Responding to constituent emails on your laptop can be a distraction during committee hearings. But certain issues do catch your attention. As when a Department of Health official testifies, “We are battling with vaping these days.” Vaping is smoking electronic cigarettes. There is a great deal of evidence that this is now the entry point …more >
We had a 2 ½ hour hearing on medical cannabis legislation this afternoon. I asked one question: How does the directive from Attorney General Sessions regarding federal prosecutions of marijuana offenses affect Maryland’s program? “We are already studying that question and will share our conclusions with you and the committee,” responded an Assistant Maryland Attorney …more >
We’re going to hear the word bipartisan quite often this session. And well we should. The public wants the two parties to work together, and we should try to do so. Today we had an example of bipartisanship between labor and business. The issue was the Governor’s veto of the Maryland Healthy Working Families Act …more >
Speaker Busch again asked me to offer the prayer at the Opening Day of the 90-day legislative session. This is what I said: Last fall, I told my mother, who is here today, that I have three objectives in my reelection campaign. “Win, win, and win,” she quickly responded. My mother was a Phi Beta …more >
City schools should not have to close because the boilers don’t work. With aging buildings, what happened last week was not a surprise. It is now our obligation to assess the blame and more importantly, to prevent this from happening again. There will be discussion of the formula that determines how much money is allocated …more >
Keeping the Preakness at Pimlico is again one of my top priorities this session. I ran into a lobbyist who represents one of the interested parties. He gave me a piece of information. I responded with mine. I told him that since we adjourned in April, I’ve been impressed by the interest of businesses and …more >
Because one Pratt Library branch stayed open, all of the branches will now stay open longer. The drug store at Pennsylvania and North Avenues had been burned. Protesters were confronting the police over the death of Freddie Gray. The Pratt library branch, however, stayed open. The next year, the General Assembly passed legislation for the …more >
I don’t ask my colleagues to vote for my bills before I’ve written them. Neither should the Governor. “Our goal will be to leave that money in the pockets of hard-working Marylanders,” Governor Hogan said in an opening statement yesterday at a Board of Public Works meeting. “I am confident that our partners in the …more >
I’ll be working with Governor Hogan on behalf of one of his work force development initiatives next year. The governor announced this week that he will “fund the Maryland Technology Internship Program [MTIP] for the first time in state history, which provides matching funds to companies for internship stipends.” I introduced the bill that created …more >
Voters in Alabama got this robocall last week from “Bernie Bernstein”: I’m a reporter for The Washington Post calling to find out if anyone at this address is a female between the ages of 54 to 57 years old, willing to make damaging remarks about candidate Roy Moore for a reward of between $5,000 and …more >
