featured – Page 8 – Sandy Rosenberg

In the room

I want to be in the room when decisions are being made on my bills.

That means the bill hearing and voting session, which are open to the public, and the pre-meeting meeting of my committee’s leadership before the votes are cast, which is not public.

If the bill is not in my committee, I want a co-sponsor who will make the case for the bill and warn me of any problems that arise. Sometimes, I will ask that colleague to be the lead sponsor, and I will be the co-sponsor.

I also want people in the room when I’m drafting a bill who will be able to get it passed or funded.

Last month, I wrote about a new Oregon law that would allow students to attend state colleges without paying tuition or taking out traditional loans. Instead, they would commit 3% of their future income for 20 years to repaying the state.

I’ve asked that similar legislation be drafted.

Support from within the higher education system is crucial for my legislation to be adopted. A significant policy change of this nature will not pass over their objections.

I now have at least one such supporter. We scheduled a meeting to discuss the details.

Then I learned that another executive branch official was interested in this idea but would be out of town the day of our meeting.

We’re rescheduling the meeting.

I want this person in the room.

July 26 – Protections in the workplace and shovels in the ground

July 26, 2013 | by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2013 Legislative Diary | No Comments

Public policy and public improvements were both on my plate this week.

I got my first bill draft for next year’s session, and I received the Mayor’s letter announcing her approval of the $8 million spending plan for slots revenue in the Pimlico Race Track neighborhoods.

Two Supreme Court decisions that narrowed the protections against workplace discrimination in the federal civil rights law prompted me to request this bill.

The prohibitions against illegal actions by supervisors and retaliation against an employee for objecting to an unlawful employment practice were significantly limited by these 5-4 decisions. Justice Ginsburg read from her dissents in open court.

My bill would ensure that Maryland’s fair employment law would not be limited by our courts in the same manner.

Since this legislation would likely be the first in response to these cases, I have asked civil rights lawyers to review the draft language.

A percentage of slots revenues is dedicated to the neighborhoods surrounding Pimlico Race Track. This was first proposed by Speaker Busch; enacted and amended by the efforts of Delegate Oaks, myself, and Senator Gladden and Delegate Carter; and implemented by neighborhood presidents sitting around a table to decide how these funds could benefit their communities.

Among the projects that will be funded with the $8 million generated in Fiscal Years 2013 and 2014:

* Acquisition, relocation, and demolition within the Major Redevelopment Area of the Park Heights Master Plan;

* Improvements to Northwest Park, the former University of Baltimore property on Rogers Av.;

* Building of a Community Center for Hatzalah, a volunteer emergency medical service; and

* Identifying and implementing a parking solution for the Reisterstown Road branch of the Pratt Library.

Next step: getting shovels in the ground.

A not so “impressive” column by former Governor Ehrlich

July 15, 2013 | by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2013 Legislative Diary | No Comments

I don’t always read former Governor Ehrlich’s weekly column in the Sun. I hardly ever listen to right-wing talk radio.

For the same reason: accuracy is not their objective.

However, I did read yesterday’s column.

Below is my letter to the editor in response.

Dear Editors:

Former Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. is entitled to his belief that the Supreme Court did the right thing in striking at the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He is not entitled to misleadingly quote from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dissent.

“Even Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s dissenting opinion cites the ‘impressive’ voting rights progress that has taken place in the impacted states [subject to pre-clearance of voting changes by the U.S. Justice Department],” writes the former governor.

This is what Justice Ginsburg wrote: “True, conditions in the South have impressively improved since passage of the Voting Rights Act. Congress noted this improvement and found that the VRA was the driving force behind it.”

The former governor owes an apology to the Justice and his readers.

Ripples of Hope on the 4th of July

July 5, 2013 | by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2013 Legislative Diary | No Comments

I again had the honor of reading from the Declaration of Independence before the start of the 4^th of July parade in Roland Park.

Yesterday, for the first time, I prefaced Jefferson’s declaration by drawing on the words that others have spoken about freedom and democracy.

“A decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they [the people of the 13 colonies] …should declare the causes which impel them to the separation [from Britain],” wrote Thomas Jefferson in the opening of the Declaration of Independence.

This sacred document has sent forth countless ripples of hope, the evidence of which is especially apparent on this Independence Day.

