A Big Step Forward

September 1, 2020 | by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

Speaker Adrienne Jones has written Governor Larry Hogan, urging him to “increase funding for the state’s rental assistance program and commit funding for a tenant legal assistance program through the end of the year.”

Throughout my career, enabling tenants to remain in decent, safe, and sanitary housing has been one of my priorities.

The Speaker’s letter is a big step forward in achieving those goals.

Even if the Governor responds favorably, these issues will be at the forefront when the General Assembly reconvenes.

Emergency funding would be a stop-gap measure. Long-term solutions will still be needed.

My job will be to assist in getting these issues addressed.

I will be adhering to my newsletter rule: My name does not have to be first on the sponsor line of a bill, as long as I can legitimately say in my end-of-session newsletter that I played a part in accomplishing something.

Joe Biden and Our Better Angels

August 21, 2020 | by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

We heard so many stories about Joe Biden taking time to talk and listen to people.

Quite a few had lost a child or family member. One stuttered.

What does this tell us about the campaign ahead? More importantly, what does it say about how Biden would govern and lead as President?

There was empathy and a commitment to address the tough tasks that lie ahead.

“If you entrust me with the Presidency,” Biden said in his acceptance speech, “I will draw on the best of us.”

He can appeal to the better angels of our nature, as did Lincoln.

In the recorded segment on Biden’s faith, he spoke of the compassion of the family members who forgave the white supremacist killer at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.

No doubt there were quite a few elected officials at their funeral.

But Biden returned the next Sunday.

That was empathy. That was profound.

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If you are registered to vote in Maryland, you can use this link to request a mail-in ballot, instead of waiting for the application to arrive in the mail.

I urge you to do so.

https://voterservices.elections.maryland.gov/onlinemailinrequest/InstructionsStep1

Responding to the Devastation

August 14, 2020 | by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

The devastation was profound.

I’m referring to the rubble of the three houses that were destroyed by the explosion on Monday morning.

The response from neighbors on Labyrinth Road and elsewhere has also been profound.

From running to the site to save those who might be trapped to donating food, clothes, and money.

The first responders were there to rescue and to protect.

My job is to determine if a legislative response is needed.

Before now, I have not introduced legislation on this subject.

So I turned to those who know about utility regulation – current and former committee staff in the General Assembly.

I’ve stayed in touch with my 41st District colleagues. If we decide to pursue legislation, any bills would be sponsored by the four of us.

I was heartened to read last night that both of the committee chairs who would hear any bills on the subject are considering how best to modernize the aging utility infrastructure in our state.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-bge-infrastructure-20200813-sn6qcldtgjb6hfirnkkazwqkly-story.html

I wrote them this morning.

Do You Want To Honor John Lewis?

July 31, 2020 | by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

“When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.”

Those are among the last words of John Lewis. They are excerpted from an op-ed he asked to be published on the day of his funeral.

I first learned of John Lewis on Bloody Sunday.

I was a high school freshman and watched the footage of his beating in our den on Wallis Avenue.

A few nights later, I was in the same place to watch Lyndon Johnson declare to a joint session of Congress, “We shall overcome.”

I now work the polls at the elementary school I attended. I was outside Cross Country School the late afternoon of Election Day when I learned of the robo call urging people to stay home and not come out to vote.

I had sponsored the law that made it a crime to use deception to influence a person’s decision whether to vote. This was voter suppression.

I have asked that legislation be drafted for next year’s session to provide additional protections of the right to vote.

What we do in Annapolis can set an example for the rest of the country.

What the Congress does will set the standard for the nation.

“Do you want to honor John?” Barack Obama counseled in his eulogy today. “Revitalize the [voting rights] law he was willing to die for.”

Pass the Voting Rights Bill

July 20, 2020 | by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

The greatest tribute that could be paid to Congressman John Lewis:

Pass the Voting Rights bill.

H.R.4, the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019, passed the House of Representatives on December 6, 2019.

Why do we need this bill?

The Supreme Court gutted the enforcement provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which required states with a history of voting rights violations to get preclearance from the Department of Justice before adopting changes to their voting laws or practices.

In dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote, “Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”

The only action taken on H.R. 4 by the Senate has been to refer it to the Judiciary Committee.

Perhaps Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham will be moved by this statement from a colleague on the passing of Congressman Lewis.

I will never forget joining hands with John as members of Congress sang We Shall Overcome at a 2008 ceremony honoring his friend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It could not have been more humbling to consider what he had suffered and sacrificed so those words could be sung in that place.

Who offered those words?

Senator Mitch McConnell.

A few days after John Lewis almost lost his life on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, these words were spoken to a joint session of Congress by President Lyndon Johnson.

But even if we pass this bill, the battle will not be over. What happened in Selma is part of a far larger movement which reaches into every section and State of America. It is the effort of American Negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of American life. Their cause must be our cause too. Because it’s not just Negroes, but really it’s all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice.

And we shall overcome.

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You can speak with City Council President Brandon Scott on our 41st District Town Hall tomorrow evening from 5:30-6:30. For details on this Zoom meeting, contact aswilliams@house.state.md.us.

Grievances and Openings

July 16, 2020 | by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

Perhaps you read the Baltimore Sun article about Governor Hogan’s memoir:

In the book, Hogan writes of hearing from Baltimore residents about what he refers to as “grievances”: a lack of jobs, poor schools and closed community centers. Hogan writes that he told people he would “keep working on the things you’re talking about that aren’t right. But first, we have to get the city back under control.”

http://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-pr-pol-hogan-memoir-2024-presidential-possibility-20200715-doh6bf7md5cj5o3ojkev2x7m6u-story.html

The disturbances after Freddie Gray’s funeral are the subject of the chapters released to the press.

The center of the confrontation between residents and the police was the intersection of North and Pennsylvania Avenues.

There’s a Pratt Library branch there. It stayed open, unlike the community centers Governor Hogan speaks of.

That decision was made by Carla Hayden, then the CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, now the Librarian of Congress.

When the General Assembly reconvened, Speaker Mike Busch made a decision.

He had a bill introduced to increase state and local funding for Pratt branches throughout the City so that hours could be extended.

The bill passed the House and the Senate by wide margins.

The Governor let the bill become law without his signature.

My constituents – from one end of the 41st District to another, were enthusiastic.

The next year, however, the Governor introduced legislation to eliminate this funding.

The General Assembly restored the money.

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You can speak with City Council President Brandon Scott on our 41st District Town Hall Tuesday evening from 5:30-6:30. For details on this Zoom meeting, contact aswilliams@house.state.md.us.

Getting to Progress From No

July 13, 2020 | by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

One of the many things Pete Rawlings taught me when he was chair of the Appropriations Committee:

“You have to learn how to say ‘no’ to people.”

No doesn’t always mean nothing.

In the give and take of the fiscal limits of the budget, of the differing views on an issue, compromise is needed.

What does that mean today?

Speaker Jones has created a Work Group To Address Police Reform

and Accountability.

Senator Will Smith, chair of the committee that considers such legislation in his body, has outlined the reforms that the bill he’s introducing.

This means that legislation making major changes is certain to be enacted.

The Speaker has appointed me to the work group.

I am concentrating on applicant screening so that biased people are not accepted, a duty to intervene when another officer is violating the law, and how best for police to work with mental health and social workers in crisis situations.

Governor Hogan has suspended evictions until later this month. If he does not extend that prohibition, there could be a flood of homeless people.

I am drafting legislation that would protect the rights of tenants to a lead-safe home and working with Attorney General Frosh on funding for lawyers for tenants so that the laws we pass are put into effect.

“We will support locally-driven economic development and commit to directing a significant portion of clean energy and sustainable infrastructure investments to historically marginalized communities to help create local jobs and reduce energy poverty.”

That’s not part of the Green New Deal. It’s a policy statement resulting from negotiations between the Biden and Sanders campaigns.

It’s the basis for legislation that I have requested.

Some believe we should go further in the changes we make in the three areas I’ve discussed today.

