Until the bill is passed, there are always next steps.
A big step forward today on an issue.
I shared the good news with the people I’m working with.
One replied, “Great news. Can you follow up…regarding the language to be offered in the budget”?
I responded, “Please send me the draft language.”
With two weeks left to pass my bills out of the House of Delegates and avoid the Senate Rules Committee…
I spoke to two lobbyists about the amendment I would be offering to my bill, as well as the amendment I won’t be offering. My objective: they won’t oppose the bill in the House, in the Senate, or in the Governor’s Office.
I drafted the amendment to the bill. We don’t vote on concepts.
After the hearing on another bill, I told the advocates that we needed to go down the list of the subcommittee and decide who should follow up with each member.
I had a chance meeting with a Republican colleague. He supports a higher fee for out-of-state lawyers because they’re not Maryland residents. I support the higher fee because the money goes to the program that helps repay academic debt of people who take lower-paying public service jobs.
I don’t care why you’re voting with me, just as long as you do so.
Every committee in Annapolis has a pre-meeting meeting.
The leadership meets before a public voting session to discuss the bills the full committee will be considering.
The result is a voting list with up arrows for bills where a favorable report is recommended, down arrows for an unfavorable report, and both up and down arrows for a bill with no recommendation – a jump ball.
My bill to broaden the protections against frivolous lawsuits against individuals exercising their First Amendment rights is a jump ball.
This afternoon, I tried to persuade my colleagues one or two at time. It helped me refine my argument.
At the voting session this evening, House Bill 263 received a favorable report. The vote was unanimous!
Democracy in action.
We spend long hours in bill hearings.
The purpose is to enact sound public policy.
Every person is presumed to know the law. That’s a centuries old legal maxim.
In reality, however, that’s not the case. That’s why people hire lawyers.
If you can’t afford a lawyer, you’re at a lopsided disadvantage.
The U.S. Constitution guarantees your right to a lawyer in a criminal case.
But a civil case can also have a profound effect on your life and well being.
That’s how I began my testimony on House Bill 866, which would create a pilot program providing lawyers in protective order cases dealing with domestic violence in two counties. .
It would be money well spent.
I have four bill hearings tomorrow.
And that’s after I attend the oral argument at the Supreme Court on the Texas abortion law.
So before the end of the work day, I have to:
Make final revisions to my written testimony;
Since I don’t read my testimony at the public hearing, start drafting in my head the opening sentence for my oral testimony;
Meet with representatives of the Comptroller and the Attorney General to learn of their concerns about provisions in two of my bills and see if I can address or minimize their issues;
Confirm the witness lists for each bill;
Since one of my bills deals with guaranteeing a lawyer in protective order cases prompted by domestic violence, find my copy of Gideon’s Trumpet, the book about the Supreme Court decision guaranteeing the right to counsel in criminal felony cases. It’s autographed:
For Sandy Rosenberg, Who writes laws – Anthony Lewis (emphasis in the original)
I withdrew two of my bills today.
One because the executive branch wrote a letter. The other because it was the right idea but not yet in the right pew.
The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene “plans to continue to make Wraparound services available to youth with intensive needs,” Secretary Van Mitchell wrote me today.
That was the purpose of House Bill 759: to maintain high quality mental health care for youth in outpatient settings.
I introduced the bill at the request of the mental health community. As we hoped, it brought everyone to the witness table for both the bill hearing and discussions afterward.
The letter and better care are the results.
The bill is no longer needed.
When I was in Israel last December, I learned that the government assumes the cost of the charitable sector’s successful social welfare programs.
“I’ll introduce a bill to do the same in Maryland,” I told my startled hosts.
I had even written the opening lines of my testimony.
Justice Brandeis wrote that the states are the laboratories of democracy.
In this instance, the state of Israel is a laboratory for democracy.
House Bill 748 would have created a grant program for job training programs based on the Israeli model.
As I prepared for the bill hearing, I realized that more work needs to be done on this concept. Instead of a poor bill hearing this week, I’ll discuss this idea with more people this summer.
Next year in Annapolis.
Sometimes, a summer study won’t do; my bill needs to be enacted.
Two made it to the House floor today.
The first dealt with the Walter Sondheim Jr. Public Service Internship Scholarship Program.
Last year, we extended the program from the summer to the fall and winter semesters. Since students will be attending classes, their internship will be fewer hours per week than during the summer.
Consequently, their stipend should be less. House Bill 107 would reduce what they receive from $3,000 to $2,000. It passed unanimously.
I introduced House Bill 241 at the request of the State Board of Elections.
Legislators cannot accept campaign contributions when we’re in session.
Before that was the law, a legislator received a check from the landlords the week that his committee heard my lead paint bill.
HB 241 would give the Board discretion as to the fine it imposes for a violation. Under existing law, it is $1,000.
A vote on the bill was delayed until tomorrow.
A real person’s testimony can make the case for your legislation far better than the polished remarks of a lobbyist or a legislator. Myself included.
That real person would be affected by the bill. A personal story is more effective or moving than an abstract analysis.
I’m sponsoring a bill that would benefit blind parents in court proceedings.
I was about to write the lawyer who asked me to introduce the bill and ask him to have parents testify next week. Then I read his recent email to me.
“We will put together the witnesses we need (real people with real stories about the need for the legislation).”
He’s heard my lecture on the subject.
“That’s a win,” Delegate Morales declared.
She and I introduced House Bill 975.
We did so after learning about Cesar Vargas, a 32-year-old Mexican immigrant without legal status who was recently admitted to the bar of New York.
Under our bill, if someone qualifies for in-state tuition at the undergraduate level, a dreamer under the law approved on referendum in 2012, that person may qualify for the bar and practice law.
Our bill hearing is tomorrow Last Friday, we discussed HB 975 with representatives of the Judiciary.
This afternoon they responded, telling us that they would propose an addition to the Bar Admission rule. Undocumented immigration status, by itself, would not preclude admission to the Bar.
We’ve achieved our objective.
That’s a win.
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I sent an email to a friend in the Executive Branch so that his boss would be better prepared for a meeting tomorrow on an issue I’m interested in.
“I appreciate this,” he responded.
“Getting things done is a team game,” I wrote back.
For the second year in a row, my bill won’t pass.
That’s fine with me.
My No Wrong Door legislation would create a one-stop shop for families in need seeking state benefits.
Last year, House Bill 66 received an unfavorable report. However, the Appropriations Committee added language to the budget bill calling upon the Department of Human Resources to analyze additional steps that could be taken to ensure that when Marylanders attempt to access the social safety net, they are able to access a full range of services.
This year, House Bill 880 would put into effect DHR’s response.
Today I learned that our budget staff has recommended that the department report this fall on its implementation of these changes.
I don’t need my name on a bill that the Governor signs if we can accomplish my objective in another way.
PS Granted, this is a slow process. Unless the Governor, the Senate President, or the Speaker puts an issue on their agenda, this is how things get done.
