educational loan forgiveness

Effective Testimony and Alternative Cost

February 4, 2020 | by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

I know effective testimony when I hear it.

Especially when the witness is sitting next to me and speaking on behalf of my bill.

House Bill 186 would broaden eligibility for a program that repays a portion of a teacher’s academic debt if the teacher is in a school where most of the children come from poor families.

Joseph Mahach, who teaches at the John Ruhrah Elementary Middle School in Southeast Baltimore, told the Appropriations Committee:

By passing HB 186, you can tell teachers that you are looking out for them. You can show us that funding education isn’t just a discussion of best practices ad budget calculations. You can show teachers that yes, the state of Maryland is committed to world class education, but that doesn’t mean you will lose sight of the details that can make a career in teaching just that little bit easier.

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Every bill has a fiscal note.

The note estimates the cost of implementing the legislation.

If a bureaucrat doesn’t like your bill, he or she will submit a costly estimate to the General Assembly’s budget staff.

But I am not without options.

I wrote a friend and computer entrepreneur to ask for his estimate.

I can submit his response to our budget staff as well.

Not being paid to testify or square off

March 5, 2012 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2012 Legislative Diary | No Comments

I had a life before the legislature.

When I was a producer at WJZ-TV in the late 70’s, I helped create Square Off.

The goal was to make this show different than the usual collection of talking heads.

“We don’t want panelists who work for the government or some interest group and are being paid to say what they’re saying on the show,” my boss declared. “We want the average Joe.”

I thought of that admonition twice today.

First at a strategy meeting on my bill to assist people who can’t work on a religious holiday.

“We need a witness who’s been denied leave,” I told an advocate. “Not someone like you who’s being paid to testify.”

Teachers who have received the highest performance rating for their classroom work would be given priority for grants to assist in the repayment of their academic debt under House Bill 613.

At noon, no potential recipient was lined up to testify.

Helping people choose a public service career means a great deal to me. It enables them to do what I’ve done. That would be evident when I testified.

Nonetheless, I didn’t want to be the only person speaking for my bill.

Within the hour, we had a witness.

Touching lives

February 24, 2011 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2011 Legislative Diary | No Comments

You can touch the lives of many people in this job.

Twenty three years ago, Maryland became the first state to help students enter public service by providing loan repayments to assist them in repaying their academic debt. That was my bill.

We heard testimony today on legislation to allow people with lower paying government or non-profit jobs to claim a deduction on their state income tax for their educational loan repayments. I introduced House Bill 623 because less than half of the people who are eligible for assistance under my 1988 bill are receiving this aid.

During the hearing, I learned that our budget staff is proposing that this program not be funded in the next fiscal year. Another issue to add to my bill list.

At the Democratic caucus meeting this week, the House sponsor of the same-sex marriage bill compared this issue to the 1991 law that made the Roe v. Wade standard on abortion Maryland law.

He then called on me to speak as the floor leader for the abortion bill. My message: we had to oppose all Senate amendments then and we have to do the same now, since the Senate will not take up the bill a second time to consider any House changes.

Afterwards, I called my niece, Rachel, to let her know that when the abortion law was petitioned to referendum 20 years ago, I wanted her to pull the lever for me for the bill on Election Day, but her father took her and her brother to dinner instead.

Next year, if the marriage bill is petitioned to the ballot, Rachel will be 27 and able to vote for the law herself.

February 24