Maryland Democrats recommend legislative fixes to unemployment system Ovetta Wiggins, The Washington Post Feb. 4, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail Bill Ferguson, left, is Maryland Senate president, and Adrienne Jones is Maryland House speaker.Washington Post photo by Michael Robinson Chavez ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Democratic lawmakers are calling on the Hogan administration to make immediate and long-term fixes to the state's "broken" unemployment system, which has been plagued with problems since the beginning of the pandemic. Lawmakers said their offices have been swamped for months with calls from constituents trying to figure why their benefits are delayed or denied. During a news conference to announce the legislative proposals, Senate President Bill Ferguson, D-Baltimore City, relayed the experience of a single mother of two boys who called his office in desperation. She said she had reached out to the unemployment office 500 times over six weeks without any response, Ferguson said, and was down to her last $30.