After session yesterday, I asked a subcommittee chair if any action had been taken on one of my bills.
She said, “No.”
I asked if I should have an amendment drafted.
She said, “Yes.”
I walked to the State House basement and spoke to a drafter in the Amendment Room.
Walking back to my office, I ran into the delegate whose concerns my amendment sought to address. I described it to her.
She said, “Perfect.”
I also tell my students not to read their testimony but to speak from their head and heart instead.
Today, my committee heard the bill to repeal the death penalty.
Below is my written testimony.
I did not read it but did relate most of it.
This is a conscience vote.
When, if ever, should the state take the life of one of its citizens?
Each of us is being asked make a judgment.
This afternoon, and in the weeks to come, we will consider morality, theology, deterrence, race, DNA, victims, and general funds.
For myself, this is also a pragmatic vote.
We spend an inordinate amount of time and effort legislating and litigating the death penalty. The public would be better served if we expended the same effort on issues that have a greater impact on public safety – where people live, work, and play.
With capital punishment expunged from our Code, we can turn our attention to more pressing criminal justice issues.
Life without the possibility of parole is the appropriate sanction for those who commit heinous murders.
The time has come to end state-sanctioned executions in Maryland.
I urge a favorable report.
Before I spoke, Governor O’Malley testified as to the countries where the majority of executions take place today – Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, the People’s Republic of China, Yemen, and the United States.
I turned to Ben Jealous, President of the NAACP, “Apartheid South Africa used to be on the list.”
When I testified, I related that story.
When you draft a bill or amendments, it’s not the same as writing a legal brief that a judge will scrutinize.
Your words should clearly convey the intent of the legislature. However, there are frequently instances when certain words may not be legally necessary but are essential from a legislative or political standpoint.
I teach that to the law students in my Legislation classes. Today I practiced it.
Under current law, if a legislator has represented a person for compensation before a state agency, the member must disclose the name of the person represented, the services performed, and the consideration received in an annual financial disclosure statement.
This statement is filed after the fact – by April 30 of this year for actions that occurred in 2012. Consequently, the affected agency may be unaware that the legislator was representing a private individual, instead of acting on behalf of his or her constituents.
House Bill 222 would add a more timely reporting requirement. A legislator would be required to file a written disclosure with the highest ranking official of the agency as well as the office of the official or employee with whom the legislator is being paid to communicate on behalf of another person no later than the first contact with the state agency.
At the hearing yesterday, two delegates expressed concerns that as lawyers they would have to file this form every time they had a client in district court.
My response at the witness table was legalistic: if you’re not already required to include this representation on your disclosure statement, this bill doesn’t require you to do anything.
I thought about asking the Attorney General’s Office what our ethics law mandates for the annual filing.
I decided to amend the bill instead, to exempt appearances in district and circuit court or before administrative law judges from the additional disclosure requirements.
If this language gets the bill a favorable report, it will be legislatively correct.
“At no time does the caseworker say, ‘Tell me about the guy you’re pregnant by,’ other than to ask whether he’s paying child support.”
The witness testifying next to me was Joe Jones, founder of the Center for Urban Families.
I was in the audience at Johns Hopkins in the fall of 2011 when Joe spoke about the importance of getting the absent father involved with his child and the mother.
Last year, I introduced a bill to create a pilot program that would provide the tools for both parents to achieve success in the home, the workplace, and society at large.
Participants in at least three counties would be required to develop a written family-focused career plan, learn skills that are necessary in the job market, and attend focus groups about employment and financial literacy, economic stability, and building healthy relationships.
That legislation was not enacted. However, I worked with the Appropriations Committee to include language in the budget requesting the Department of Human Resources to seek a federal grant for a pilot program.
The department’s efforts were less than vigorous. I communicated that belief to a DHR official several weeks ago.
Our conversation was productive.
Joe Jones emailed me this morning that he and the Secretary have agreed to establish a workgroup that would review the model in our legislation, updating and refining program outcomes and goals. This afternoon, the Department submitted testimony supporting the bill with amendments.
I think House Bill 333 will get a favorable report from the Appropriations Committee.
“We are not here long, but our accomplishment is a lot,” declared a speaker before the dinner.
I have gone to countless community meetings, religious services, and synagogue banquets over the last 30+ years.
Last night, for the first time, I went to the annual dinner of the Ohr Hamizrach Congregation, the religious home of approximately 200 Jewish families who fled Iran after the fall of the Shah.
“My family got a phone call telling us the police would soon be at our home,” recalled one congregant during the cocktail hour. “We took jeeps to the mountains, then camels, and fled to Pakistan. Then to London and Baltimore.”
—
I drove past City College this morning.
The tower was impressive amidst the fog.
So is the teaching that takes place inside that building, I said to myself, as it has for immigrants, their offspring, and African-Americans who were equals in an integrated setting there for the first time in their lives.
My work on House Bill 217 began the day before Sandy blew into town.
I wanted to thank early voters at the former Pimlico Junior High. I had to park three blocks away. The line inside snaked around both sides of the entire first floor. The expected wait was more than three hours.
Perhaps some were there because Hurricane Sandy was on its way. Many more were there because “They tried to keep you from voting,” as I said to several voters.
