You don’t always need to pass your own bill in order to accomplish your objective.

 That’s what I told 100 members of the Maryland Association of Non-Profits at their pre-session meeting today.

 The Governor’s budget bill can be the vehicle for these groups to make legislators and the executive branch aware of deficiencies in existing programs.

 Put a human face on the problem with a witness at the budget hearing, I advised.  Then lobby the subcommittee to adopt language asking the state agency to examine the problem.

 For instance, committee narrative in the budget bill resulted in the Thornton Commission, which successfully recommended a major increase in funding for K-12 public schools in the state.

 Another way of quietly getting the deed done:

 You have a problem that needs to be addressed in a bill someone else will be introducing.

 You can wait until the bill is introduced and offer an amendment, or you can try to get your concern addressed in the legislation before it’s introduced.  I adopted the latter approach at a meeting this morning.

 Full disclosure: I’ve already requested that 19 bills be drafted, and I have quite a few more on my spreadsheet.

 My first sentence of this blog began, “You don’t always need to pass your own bill…”