I asked that several bills be drafted today and over the weekend.

A week from tomorrow is the deadline to make a request and be guaranteed that our professional staff will draft the legislation in time for it to be guaranteed a public hearing.

My bills would address the following issues:

1. How should the state spend the money we receive from a successful lawsuit against a private business?

2. How can we encourage unmarried parents to act together on behalf of their offspring?

3. Should we revoke the driver’s license of people below the poverty level who owe income taxes?

4. Should a citizen living abroad lose the right to vote after twice being excused from jury duty for that reason?

Between now and when the bills are introduced, I’ll be reviewing the drafts with staff, advocates, and sometimes, likely opponents.

“Pick your spots.”

That’s the advice I got shortly before I became a member of the House of Delegates.

Listen and learn. Then speak. And only if necessary, introduce a bill.

I repeated that advice today for the new members of the Health and Government Operations Committee.

When I meet individually with the ten members of the subcommittee I chair, I’ll try to learn what their spots are.

I will also let them know that I welcome input from all of them, regardless of party.

I was again honored by the Speaker’s request that I offer the prayer for the Opening Day of the legislative session.
This is what I said:

When George Washington visited the Hebrew Congregation of Newport in 1790, four states were still debating the first amendments to the Constitution.
President Washington later wrote the congregation, “The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more sweet from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security.”

He continued, “It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights.”

This fall, those inherent natural rights were grievously attacked at the Tree of Life congregation in Pittsburgh.

A college friend, whose son and daughter were Bar and Bat Mitzvah at the congregation, wrote our class:

“The shootings have torn our community, and there are deep wounds. But it also has knit our community together in remarkable ways.

“There is the sense of a shared common adversity, and the discovery of widespread support from those outside our religion, outside our neighborhood, outside our city and even outside our country. Rallies in support of us, and against hate, have been held in many cities; phone calls, letters, emails and personal visits have come to our homes.”

We should note that when Washington resigned his commission as commander in chief of the Continental Army, steps away from where we are assembled today; when the Maryland General Assembly first convened, there were no Jews in either body. No women, no African-Americans, no LGBT members.

In the 90 days and the four years ahead, may there be many days of Washington’s “uncommon prosperity and security.”
That would make this day, this beginning, worthy of a Jewish prayer, the Shehecheeyanu:
Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of all, who has kept us alive, sustained us, and brought us to this season.

A utility player can fill many positions on a baseball team.

For my first five terms in Annapolis, I served on the Appropriations Committee.

Since then, I’ve been on three different committees.

I am now on the Health and Government Operations Committee, where I chair a subcommittee.

I will continue as the House chair of the committee that reviews regulations proposed by the executive branch.

Effective tomorrow, I will become the House chair of the Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics.

Today, I attended my first meeting of the Senior Leadership.

This is why Speaker Mike Busch calls me his utility player.

The Speaker told the Democratic Caucus today, “Everybody plays a role.”

I benefited from colleagues who mentored me.

For several years now, it has been my role – my opportunity and obligation, to mentor new members on my committee and now new members of my delegation, Dalya Attar and Tony Bridges.

It all starts tomorrow.

The 90-day session begins Wednesday. My week in Annapolis began today.

Among the research requests I made was this one:

HR 1, the For The People Act, was introduced Friday by the Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives.
What provisions in the bill would enhance voter access and are not already Maryland law? I would need a response before the bill request courtesy deadline.

As you may recall, I’ve passed several bills protecting and enhancing the right to vote.

Maryland can set an example by enacting those provisions not already in our law. That would help create momentum at the federal level.

What is the bill courtesy deadline?

If you request that a bill be drafted by January 22, you will receive a draft by the next deadline. If you formally introduce your bill by February 7, your legislation is guaranteed a public hearing.

This was not the first day back for the lobbying corps.

On two different occasions, I crossed paths with a lobbyist. Each one discussed a pending medical marijuana issue.

Another lobbyist told me about a pending briefing on an issue I’m interested in.

I later went to the General Assembly website. The briefing is not online yet.

