Category: featured

Win-wins at Pimlico

| by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2013 Legislative Diary | No Comments

All parking is local.

For the last ten years, approximately 1,000 employees of Sinai Hospital and the Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital have parked on the Preakness Way lot of the Pimlico Race Course – except on Preakness Day.

They are a short walk or shuttle ride from their jobs.

And they are not parking in the nearby residential neighborhoods of Cylburn, Sunset, and Levindale.

A win-win for everybody.

Pimlico needs to construct 300 stables when the Bowie training facility closes, as well as housing for backstretch employees.

Four weeks ago, the track submitted a preliminary construction plan with the stables and housing located on the Preakness Way lot.

My 41st District colleagues and I expressed our concerns with the negative effect this would have upon the track’s neighbors – our constituents.

Pimlico and Sinai officials met today.

When the Preakness Way lot needs to be vacated, the track will provide parking at another location, most likely the Belvedere and Park Heights lot.

Another win-win for everybody.

The real reason and fighting the last war

| by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2013 Legislative Diary | No Comments

 There’s the reason and there’s the real reason, goes an Annapolis maxim.

Translation: the stated reason may not be the actual reason why something happened.

This morning, I met with a group of doctors, who asked me to oppose a certain bill.

“Who’s the sponsor?” I asked.

The name didn’t tell me anything about who wanted the bill to pass.

“What group supports the bill?” I asked.

That answer was the real sponsor.

—-

Legislators and lobbyists, like generals, always fight the last war.

Last year, several co-sponsors of the marriage equality bill changed their minds and voted against the bill.

No one wants that fate to befall their bill this session.

A lobbyist emailed me about a bill that I’m cosponsoring.

“We are now working to confirm co-sponsors, supporters, soft supporters and any undecideds on the bill… Taking no vote for granted, can I put you down as a YES in support for the bill when it gets to the House floor?”

When the time comes to count to 71 for a House vote on death penalty repeal, we won’t take any vote for granted, even those of our co-sponsors.

 

Reading, Writing, and IT

| by delsandy | featured, Sandy's Israel Diary - June 2012 | No Comments

A legislator has to know how to count.

It helps to know how to read and write.

I’ve been searching for the right way to amend one of my bills.  Late yesterday, I reread the bill and found just the right provision to change.

An email I received this morning from another delegate began, “Sandy, I wanted you to be among the first to know about an important decision I’ve made.”

Was this colleague changing his position on death penalty repeal?  I feared.

I read on and realized that this was an email sent to the delegate’s 2,000 closest friends and constituents to let them know that he would be voting for repeal.

One of my cardinal rules is to draft the bill or document so that my words frame the discussion that follows.

Except when you don’t know enough about the issue to do so.

Information technology was the issue during a discussion of one of my bills.

I asked the other party to draft the document.

A task force by another’s name

| by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2013 Legislative Diary | No Comments

A new concept, however worthy, is not likely to pass the first time it’s introduced.

This past summer, I read about social impact bonds.

These bonds seek to align the interests of investors with a desirable social outcome.   Typically, when the government contracts with a nonprofit, it makes payment based upon the volume of services delivered.  With a social impact bond, the bondholders pay the service provider and are reimbursed by the government only if the desired outcomes occur.

These programs originated in the United Kingdom, where they decreased recidivism rates.  Other states are experimenting with social impact bonds, with Massachusetts leading the way.

I introduced a bill that would require the State Board of Education to issue requests for proposals for social impact bonds.  I had attended a conference about pre-kindergarten services where these bonds were discussed.

I didn’t expect House Bill 517 to pass but hoped that the public hearing tomorrow would prompt the Ways and Means Committee to create a study group.

This weekend, I learned that a colleague already had that idea.

Delegate Waldstreicher’s legislation would establish a task force.  His bill is before the Appropriations Committee, which can pass his bill or include language in the budget bill to achieve the same objective.

I’ve withdrawn my bill and will testify beside Del. Waldstreicher.

February 24 – Lincoln and the GOP, Then and Now

| by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2013 Legislative Diary | No Comments

I saw “Lincoln” again last night.

This time, with floor debate on repeal of Maryland’s death penalty days away.

Without doubt, the most historic vote I will cast.

This time, with my niece, Rachel.

Afterwards, she asked me to explain how the Republican Party had changed from the party opposed to slavery to its present-day ideology.

I told her about FDR’s New Deal, Senator John Kennedy’s call to a jailed Dr. King late in the 1960 Presidential campaign, and President Richard Nixon’s Southern strategy.

 

Government Informers and Number 18

| by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2013 Legislative Diary | No Comments

When a newborn displays the effects of prenatal drug use or fetal alcohol disorder, should health care providers be required to inform the government?

House Bill 245, introduced by the Department of Human Resources says yes.

I awaited the next question.

“Shouldn’t we determine if the mother is an abuser when the child is still in the womb?” asked one of my colleagues.

I tried to make the point that doctors and health departments encourage pregnant women to avoid drugs and alcohol.

