Category: Sandy’s 2013 Legislative Diary

Making the Case for Pre-K

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“He was a very strong presence without being conspicuous about it. If a fight broke out, he would try to negotiate. He knew who started it; he knew how to let everyone withdraw from it. He could get opponents on policy to see there was a principled compromise.”

In Annapolis, he might be called Soft Shoes, the nickname for the quiet but very effective Senator Harry McGuirk.

This praise, however, was from Bill Moyers – for a Kennedy and Johnson aide, Ralph Dungan, in his obituary today.

There are other ways to describe the person whose focus is moving public policy in the right direction, often by compromise.

Along with Senator Bill Ferguson, I introduced legislation in 2012 to expand state funding for pre-kindergarten to all 4-year olds.

This week, I was a validator when Lt. Governor Anthony Brown and County Executive Ken Ullman announced their universal pre-K proposal.

I explained to a reporter that the slots law already authorized spending for pre-k from the Education Trust Fund, which gets the lion’s share of slots revenue.

With pre-k now on the agenda of the three Democratic candidates for governor, my objective for the next legislative session is to make the argument for the benefits from pre-k funding among my colleagues, along with Sen. Ferguson and the advocates for pre-K.

If you build the case, the money will come.

Virgin and Politics – They’re not dirty words.

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“You may remember the bus ads that declared, “Virgin.  Teach your kids it’s not a dirty word.”

The creative mind behind that campaign was Hal Donofrio.

I was one of the political minds that helped initiate it.

With some research help from the clipping service maintained by my grandmother, mother, and brother Bruce and more recent data from the budget staff in Annapolis, I wrote the following letter to the editor of the Baltimore Sun in response to a recent op-ed.

 

Dear Editors:

Hal and Chuck Donofrio deserve the praise they received for their innovative media program to reduce unwanted teen pregnancy.  (“Abstinence with an attitude,” September 9, 2013)  http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-reimer-cfoc-20130909,0,6058067.column

Their efforts began with an ideologically bipartisan effort of state legislators.

Two pro-life members, Senator Frank Kelly and Del. Timothy Maloney, joined two pro-choice members, Senator Catherine Riley and myself, in advocating for increased funding for family planning and counseling, expanded adoption efforts, and a television-ad campaign to inform teens “It’s OK to say no.”

Nearly 2/3 of the members of the General Assembly signed our letter to Governor Harry Hughes urging him to fund an “historic legislative budget request.”

The Governor added $2.9 million to his budget for these programs.  This money, along with private funds raised by Hal Donofrio, began the media campaign.

The State currently promotes abstinence education to Maryland youth under two federal programs authorized by the Affordable Care Act of 2010.  Contraceptive education is also provided with these federal dollars.

In 1986, the birthrate among 15-19 year olds in Maryland was 40.2 per 1,000.  In 2011, it was 24.7.

We have made significant progress, but the need still exists.  We must think and work across ideological lines again.

Before the News is Fit to Print

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I plead guilty to introducing legislation after reading an article in the New York Times.
This time, however, my idea was fit to draft before the Times found it fit to print.

According to a front page story today about Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg:

 There is a framed copy of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 on a wall in her chambers. It is not a judicial decision, of course, but Justice Ginsburg counts it as one of her proudest achievements.

The law was a reaction to her dissent in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, the 2007 ruling that said Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 imposed strict time limits for bringing workplace discrimination suits. She called on Congress to overturn the decision, and it did.

 “I’d like to think that that will happen in the two Title VII cases from this term, but this Congress doesn’t seem to be able to move on anything,” she said.

 In those two recent cases, a 5-4 majority made it more difficult to win a fair employment case by narrowing the definition of a supervisor whose actions constitute a violation of the law and requiring that retaliation be the motivating factor for an unlawful act, not one of several causes.

In July, I asked that legislation be drafted to prevent Maryland’s fair employment laws from being interpreted by our courts in the same way.
It’s not the first time that I’ve done this.

Maryland also passed a law in response to the Ledbetter case. Senator Jamie Raskin and I introduced the legislation.

I gave Justice Ginsburg a copy of House Bill 288, signed by Governor O’Malley.

It was not the first time I met her.

In the fall of 1974, I took her class on Sex Discrimination and the Law.

Getting the numbers right early

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Inside baseball can make the difference between winning or losing a game.
Or passing or losing a bill in Annapolis.

Every bill gets a fiscal note.

It’s our budget staff’s best judgment as to the cost to implement the legislation.

A high fiscal note and your bill is dead.

If the bureaucracy does not like what you’re proposing, its estimate of the cost will be on the high side.

You are not powerless.  You can make your case to the fiscal note writer about the projected costs before the note is distributed at the bill hearing.

Or you can ask for the equivalent of  a fiscal note months before your bill is introduced.

If the cost of the Oregon tuition plan (students pay after graduation based on their income) is sky high, any bill won’t go anywhere.

That’s why I asked our professional staff to do a pre-fiscal note fiscal note.

The response raises important questions about both cost and implementation.  For example, Who will monitor repayments from alumni and how will noncompliance be addressed?  Could students opt out of the program and pay regular tuition?

Better to respond to those concerns now than next February.

 

In the room

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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

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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

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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

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I again had the honor of reading from the Declaration of Independence before the start of the 4th 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

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     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

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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

  • My Key Issues:

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