My goal is to make serious progress.

Police Accountability, Having a Lawyer and a Laptop

July 7, 2020 | by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

What will the General Assembly do about police accountability?

That’s the issue that’s receiving the most attention and justifiably so.

Speaker Adrienne Jones has appointed a work group to study the issue and make recommendations for legislation.

Senator Will Smith chairs the committee that will hear such legislation and has written a letter outlining the provisions in the bill that he will introduce.

Both of these actions mean that a major overhaul of our laws will be enacted next session.

I serve on the Speaker’s work group and will be working to achieve that end.

I’m also working on other issues where the pandemic and the death of George Floyd have heightened our awareness of inequities based on race and class.

Attorney General Brian Frosh has created the COVID-19 Access to Justice Task Force.

I’m serving on the Civil Legal Aid Funding Committee

This is an opportunity to provide an attorney for tenants in housing court and for the poor in other legal matters.

I’ve been working on this for quite some time. The pandemic and the task force have brought attention to this issue.

Over these past three months, I’ve frequently thought about how little work I’d be able to do if I didn’t have a laptop and Internet access.

For far too many students learning at home, those are not givens.

I’m working with people who have studied the issue to see how the state can provide these resources.

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You can speak with Dr. Letitia Dzirasa,, Commissioner of the Baltimore City Health Department on our 41st District Town Hall Thursday evening from 5:30-6:30. For details on this Zoom meeting, contact Dalya.Attar@house.state.md.us.

A First Time in the Ambassador and a Second Time on Common Ground

June 30, 2020 | by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

I stepped foot in the Ambassador Theatre for the first time yesterday.

Barry Levinson did so before me. He went to the movies here.. .

LL Cool J performed here when it was a roller rink.

We’ve taken the first steps to make this a creative arts space.

Bond money and slots revenue from the state are underwriting initial planning.

There’s already significant public and private investment across the street – Calvin M. Rodwell Elementary/ Middle School and a Shop Rite grocery store.

Reopening the Ambassador will build on these developments.

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Landlords and tenants are usually on the opposite ends of a very long table.

That’s been my experience in Annapolis.

The economic crisis is changing that.

Federal CARES money is being used to help pay people’s rent. Governor Hogan prohibited evictions.

Landlords and tenants are working together on how that money should be spent. They’re also discussing what to do when evictions can again take place.

If they can find common ground now, perhaps they can do so again on other issues during the 90-day session.

The second time is easier than the first.

The Right Policy and the Right Fix

June 24, 2020 | by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

TTo pass a bill, you need the right policy and you need the votes.

Your bill must require, fund, or prohibit what’s in the public interest. It must improve the situation it addresses.

And a majority of your colleagues must agree.

That’s the case if your bill speaks to a neighborhood problem.

That’s the case with abortion rights and the death penalty – two of the issues that I’ve worked on over the years.

Congressman John Lewis was asked if “there were any flaws in the original Voting Rights Act.”

He replied, “I think the original drafters of the act, those members were trying to get a bill through Congress that would be supported by the majority. But we need to fix it.”

https://medium.com/new-york-magazine/john-lewis-will-never-lose-hope-14a545c527c7

Speaker Adrienne Jones appointed me to the Workgroup to Address Police Reform and Accountability in Maryland.

We need to fix our police system, and we need to fix the racial and other inequities in our society

Yesterday was the work group’s first hearing.

I can be most effective by concentrating on certain issues.

Both were raised at the meeting:

A police officer should have a duty to intervene when another officer is acting improperly. How do you define that duty? Should there be incentives to intervene and protections for doing so?

How and when should a police department screen for implicit bias in a job applicant? It’s better to address this problem at the outset than after an incident.

My suggestion: what have other states done in these two areas? We can learn from their experience.

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You can speak with Police Commissioner Michael Harrison on our 41st District Town Hall Thursday evening from 5:30-6:30. For details on this Zoom meeting, write JGreenfield@house.state.md.us or call 410-664-2646.

My Key Issues:

Category: Uncategorized