Those honored dead at Gettsyburg and the cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion;

Those couples for whom their relationship is now equal in the eyes of the law; and

Those who heard Nelson Mandela declare in his Inaugural Address, “Out of the experience of an extraordinary human disaster that lasted too long, must be born a society of which all humanity will be proud. “

—

Later in the day poolside, I read about a new Oregon law that would allow students to attend state colleges without paying tuition or taking out traditional loans. Instead, they would commit 3% of their future income for 20 years to repaying the state. Those who earn very little would pay very little.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/04/education/in-oregon-a-plan-to-eliminate-tuition-and-loans-at-state-colleges.html?_r=0

This could be a major expansion of my work over the years to encourage people to enter public service.

I’ve already passed bills creating programs that encourage students to enter public service by repaying a portion of the educational debt of people who have lower-paying public interest jobs, providing an up-front scholarship to students planning careers in public service, and giving a stipend to students who take public-interest summer jobs.

Before I went to the Dickeyville picnic, I emailed a bill drafting request.

Same thing for Supreme Court decisions

May 21, 2013 | by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2013 Legislative Diary | No Comments

Society wins not only when the guilty are convicted, but when criminal trials are fair; our system of the administration of justice suffers when any accused is treated unfairly.

Justice William O. Douglas wrote that in the majority opinion in Brady v. Maryland, where the Supreme Court held that the government cannot withhold evidence favorable to an accused, upon request, where the evidence is material to either guilt or punishment, regardless of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution.

As a legislator, I know that enacting a bill isn’t the end of the process. You have to make sure it’s correctly implemented.

Same thing for Supreme Court decisions, according to an editorial in Sunday’s New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/opinion/sunday/beyond-the-brady-rule.html

Prosecutors don’t always inform a defendant’s lawyer of evidence that could be favorable to the accused. The Brady rule has been limited by subsequent rulings of the court, and there is virtually no punishment for prosecutors who flout the rule.

A North Carolina statute requires prosecutors in felony cases, before trial, to make available to the defense “the complete files of all law enforcement agencies, investigatory agencies and prosecutors’ offices involved in the investigation of the crimes committed or the prosecution of the defendant.”

Yesterday, I asked the lobbyist for the Office of the Public Defender if he was interested in pursuing a similar law in Marylam was interested in pursuing a similar law Maryland.

“We would be very interested in discussing this,” he responded.

We’re meeting next week. Other lawyers will be joining us.

One of them is Clint Bamberger, my lead paint and legal adviser and mentor.

He represented John Brady before the Supreme Court fifty years ago this month.

Standard but misleading rhetoric

May 10, 2013May 10, 2013 | by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2013 Legislative Diary | No Comments

This letter to the editor didn’t require much effort on my part.

I helped to write it more than 20 years ago.

The Sun had run an op-ed on abortion with the standard but misleading right-wing rhetoric.

Or as President Obama said of the gun lobby after the background check was defeated, “They willfully lied.”

I let the words of our law speak for themselves.

Dear Editors:

I write as someone who supports making reproductive choices available to all women, not as one of “those who support ‘choice’ at all costs,” one of many misleading characterizations in Marta Mossburg’s op-ed.

“Abortion is virtually available on demand throughout a pregnancy,” she asserts.

Under Maryland law, if the fetus is viable, an abortion may be performed only if “necessary to protect the life or health of the woman or if the fetus is affected by genetic defect or serious deformity or abnormality.”

“A doctor can override the requirement [for parental notification] for almost any reason,” Ms. Mossburg writes.

Our law provides that a physician may not give notice if “in the professional judgment of the physician, notice to the parent or guardian may lead to physical or emotional abuse to the minor, the minor is mature and capable of giving informed consent to an abortion; or notification would not be in the best interest of the minor.”

The people of Maryland have already passed judgment on these statutes. They approved them by a 62-38% margin after they were petitioned to referendum in 1992.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/readersrespond/bs-ed-abortion-letter-20130509,0,1345277.story

Many decisions were made

April 9, 2013 | by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2013 Legislative Diary | No Comments

“Things went very smoothly for the death penalty this session,” a reporter began an interview with me this weekend.

`“In retrospect, it seems that way after a bill passes,” I replied, “but along the way many decisions were made that turned out to be right.”

I hope that comes as no surprise to you.

I hope that this diary has given you some insight into the process by which a bill becomes a law or does not.

