Sandy’s 2012 Legislative Diary – Page 5

The same as it was 29 years ago

March 22, 2012March 22, 2012 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2012 Legislative Diary | No Comments

I’ve been doing this since I first got here.

Protecting a woman’s right to choose was the issue when I was a floor whip on Medicaid funding for abortions in 1983.

A health benefit exchange will allow Marylanders to compare and purchase health insurance plans. It is a cornerstone of the Affordable Care Act, the health insurance law passed by the Congress.

Amendments prohibiting coverage of abortions under plans offered on the exchange were rejected by the Health and Government Operations Committee. We expect they will be offered again on the House floor.

Our preparation will be the same as it was 29 years ago:

Don’t take anything for granted. Inform pro-choice members prior to the vote. Prepare for unfavorable contingencies.

In 1983, I passed my first bond bill.

It was for the Jewish Museum.

This session, I’m trying to do the same thing for the Roland Park Water Tower.

For the first time, however, I need to demonstrate that a local project will remain eligible to receive state dollars.

That’s because the Water Tower is on a list of historic properties now owned by Baltimore City that may be sold or leased if recommended by a consultant the City just hired.

We need to draft language that would reassure the budget committees here that the tower will not be sold to a for-profit business.

Something old, Something new

March 20, 2012 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2012 Legislative Diary | No Comments

“I’m an Old Testament person.”

I didn’t say that. Delegate Michael Smigiel did.

He was explaining why the death penalty was appropriate vengeance for heinous murders.

I had just testified for its repeal.

Our back and forth continued.

At its conclusion, he said, “I guess I’m Old Testament and you’re New Testament.”

The room erupted in laughter.

“When you first said you were Old Testament,” I responded, “I thought about asking you, ‘What are your plans for Passover?’”

Past the time for tinkering

March 19, 2012March 26, 2012 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2012 Legislative Diary | No Comments

Most of the day was spent in meetings on the revenue bills needed to balance the budget, but I did have time to draft my testimony for tomorrow’s hearing on repeal of the death penalty.

When given the opportunity, two dozen Marylanders have voted no on the death penalty.

Prosecutors have sought the death penalty on two occasions since the General Assembly last took action on the death penalty.

In one instance, there was no doubt as to the perpetrator.

In the other, a prison guard had been killed by an inmate serving a life sentence.

The additional expense attributable to these capital prosecutions would be better spent assisting the families of victims.

It has been more than 33 years since the full House voted on the fundamental question before us today.

This committee should give the body the opportunity already exercised by our peers on those juries.

We are past the time when we can tinker with the death penalty.

It should be repealed.

(Photo Credit: Baltimore Sun photo by Kenneth K. Lam / February 10, 2011 )

Show me the money

March 17, 2012March 21, 2012 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2012 Legislative Diary | No Comments

One-arm bandits have been replaced by computer chips.

Whatever the technology, slots machines still generate a lot of money – for the owner of the slots facility and the government.

If you thought this issue was decided by the referendum four years ago, it may return to the ballot this November – or it may not.

Representatives of Caesars, the sole applicant for the Baltimore City site, testified before the City’s House delegation Friday morning.

I asked if this group was also interested in the license for a proposed facility at National Harbor in Prince Georges County. My concern: Caesars could abandon the City or downgrade its business there.

When a reporter asked me afterwards if I was satisfied with the response, I said, “Trust but verify.”

In the afternoon, a bill to authorize the Prince Georges site was heard by the Ways and Means Committee.

I rephrased my question from the morning and received a better answer.

What remains to be decided: What effect would authorizing a new slots parlor have on business at the existing sites?

If we increase each licensee’s share of the money bet and reduce the state’s portion but authorize table games, would there be more or less money for K-12 education and economic and community development in the neighborhoods adjacent to the slots parlors and Pimlico Race Track?

We may not have an answer until the closing hours of the 90-day session.

Pre-school lottery

March 16, 2012 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2012 Legislative Diary | No Comments

“Our child won the lottery.”

The subject was not gambling. (That hearing is tomorrow.)

The witness’s child had won a lottery to gain admission to a free pre-kindergarten education in a Prince Georges County public school.

The bill was mine.

House Bill 1241 would make a full-day program available for four-year olds whose parents’ income is below a certain level. A half-day program would be offered to other children.

No one disputes that high quality pre-school class time brings long-term benefits.

But how do you pay for it?

The first-year cost of my legislation is $108 million.

Tomorrow is the hearing on a potential source of money – table games at the state’s slots parlors.

Number one in a hurry

March 14, 2012 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2012 Legislative Diary, Uncategorized | No Comments

I was going to ask a question about the Red Line.

The proposed mass transit line runs through the heart of the Edmondson Avenue neighborhoods I represent.

The hearing was on the Governor’s gas tax bill, and I was going to make the point that the Red Line could not be built unless we had additional revenue.

Then Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake testified that if the City does not receive more funding this session, it “will likely be forced to close as many as 15 bridges to traffic within the next two to three years.”