Then I spoke of the substance abuse treatment offered to women when they apply for welfare benefits and upon their annual renewal visit.  I helped create and fund that treatment option.

I also emailed a pro-choice lobbyist.

—-

Michael Phelps took some batting practice swings at the Orioles spring training camp today, wearing an orange Orioles jersey with No. 18 on the back.

“Hey, that’s my number!” I emailed some friends.

I wear 18 because like Brooks Robinson and Reggie Jackson, I was born on May 18.

I don’t know when Michael Phelps was born, but he won 18 gold medals.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/blog/bal-michael-phelps-takes-batting-practice-with-orioles-20130221,0,6181298.story

 

Our best and brightest – then and now

| by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2013 Legislative Diary | No Comments

What do Governor Martin O’Malley, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, and former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton have in common?

They grew up in Maryland and went to college out of state.  That would make them ineligible for the state program that gives a stipend to thirty summer interns with non-profits or state or local government.

I referenced those three public figures at the outset of my testimony on a bill to remove that in-state requirement.

We want to encourage our best and brightest to return home for their careers.

—-

 

My staff told me of an amendment to one of my bills that would delay its effective date.

I emailed back, “I won’t endorse that unless pressed when I testify but if that’s the compromise needed to pass the bill, I’m all for it.”

—-

 

Over the years, I’ve interviewed many candidates for judgeships.

Today, I interviewed the first one whom I’ve taught.

He was in my Legal Writing section at the University of Baltimore in 1992.

I asked him for a writing sample – from his law practice.

 

A bed for Mr. Edgell

| by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2013 Legislative Diary | No Comments

“They treat you like crap in the ER,” Carl Edgell said. “When you’re in the psych ward, you’re at ease.”

Mr. Edgell has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Early this morning, I read about him in the Baltimore Sun.

The article described the impact of an on-line registry of psychiatric beds in private hospitals.  The purpose: emergency room staff can find an available and appropriate bed far sooner.

However, not all hospitals are participating.  According to the article, some are concerned that their participation would create a new burden for staffers and help federal regulators spot patient placement violations.

When I got to my office, I made a bill drafting request: Make hospitals’ participation in the on-line registry program mandatory as of January 1, 2014.

I then sent an email to the interested parties: the committee chair, the Secretary of Health, hospital lobbyists, and mental health advocates.

I hope to get all of these people around a table – the witness table at the bill hearing or in a private setting beforehand, to discuss how best to provide better access to appropriate care for the mentally ill.

 

The initial Sun article is at:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/maryland-health/bs-md-psychiatric-registry-20130218,0,6436400.story

Follow-up article is at:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-psych-registry-legislation-20130219,0,558876.story

 

February 18 – Policy and courtesy

| by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2013 Legislative Diary | No Comments

The legislative process is about policy decisions.

What should be encouraged or required?  Or prohibited?  If so, what is the appropriate penalty?

The legislative process is also about relationships and courtesies.

Your opponent today could be your ally tomorrow.

If you do unto others, they will remember and do unto you.

I have introduced House Bill 1271, which would protect a person’s interest in the commercial value of his or her identity.  It is related to, but not the same as, intellectual property rights, such as copyright and trademark.  This legislation would protect public figures, as well as an unknown whose face was used in an ad campaign.

The bill hearing is Wednesday.  Today, we had a conference call with lawyers and lobbyists.  Some helped me draft the bill.  Others opposed it as introduced but could support it if certain amendments are adopted.  Another opposes it in any form.

The conversation narrowed our differences, but more needs to be resolved.

Soon afterwards, I spoke to someone about another bill.  I suggested that he let the lead sponsor know before the public hearing about the amendments he will propose when he testifies.

Then one of the conference call participants called to clarify his client’s position.  “I don’t want you to be caught by surprise,” he said.

It’s more than a smile and a shoeshine.

It’s simple courtesies.

Been there, done some of that

| by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2013 Legislative Diary | No Comments

 

From the front page of today’s NYTimes

ALBANY — Bucking a trend in which states have been seeking to restrict abortion, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is putting the finishing touches on

legislation that would guarantee women in New York the right to late-term abortions when their health is in danger or the fetus is not viable.

National abortion rights groups have sought for years to persuade state legislatures to adopt laws guaranteeing abortion rights as a backup to

Roe. But they have had limited success: Only seven states have such measures in place, including California, Connecticut and Maryland; the

most recent state to adopt such a law is Hawaii, which did so in 2006.

(Legislation making Roe v. Wade’s protections of a woman’s right to choose the law of Maryland  passed the General Assembly in 1991.  Senate Bill 162 was petitioned to referendum and approved by the voters, 62-38%.  I was one of the lead sponsors of the House bill.)

The governor has said that his Reproductive Health Act would be one plank of a 10-part Women’s Equality Act that also would include equal

pay and anti-discrimination provisions.

 (The first item in my bills.2014 file)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/nyregion/cuomo-bucks-tide-with-bill-to-lift-abortion-limits.html?hp&_r=0

  • My Key Issues:

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