Last night, for instance, the Senate version of one of my bills needed to be enacted.

Around 9 pm, it passed the Senate. I wanted to make sure it didn’t get lost in the pile of bills on the Speaker’s rostrum.

I spoke to one of his aides about it. The bill was on the rostrum. She knew it was the crossfile (Senate version) of my bill.

Soon thereafter, it was taken up and passed.

—-

My end-of session summary can be found at http://www.delsandy.com/2013-session-summary/

Last bill hearing and walking with the bases loaded

April 4, 2013April 4, 2013 | by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2013 Legislative Diary | No Comments

I had my last bill hearing of the session today.

I didn’t read my testimony, but it took a minute (It seemed much longer) before I saw that look of recognition on the chair’s face.

I had successfully summarized what the bill would do.

For my bills that have already passed the Senate, the next step is to “make sure the legislation gets implemented,” as I said to an advocate on the phone.

—

I could very well be on the House floor when the first pitch is thrown at Camden Yards Friday afternoon.

However, I will begin the session with this prayer:

Baseball as a Road to God is the title of a new book written by the President of New York University, John Sexton.

It “uses the secular sport of baseball to explore subjects ordinarily associated with religion—prayers, altars, sacred space, faith, doubt, conversion, miracles, blessings, curses, saints and sinners,” wrote Doris Kearns Goodwin in her review.

Baseball is also analogous to the legislative process. There’s someone at every base ready to tag your bill out, trying to prevent your legislation from reaching home, returned passed to its house of origin.

Whatever your faith, hope springs eternal at the home opener. This year, for the first time in many years, with justification for Orioles fans.

Tribute will be paid to Earl Weaver before today’s first pitch.

Religion was not on Earl’s mind on Opening Day. His focus was on bringing the best 25 players north from Florida.

But one season, Pat Kelly informed his skipper that there would be a prayer service in the clubhouse on Sunday mornings.

“Join us and walk with the Lord,” Kelly urged his skipper.

Weaver replied, “I’d rather have you walk with the bases loaded.”

Reading testimony after a meeting beforehand

April 4, 2013April 4, 2013 | by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2013 Legislative Diary | No Comments

Don’t read your testimony.

Know what you’re talking about (Why we need this bill) and don’t worry if you pause or stumble occasionally.

That’s better than not making eye contact with the committee members because you’re reading what’s below you on the witness table.

I preach that to my law students and follow that rule myself.

Except when I get an email that my bill on the allocation of slots revenues among the neighborhoods near Pimlico Race Track is about to be heard in 10 minutes in the Budget and Taxation Committee and we’re nowhere near the end of the floor debate on the gun bill.

“You’re going to testify for the bill,” I told my staffer, “and you can read the testimony.”

An hour later, he responded, “I didn’t read it verbatim. I had enough time to prepare oral remarks. No question. A few nods.”

“I will talk to committee members when I can,” I responded.

There was no need to do so, he informed me. “Senator Jones asked for them to move it quickly after the hearing.” It got a favorable report.

Before the hearing, I had met with the senator, who represents Baltimore City, and gained her support.

—-

My floor speech about the 2^nd Amendment on Tuesday is discussed in The Free State Press, with a link to my remarks.

http://thefreestatepress.com/bullying-partisanship-assault-on-the-bill-of-rights-dominate-house-gun-debate/

Not unlimited or speechless

April 2, 2013April 3, 2013 | by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2013 Legislative Diary | No Comments

I was ready to quote Justice Scalia liberally.

During tonight’s floor debate, one of my colleagues said, “The rights protected by the 2^nd Amendment are inalienable. They can’t be restricted by the governor, the legislature, or the courts.”

Justice Scalia ruled otherwise in the majority opinion in Heller v. District of Columbia.

“Like most rights,” he wrote, “the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited.”

“Should I respond?” I asked my seatmate, Delegate McIntosh.

“Wait til tomorrow when the final vote on the bill will be taken,” she advised.

I agreed.

—

I wrote too soon.

Shortly after I posted the above, one of my colleagues said that our Second Amendment right came from God and is unalienable.

I had to speak.

“None of the protections in the Bill of Rights is absolute. The first Amendment says that ‘Congress shall make no law’ but there are limitations on the rights of free speech and a free press.”

And I did quote Justice Scalia.

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