Author: delsandy

Defining the Issue

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Amendments are the order of the week.

They are the compromise needed to get your bill a favorable report.

A subcommittee will make it clear that your bill will move forward only if it’s modified.

You want to draft the amendment.

You always want to work off of your document.

My bill addressing unpaid speeding tickets on the Jones Falls Expressway did not have the votes to pass the Baltimore City delegation last Friday.

After sharing my amendments with my colleagues on the House floor this morning, it now does.

House Bill 128 would make it a crime, in part, to “harm another…[or] threaten to harm another” participating in a legislative proceeding.

The Criminal Law Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee is considering how “harm” should be defined.

I asked the Attorney General’s Office for advice.

Have the Maryland appellate courts defined “harm” in the context of the existing law criminalizing interference with a judicial proceeding?  Have the courts done so in any other context?

If there is no judicial definition, would it be appropriate to use a dictionary definition?

Condo Feever (This is not a typo)

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Before I was elected to the House of Delegates in 1982, I lobbied the General Assembly for the Baltimore City Department of Housing and Community Development.

Throughout the state, apartments were being converted to condominiums.

At the end of their lease, tenants, many of them elderly, would have to move.

The legislation I helped pass required that payments be made to these people to cushion the cost of finding a new place to live.

After the collapse of Champlain Towers in a Miami suburb, condominiums in Maryland have increased their reserve funds to provide, in part, for preventive maintenance.

The increased homeowner fee has burdened many, who are on fixed incomes.

House Bill 1035 would create a state fund to provide financial assistance to condo owners who can’t afford these higher assessments.

One of my witnesses today was in her 30’s when I was lobbying for the condo conversion bill.  The other was in her 40’s.

Waiting for the Court

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When the Supreme Court issues an opinion that requires a change in Maryland law, I often introduce a bill.

I did so this session after the court’s decision modified the standard for when a verbal threat is a criminal offense, no longer protected by the First Amendment.

Today, the nine justices heard a challenge to a Florida statute that prevents websites from permanently barring candidates for political office in the state and a Texas law that prohibits removing any content based on a user’s viewpoint.

Until the court issues its opinion, most likely in June, the state of the law is in flux.

A provision in my House Bill 333 would regulate the posting of incorrect or misleading information about election procedures, election results, or voting rights in Maryland on major web platforms.

That portion of the bill needs to be set aside until next session, when we will know the legal standard resulting from today’s case.

However, HB 333 also provides for a portal maintained by the State Board of Elections where voters can submit examples of misinformation about the above topics.

This evidence will help us build the case that we need to regulate misinformation, consistent with the state’s ability to do so.

A Lesson Learned

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A Supreme Court decision prompted me to introduce House Bill 941.

For a threat to be considered a criminal act and not protected speech, a person must act recklessly,  Justice Kagan wrote for the majority in Counterman v. Colorado.

I was tempted to remind the committee that the Supreme Court has also used the recklessness standard in libel law.

But the legislature is not a law school class.

If you have your case won, sit down and shut up.

I learned that in law school.

 

The Right Words

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Amendments are an essential part of the legislative process.

They can transform a deadlock into unanimous support.

“We are in opposition to this bill at this stage,” a witness told my committee this afternoon.

Two of my bills are benefiting from the addition of the right words.

House Bill 942 would require Baltimore City to send unpaid speeding tickets on the Jones Falls Expressway to the Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) for enforcement if they exceed $250.

At last week’s City House Delegation meeting, Mayor Brandon Scott testified for his bill that would authorize the City to tow, remove, or impound a vehicle owned by a new resident of the State who fails to register the vehicle with the MVA and display valid registration plates.

My amendment would extend that authority to my bill, HB 942.

The Mayor now supports my bill.

The EPA has proposed stricter standards for lead dust.

There are properties regulated under Maryland law that would not be covered by that action.

My House Bill 1113 would require the State to adopt the federal standard 60 days after it is implemented.

After meetings and emails with officials of the Maryland Department of the Environment, we now have an amendment.

The Department will have six months to adopt the federal standard.

If more time is needed, it can be requested from the two legislative committees that held hearings on HB 1113.

Who should serve on the Hate Crimes Commission? 

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Last fall, the director of an American-Islamic advocacy organization stated that he “was happy to see” Palestinians break out of Gaza on Oct. 7, the day of the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.

The Biden administration removed the name of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) from a document discussing commitments to fight antisemitism.

Last April, a Commission on Hate Crime Response and Prevention was enacted by the General Assembly.

Can this year’s legislature pass a bill that would remove the CAIR member from the commission and substitute two representatives of the Muslim community?

