Emily Khoury Shetty (born January 11, 1984) is an American politician and attorney who has served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates representing District 18 since 2019.
After graduating from Catholic University, Shetty worked for U.S. Representative Edolphus Towns until 2012, first as an legislative assistant and then as his legislative director. From 2012 to 2014, she worked as the senior director of legislative affairs with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, afterwards working as a consultant for lobbyist groups Stanton Park Group and Horizon Government Affairs. In 2020, she started her own lobbying firm, Step Up Advocacy.[1][5]
From 2013 to 2014, and again from 2015 to 2018, Shetty was a member of the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee.[1] In 2014, she unsuccessfully ran for the Maryland House of Delegates in District 18,[3] receiving 11 percent of the vote behind incumbents Ana Sol Gutierrez, Jeff Waldstreicher, and Al Carr.[6] Shetty ran again in 2018 after Waldstreicher announced he would run for the Maryland Senate,[7] winning the Democratic primary with 19.7 percent of the vote[8] and defeating Republican challenger Linda Willard in the general election with 30 percent of the vote.[9]
Maryland House of Delegates
Shetty in the House Appropriations Committee, 2023
Shetty was sworn into the House of Delegates on January 9, 2019. She was a member of the Judiciary Committee from 2019 to 2022, afterwards serving in the Appropriations Committee. Since 2023, Shetty has served as the chair of the House Democratic Caucus.[1]
Shetty is married to her husband, Ash Shetty.[11] Together, they live in Kensington, Maryland,[12] and have one child.[1] She has a chronic autoimmune disorder.[13]
Political positions
Health care
During her 2014 House of Delegates campaign, Shetty said she supported increasing state investments in mental health care.[3]
During the 2021 legislative session, Shetty introduced legislation that would allow pharmacists to switch name brands. The bill passed and became law.[14]
In 2022, Shetty introduced a bill that would allow organ donors to decide whether their organs would be donated to research or a surgical transplant. The bill unanimously passed the Maryland General Assembly and became law.[15]
Minimum wage
Shetty supports indexing the state minimum wage to inflation.[16]
Policing
During the 2019 legislative session, Shetty introduced the Law Enforcement Trust and Transparency Act, which would establish statewide standards for officer-involved death investigations.[17][18]
In 2021, Shetty introduced a bill to limit how police could use genealogy websites and their databases. The bill passed and became law without Governor Larry Hogan's signature.[19]
Social issues
During the 2021 legislative session, Shetty introduced legislation that would allow transgender people to change their names without having to advertise it in a newspaper. The bill passed and became law.[20]
In 2022, Shetty supported legislation to raise the state's minimum marriage age to 17 years old.[21] She also supported the Abortion Care Access Act, which provided $3.5 million toward clinical reproductive services training for health care professionals.[22]