I was referring to the Republican efforts to suppress voter turnout last fall. Since no electioneering is allowed inside a polling place, I did not use the “R” word.
When I got home, I emailed a bill drafting request. Early voting should be extended to the Sunday before Election Day, and the number of early voting centers should be doubled for the general election.
That request became House Bill 217, which had its public hearing today.
The key obstacle to Sunday voting is whether the names of early voters can be downloaded in time to the polling books used in each precinct on Election Day.
The State Board of Elections says no. One committee member with a software background was skeptical. I’ve asked a private-sector computer expert to assess the Board’s written statement.
An increase in the number of early voting centers seems likely. It could be my formula or another.
One of the witnesses for the bill was Rev. Todd Yeary, senior pastor at Douglas Memorial Community Church in Baltimore.
“I feel rewarded because I got an ‘Amen’ from a committee member,” intoned Rev. Yeary.
I’ll feel rewarded if the bill gets a favorable report.
The crowds were across the street.
And down the block.
Five thousand people signed up to testify on the gun measures today in the Senate, a Republican colleague told me.
No doubt there were many references to the 2nd Amendment.
My committee’s hearing on these bills will attract similar intensity.
Today, however, we discussed how a poor individual can protect the civil rights secured by the Maryland Constitution or Declaration of Rights.
Those protections are similar to those in the federal Constitution and Bill of Rights, but there is no Maryland provision addressing the right to bear arms.
The objective of the legislation before us was best described by Steve Sachs, former Attorney General of Maryland: “My core belief is that the glorious phrase ‘equal justice under law’ is only an empty phrase unless all citizens can access the rule of law.”
The less eloquent but key phrase at today’s hearing was “attorney’s fees.”
Since the prevailing party would be awarded those fees, the bill was opposed by local governments and the business community.
My view of this legislation was determined nearly 40 years ago when I read Gideon’s Trumpet, a book about the Supreme Court case that established the right to counsel in criminal cases.
A few years ago, the author, Anthony Lewis, autographed my copy: “for Sandy Rosenberg, who writes laws.”
In this instance, I will try to write a law that increases the constitutional protections afforded all Marylanders, regardless of their ability to hire a lawyer.
—
Several people have asked me when I’m leaving for Fantasy Camp.
Good to learn how much I was missed last week.
The hearing on my bill to create a task force to study phased retirement for state employees was going very well.
The group would study how employees could work part time and tutor their successors at the same time.
Representatives of management (the Department of Budget and Management) and labor (AFSCME) sat next to me at the witness table. Both were supporting the bill.
We testified that we had already shown the relevant subcommittee chair language that would accomplish our goal with committee narrative attached to the budget bill. My bill would not pass but we would still achieve my objective.
“But then Delegate Rosenberg would not get credit,” stated one member of the committee, “unless we called it the Rosenberg Retirement Task Force.”
“That could be interpreted the wrong way by some people,” I responded.
—-
I didn’t go to the Ravens parade.
I’m waiting for next October.
“The sorest loser that ever lived.”
That’s what Earl Weaver wanted inscribed on his gravestone.
And that’s how he managed when the pros played the Fantasy Campers, some of his former players recalled last week.
Earl aside, Jim Palmer would throw batting practice fast balls. However, you did not want to come to the plate after another camper had gotten a base hit.
To win, a manager has to keep his 25 players happy. Only ten people start each game.
Every camper is in the starting lineup, but if you’re hitting twelfth and last, as I did, that’s only two at bats each six-inning game.
I did, however, come up twice against 20-game winner Mike Boddicker. The second time, I stroked a run-scoring two-out “legitimate” single to left (Boddicker’s term).
With a career average of .500, I now “own” him, as they say in the dugout.
Back in Annapolis, I now need to keep the bills in my lineup happy.
I’ve introduced thirteen, with an additional dozen or more to be put in the hopper by the Thursday 5 p.m. deadline.
Four bills will be heard this week. That means revising draft testimony and ensuring that a broad group of witnesses will testify, hopefully with a story to tell about why we need to pass this bill.
And if a task force to study the issue is the best that you can accomplish, as may be the case for two of my bills already, you don’t need to be a sore loser.
Declare victory instead.
Bill Ferguson was 27 when he was elected to the State Senate in 2010. (I was 32 in 1982.)
Before that, he taught in the Baltimore City public schools as a member of Teach For America and graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law, where he took the Legislation class that I co-teach.
Shortly after his election, we decided to work together on education issues.
Bill would bring his knowledge of the classroom; I my knowledge of the legislative process. Or as one educator commented, “Sandy will be the muscle.”
Last year, we enacted a loan forgiveness program for teachers who have excelled in the classroom.
Pre-schoolers are the focus of our attention this session.
President Obama encouraged education reform with his Race to the Top program.
Senator Ferguson and I hope to provide a better pre-kindergarten education for high-need children so that they can enter elementary school ready to learn. Our program is called Race to the Tots.
Local school systems would submit their proposals in a competitive evaluation process.
Our proposal got a very favorable reception from two dozen education advocates at a lunch meeting.
Their one criticism: it doesn’t go far enough.
Our bill draft would fund the program at $10 million for each of the next three years.
More money and more years, they said.
I hope the bill hearing in Annapolis goes that well.
