Last year was the best session I ever had, if I may be so immodest.
Significant reform of the death penalty, protection of workers’ rights to equal pay, and promotion of green jobs led the list of bills I passed.
What would I be working on in 2010 that could compare? I wondered this summer.
But no more.
As the deadline for making bill requests looms tomorrow, I’ve got plenty of important bills that I’ll be introducing this session.
Once again, the Supreme Court has issued decisions that we can correct with legislative action. I’m working to limit corporate contributions consistent with the court’s controversial action last week. Another opinion made it difficult for someone to win an age discrimination complaint, and I’m trying to fix that.
I hope to enable more lawyers to work for non-profits or the government by increasing funding for a program that helps these individuals repay their academic debt. Student journalists would be given the same protections for their confidential sources as paid reporters already have under the change I’m proposing to Maryland’s shield law.
Some other bills I can’t discuss until they’re finalized and in the hopper. That deadline is February 11.