That’s what House Bill 763, introduced by Delegate Dalya Attar, would do.

I am a co-sponsor.

I also asked Professor Mark A. Graber, who teaches at the University of Maryland School of Law, to testify.

Among the reasons he gave that HB 763 is constitutional: people who give advice to government officials that is inconsistent with the leader’s policy views are not protected by the First Amendment.

A related bill was before my committee.

House Bill 809, sponsored by Delegate Joseph Vogel, would allow for the suspension or removal of an appointee to a commission on the grounds of “misconduct, incompetence, neglect of duties, or other good cause.”

It’s now my job to help my committee refine this bill and send it to the House floor.

Can I get a witness?

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Progress today on getting witnesses to testify on two of my bills.

A Department of Social Services facility in Northwest Baltimore was closed last year.

The notice to the affected community was inadequate.

House Bill 1138 would require notice of a closure and, in some instances, a public meeting.

I’ve been working with a religious leader on this issue, but he will be out of the country when my bill is heard.

I’ve asked him if he knows people who were affected by the closure.

I’ve also asked my Constituent Director, Jackie Greenfield, if she knows of anyone.

—

My SLAPP bill has passed the House several times but not the Senate.

It would make it more difficult to file a frivolous lawsuit to intimidate someone exercising their First Amendment rights.

Since the Senate committee has heard the bill before, the hearing is limited to the bill’s sponsor and only two witnesses from the public.

A survivor of domestic violence has contacted me.

She has written two published articles about her abuse.

She has been legally threatened for her writing by her abuser.

We can’t add her to the witness list for the hearing, but we will try to arrange for her to meet with committee members whose votes we need and can get.

Digital and Opioid Risks

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“Such [false, hateful and violent] content was more prevalent because numerous social media platforms, including Facebook and YouTube, had retreated from some of their past commitments related to election integrity.”

That’s the view of a report on digital risks to this year’s elections written by Researchers at the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights.  https://bhr.stern.nyu.edu/tech-elections-2024-report

I read about this study today and will summarize it for the Election Law Subcommittee as it considers my bill, HB 333, Election Law – Election Disinformation on Large Social Media Platforms and Influence Related to Voting.

Coverage for opioid reversal drugs and products would be required for Medicaid and certain private insurers under House Bill 736.  There’s another source of funds for dealing with opioids, I reminded my colleagues during the bill hearing this afternoon.

All of the money the State of Maryland received from its settlement with prescription  opioid manufacturers and distributors must be used to address the harms caused by this drug.  I suggested to the witnesses that they also work with the council that recommends how this money should be allocated.

I sponsored the bill creating this system.

Providing assistance

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Eric Luedtke, a former colleague in the House of Delegates and now the Governor’s Chief Legislative Officer, was one of the first witnesses.

He spoke of leaving his family’s Christmas Eve dinner to assist his mentally ill brother, who was in a confrontation at the local library.

One of the last witnesses was Evelyn Burton, whose son left Maryland to get treatment.

She sent him a cake for his birthday and wondered if he was well enough to call her.

He did.

House Bill 576 would require each county to establish an Assisted Outpatient Treatment.

Ms. Burton has been lobbying us to adopt this concept for over 18 years.

The ground has been laid for this bill to pass.

There were meetings this summer with legislators participating.

The bill is sponsored by Governor Moore, who also budgeted $3 million to initiate the program.

But there’s still work to be done.

My committee chair said to one witness, “I’d like you to do some work for me in the Senate.”

Public Information and Private Worship

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“Who makes the final decision?” a colleague asked at the hearing on House Bill 712.

My legislation would amend the Public Information Act.

It would describe the circumstances where a private citizen could obtain information related to a government decision about financial incentives and benefits to a business.

My response: The state or local government would decide if the law required that the information be made public.  If you have the resources, you would appeal that decision to the court system.

That wasn’t the only question I was asked at our bill hearings this afternoon.

Delegate Tiffany Alston sits next to me.

She was about to testify on her “Sacred Places Safety Act.”

House Bill 547 would, in part, create a criminal offense for a crime of violence in a place of worship.

“Place of worship” is defined as “a nonresidential location where more than one individual assembles for purposes of religious or spiritual observance.”

Del. Alston showed me the testimony of the Baltimore Jewish Council.

“Several small congregations are places of worship within the home of the Rabbi and their family,” it read, “with the living room being used as the ‘synagogue’ for the community.”

“That is accurate,” I told her.

I’ll ask her tomorrow how the hearing went.

  • My Key Issues:

  • Pimlico and The Preakness
  • Our Neighborhoods
  • Pre-Kindergarten
  • Lead Paint Poisoning