery County Council District 4 special election, in which he was defeated by Nancy Navarro.

In August 2017, a day after state Senator Roger Manno announced that he would run for Congress in Maryland's 6th congressional district in 2018, Kramer announced that he would seek to succeed Manno in the Maryland Senate. He ran unopposed in both the primary and defeated Green Party nominee David Jeang general election, and was sworn in on January 9, 2019. Kramer has served as a member of the Finance Committee during his entire tenure.

Personal life
Kramer is married to his wife, Tammy. Together, they have three children. He is Jewish. Kramer's nephews, Brandon and Lance, were the director and producer for the 2021 documentary The First Step.

Political positions
Kramer is a moderate Democrat who has been described by Maryland Matters as "more pro-business than most of his Democratic colleagues".

Education
Kramer supports providing private schools with state funding.

During the 2019 legislative session, Kramer introduced a bill to expand Holocaust instruction in schools. After the bill died in committee, he penned a letter to the Maryland Department of Education asking the agency to elaborate its requirements for Holocaust education, led to the agency requiring lessons on the Holocaust in fourth- and fifth-grade social studies classes. The bill was reintroduced in 2023 along with another bill that would set aside $500,000 annually to fund school field trips to museums dedicated to teaching about the Holocaust or African American history.

In 2021, Kramer introduced legislation that would require the chancellor of the University System of Maryland to act on the behalf of all the system's institutions in all aspects of collective bargaining, and supported another bill to extend collective bargaining rights to Maryland community college employees. Both bills passed and became law.

Environment
During the 2011 legislative session, Kramer expressed concerns with the costs of a bill to incentivize wind energy development in Maryland. He voted for the bill when was reintroduced in 2012.

In 2018, Kramer introduced legislation that would place economic sanctions on Pennsylvania for upstream pollution in the Chesapeake Bay by limiting Maryland's ability to enter into procurement contracts with companies that have not been meeting U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Chesapeake Bay cleanup goals.

During the 2020 legislative session, Kramer introduced legislation to levy a carbon tax on corporate polluters, which would charge $15 per metric ton of carbon dioxide emitted from non-transportation fossil fuel combustion. He reintroduced the bill in 2021, during which it was defeated in committee.

In 2021, Kramer introduced a bill that would require the Maryland Public Service Commission to consider climate change while reviewing applications for new generating facilities. In 2022, he introduced legislation that would require counties develop climate change mitigation plans. The bill was reintroduced in 2023.

Israel
Kramer is a self-described Zionist who has described the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement as antisemitic.

In December 2013, following the American Studies Association's boycott of Israel, Kramer wrote to Governor Martin O'Malley asking him to prevent state funding from going toward organizations that supported the boycott. During the 2014 legislative session, he unsuccessfully sought to place financial penalties on the University of Maryland, Baltimore County for supporting the American Studies Association, despite UMBC saying that it would end its affiliation with the ASA. The legislature instead opted to pass a resolution condemning the BDS movement, making Maryland the first state to do so, which Kramer said was "not the victory we should have had". Kramer's anti-BDS bill was also condemned by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who issued a statement expressing "grave concern" over the effort and with Kramer's comparison between BDS and Nazi Germany. During the 2017 legislative session, Kramer introduced a bill that would prohibit the state from contracting with companies that support the BDS movement. After the bill failed to pass, Governor Larry Hogan signed an executive order codifying it into law.

In July 2019, Kramer wrote a letter to the Takoma Park city council and mayor Kate Stewart condemning the city's screening of The Occupation of the American Mind, a documentary which he described as antisemitic.

In November 2023, Kramer led a letter signed by eight other state senators 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". He called CASA's subsequent apology a "good first step" but added that "there's still work to be done".

Liquor reform
During the 2018 legislative session and in response to Peter Franchot's "Reform on Tap" efforts, Kramer introduced legislation creating a task force to study which agency is best suited to regulate the alcohol industry in Maryland. As a member of the task force, Kramer criticized Franchot for not including any advocates for public health or public safety in his task force to craft the Reform on Tap proposals, which the committee voted 17–4 to reject later that year and recommended removing the Comptroller of Maryland's ability to regulate the alcohol industry. During the 2019 legislative session, Kramer introduced legislation to do so, which passed and became law.

In February 2019, Franchot accused Kramer of being "corrupt" and having a conflict of interest by introducing the bill, noting that his family's real estate business rents space to a county-owned retail alcohol outlet. Kramer rejected these accusations and subsequently accused Franchot of taking campaign contributions from the alcohol industry that influenced his "Reform on Tap" proposals, which Franchot denied. While testifying on the bill later that month, Kramer compared Franchot to Bernie Madoff in claiming that he had "extorted" campaign contributions from liquor lobbyists, which Len Foxwell, Franchot's chief of staff, called "beyond offensive" and "slanderous", and led Franchot to file an ethics complaint against Kramer. Kramer criticized Governor Larry Hogan for appointing Foxwell to the alcohol commission, which he called a "political favor".

Social issues
During the 2016 legislative session and following the death of Noah Leotta, a Montgomery County police officer who was killed by a drunk driver while on DUI patrol, Kramer introduced a bill to expand the use of breathalyzers, which passed and was signed into law by Governor Larry Hogan.

During the 2018 legislative session, Kramer introduced a bill that would prohibit retail pet stores from selling puppies and kittens, which passed and was signed into law by Governor Larry Hogan. In May 2022, he participated in and spoke at a protest against Inotiv, a drug research firm headquartered in Montgomery County, after the Humane Society of the United States released a video accusing the firm of mistreating and killing thousands of animals in its studies.

During the 2019 legislative session, Kramer introduced a bill creating a program that would have the Maryland Department of Aging perform daily check-in calls to seniors and notify guardians if they do not answer the call. The bill passed and became law, and was implemented in January 2020. In 2022, he opposed a bill that would set restrictions on who the governor of Maryland could appoint as Maryland Secretary of Aging, which he called a "slippery slope".

In July 2020, after Governor Larry Hogan announced plans to hold a full in-person election for Maryland's general elections, Kramer participated in and spoke at a CASA de Maryland rally protesting Hogan's decision, where he accused the governor of prioritizing his autobiography over Maryland's right to vote. During the 2021 legislative session, he introduced a bill that would allow voters to opt into a list that allows them to receive mail-in ballots for every future election, which passed and became law.

During the 2023 legislative session, Kramer introduced legislation that would allow victims of hate crimes to sue their perpetrators to recoup emotional and financial damages.

Taxes
During the 2023 legislative session, Kramer opposed a bill that would raise taxes on Ocean City hotels by one percent, expressing concerns that the bill would increase tourism to beaches in Delaware or New Jersey.