I raised my eyebrows.

The Mayor noticed.

“That was not a skeptical response,” I told her and the audience. “It was an ‘Oh, wow!’”

Baltimore would no longer rank 16^th on the list of congested metropolitan areas.

We would be number one in a hurry.

The devil is in the details, as it is with most legislation, but a 21^st Century transportation system is an investment we must make.

Getting it done without credit

March 13, 2012 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2012 Legislative Diary | No Comments

If you don’t need to take credit for everything, you can get a lot done.

Two examples:

I introduced House Bill 68 to provide more preventive care for minors who are homeless or living independently of their estranged parents or guardians. Senator Kelley introduced an identical bill.

In January, we reached agreement on amendments with the affected health care providers. The Senate bill, with those changes, passed that body unanimously.

It now awaits action in the House. It’s fine with me if the Senate bill becomes law and not mine, even though I began working on this issue before Senator Kelley did.

My advice to one of the advocates: A letter signed by the various individuals and groups who support the amended bill could be distributed to the committee at the bill hearing and in meetings with members beforehand.

Budget bill language is the substitute for my bill to encourage fathers to be involved with the mother and their children.

An Appropriations subcommittee will consider language requesting the Department of Human Resources to provide a report by November 1, 2012 on the status of its efforts to secure federal funding for a pilot program.

During my twenty years on the Appropriations Committee, I initiated many similar narratives. A Cabinet department is not likely to ignore a request from the legislators who control its budget.

Summer studies and a fireside chat

March 12, 2012March 12, 2012 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2012 Legislative Diary | No Comments

A bill signing ceremony with the Governor is preferable to a summer study – most of the time.

My bill to assist seniors with housing repairs so that they can remain in the homes they own called for a summer study from the outset. We needed to find the money.

When my 41^st District colleagues and I learned that a change to the Red Line would affect access to Interstate 70, we added language to a bill draft so that it required the State Highway Administration to conduct a detailed community impact study.

The State Department of Education said that it would support two of my bills if they were changed to create a task force in one instance and a workgroup in the other. I had the amendments drafted.

The legislation dealt with incorporating education about sustainable agriculture into the state-wide curriculum and training school employees on the prevention, identification, and reporting of child sexual abuse, respectively.

My bill to create a pilot project to involve fathers when the mother applies for benefits after having a child could be implemented only if a federal grant is obtained, the Department of Human Resources wrote me. I’m working on an amendment requiring the agency to report to the legislature on its pursuit of those funds.

—

A friend introduced me to his fellow advocates as Delegate Roosevelt.

That slip of the tongue concludes today’s virtual fireside chat.

Scrolling down, I stand corrected

March 9, 2012 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2012 Legislative Diary | No Comments

Your testimony is terrific. Don’t read it. You will be far more effective if you tell your story to the committee as you would instruct your students.

That’s the advice I gave to a teacher this morning after reading his testimony online.

Andrew Coy came to Annapolis to testify on my bill that would provide educational loan forgiveness for highly effective teachers in high-need schools and subject areas.

He almost didn’t testify.

The reason why: Nobody gave similar advice to any of the people who testified on the other bills heard by my committee.

Witness after witness read their testimony.

My bill was heard just before Andrew had to return to Baltimore.

He didn’t read his testimony, but he did scroll down on his IPad a few times.

—

My second education reform bill would streamline the dismissal procedure without shortchanging the rights of the teacher. Only one fact-finding hearing would be required, instead of two. During this elongated process, I testified, the teacher is still paid.

Speaking in opposition, a teachers union representative said that teachers up for dismissal are not compensated, contrary to what I said. In addition, she said, the bill takes away the right of appeal.

When I questioned her, she acknowledged that my legislation did not deny a teacher’s right of appeal.

“I stand corrected as well,” I said. After the local board makes a decision to terminate, I learned, it stops paying.

Blaming parents and harassing contributors

March 7, 2012 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2012 Legislative Diary | No Comments

Thirty years ago, when I first introduced legislation to prevent lead paint poisoning, some people blamed the parents.

“They don’t keep their rental units clean. They don’t teach their children not to put things in their mouths,” we were told.

The compromise bill we passed in 1994, the Reduction of Lead Risk in Housing law, struck the appropriate balance. Landlords who complied with the law could offer decent, safe, and affordable housing and limit their liability in court if a young tenant was poisoned.

That legislation, plus a major increase in funding for prevention, has resulted in a significant decrease in the number of children damaged for life by this preventable disease.

As this committee considers the bills before it today, I ask you to bear that history in mind.

That’s how I began my testimony today before the House Environmental Matters Committee.

—

Rush Limbaugh can call Sandra Fluke a slut and a prostitute.

Meanwhile, my Republican colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee are quivering at the prospect of requiring campaign contributors in Maryland elections to list their employer.

People would be harassed, they complained.

I pointed out that this disclosure is already required for federal campaigns.

My Key Issues:

Category: Sandy’s 2012 Legislative Diary