I don’t have to introduce a bill every time.

Two examples of that this week.

As the City and State are building new schools, they’re closing old ones.

What do you do with the latter?

The site could be a better opportunity for redevelopment if the school is gone.

Governor Hogan has funded a demolition program targeting vacant houses in Baltimore.

I assumed, as did several other City legislators, that the money could be used only for residential properties.

I spoke with one of the General Assembly’s budget staffers. By day’s end, he responded that the Strategic Demolition Program is not limited to housing.

Now we have to make the case that the demolition of a school is more valuable than doing so for a block of vacants.

Children and teens are using computer skills at the Digital Harbor Foundation in Federal Hill. They’re embarking on a pathway to technology jobs and the middle class, that is no longer available via the manufacturing sector as it once was.

I’ve worked with Andrew Coy, the Foundation’s director. The Sun wrote about his work last Friday. We met for lunch this past Wednesday.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/bs-md-baltimore-digital-coders-20181026-story.html

Andrew wants to expand what he’s now offering by having the state adopt the model of the Agricultural Extension Service.

The Service develops and delivers educational programs to assist people in economic and community development, leadership, family issues, agriculture and environment.

A bill is already being drafted. I can help bring this about without my name being first on the bill’s sponsor line.

Amazon HQ2 is not coming to Baltimore or to Maryland.

It is coming, however, to a Virginia suburb of Washington.

Marylanders will still benefit from this influx of high tech jobs, including students participating in the Maryland Technology Internship Program.

You may remember that I sponsored the bill creating MTIP in 2014, alongside UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski. The

State of Maryland pays part of the salary for a summer internship with a tech company.

The program remained unfunded until this past legislative session.

The day that Amazon announced its expansion plans, I reached out to Governor Hogan. He funded the program, and we expanded it from start-ups to include larger companies, like Amazon, as well as state and local governments.

Nearly fifty interns are now matched with companies across the region. Students represent eleven institutions in various majors, including business, computer science, visual design, engineering, and biotech. 90% of the employers are small to mid-size businesses of under 150 people.

See https://technical.ly/baltimore/2018/09/28/with-state-backed-program-maryland-looks-to-grow-paid-internships-at-tech-companies/

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No doubt you’ve read of the person who yelled “Heil Hitler! Heil Trump!” at a performance of Fiddler on the Roof at the Hippodrome Theatre downtown Wednesday night.

That prompted me to buy tickets for this weekend.

The show must go on! It’s tradition.

Hogan wins as Dems make gains

That’s the banner headline in today’s Sun. That’s the message the voters sent.

Party labels don’t matter. It’s the end product that counts.

Pre-kindergarten-12th grade education will be the most important issue before the Governor and the General Assembly the next four years.

How much funding should the state provide for local school systems?

How should we hold those systems accountable for their end product – students’ ability to function in the 21st Century economy?

My first post-election event was a speech this morning by Brit Kirwan, the chair of the commission that will soon issue its recommendations on these issues.

Pre-k should start at birth because the first three years of a child’s life are the most formative, Kirwan stated.

Expansion of family support centers, which provide a wide range of parent/child activities and child development services, has been considered by the commission.

I’ve been involved with the centers since their inception.

Thank you for again honoring me with the opportunity to work on this and other issues.

Nothing prepares you for the hate and carnage of the gunman last Sabbath in Pittsburgh.

Yet everything prepares you – family, friends, and faith.

I offered those thoughts to a friend who lost family there last week.

What can each of us do next?

We can respond – in ways best suited to who we are.

For most of us, that is personal. A kind word or some time spent with someone who is reviled by some because of who he or she is.

I will be at a community event today and Shabbat services tomorrow.

I will also be reintroducing House Bill 246, Hate Crimes – Threats and Penalties.

It would prohibit a person from threatening to commit certain hate crimes and authorize a court to require a person convicted of a hate crime to attend educational classes and perform community service as a condition of supervised release.

It passed the Senate last year but not the House.

I hope to bring together a diverse group of supporters.

And work on this bill with more passion than I did the last time.