Category: Sandy’s 2017 Legislative Diary

Statues and Words

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“Curious to hear your thoughts sometime on removing the Taney statue in Annapolis.”

My rabbi, Daniel Burg, wrote me that this morning.

We did not remove the Taney statue from the State House grounds when that was proposed 23 years ago.

Instead we built a statue to Thurgood Marshall.

That was Pete Rawlings’ brilliant idea: Add, instead of subtract.

I introduced legislation in 2016 to add to our knowledge of Maryland history by erecting a plaque to memorialize the last lynching here – in 1933.

My bill did not pass.

At this moment in time, removing the Taney statue in Annapolis and the four Confederate statues in Baltimore is the right thing to do.

I commend Mayor Pugh, in particular, for her decisive action.

We need to move on to other issues that will improve our schools, public safety, and neighborhoods.

As we do that, we should remember these words:

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.

They are from President Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address.

—

The Baltimore Jewish Council issued an excellent statement in response to the events in Charlottesville. I had a minor role, as I suggested that the Council should speak out and not wait for an incident where the Jewish community was directly affected.

The BJC statement follows.

Baltimore Jewish Council calls for forceful and clear leadership against hatred and anti-Semitism

The Baltimore Jewish Council calls upon our nation’s leaders to be unequivocal and forceful in response to the heinous events of Charlottesville, Va. They must be clear that blame is not something to be casually attached to many sides. There are only two sides here – those who support anti-Semitism, racism, bigotry and hatred, and those who oppose it.

We are deeply appreciative that we live in a state where our federal, state and local elected officials from all parties stand with us in support of tolerance and respect. We were proud to join with so many community partners Sunday night as Baltimore came together in solidarity with the victims of Charlottesville. Now is the time for strong leadership to expose and denounce these white supremacist groups, whose views and actions run counter to our core Jewish beliefs and American values. Hatred and bigotry have no place in our community or in our nation.

A Unique Program and Astounding Legislation

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Saturday morning, I heard about the torch carrying white supremacists and neo-Nazis who marched around a church, shouting a Nazi slogan.

I thought of Nazi Germany and the American South during the civil rights protests.

That afternoon, not yet aware of the loss of life in Charlottesville, I was campaigning and knocked on the door of an acquaintance in Mt. Washington.

I knew that he was one of the students who sued in 1952 to integrate Poly.  I knew one of his local attorneys, Marshall Levin.  I also knew that Thurgood Marshall had argued the case before the Baltimore City School Board.

As a loyal City alumnus, I had to ask why Poly, instead of City.

“The engineering program there was unique,” he replied.

“Did you meet with Marshall beforehand?” I asked.

“Yes, he met with the 14 plaintiffs one weekend.”

“What did he tell you?”

“Behave.  Everyone is watching you.”

—

Last night, while watching MSNBC, I learned about legislation providing that “a person driving an automobile while exercising due care is immune for civil liability for any injury to another if the injured person was participating in a demonstration or protest and blocking traffic.”

By a vote of 67-48, it passed the House of the North Carolina legislature this past May.      It awaits Senate action.

That such legislation would even be introduced is astounding.

I read Maryland’s hate crimes law.  A death resulting from a criminal act, in this instance vehicular homicide, could be a hate crime.

I emailed committee counsel for the House Judiciary Committee in Annapolis: “If there had not been a death when a car was driven into the crowd in Charlottesville this weekend, would that have constituted a violation of Maryland’s hate crimes law?”

She responded this morning: “Driving a car into a crowd under these circumstances, not involving a death, would be a separate felony” and punishable as a hate crime.

 

 

Seeking advice and knocking on doors

| by delsandy | Sandy's 2017 Legislative Diary | No Comments

One of the assets I can rely upon as a legislator is our professional staff.

Assistant Attorneys General, bill drafters, budget analysts, and research librarians. All of them are non-partisan.

I once told another legislator that we should meet with Ronnie K (name changed) to get advice on an issue the two of us were working on.

My colleague had no idea who this person was.

My conclusion: instead of seeking advice or information from our staff, this colleague sought help from lobbyists.

No doubt, he is not alone in doing so.

Some of my best friends in Annapolis are lobbyists, but I always keep this in mind. I am not their client. Their client is. That’s whose interest comes first.

Why is this story relevant?

Speaker Mike Busch asked me to attend the National Conference of State Legislators summit in Boston this week to serve as a state chair for NCSL.

At the organizing meeting for these chairs, I told the story above because NCSL is another non-partisan source that we can rely on.

After I got home yesterday, I knocked on doors.

One of my constituents reminded me that when he moved to the Cross Country neighborhood 40 years ago, Senator Clarence Blount suggested that he meet me.

I ended my work day by attending the National Night Out for Cheswolde on the street in front of Councilman Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer’s house.

Reducing the nicotine level, Free speech in the work place, and Our AG can sue

| by delsandy | Sandy's 2017 Legislative Diary | No Comments

Nicotine kills. It’s what makes cigarettes addictive.

The federal Food and Drug Administration has announced a plan aimed at reducing the nicotine in cigarettes to a nonaddictive level.

The likelihood of that being adopted by the Trump Administration is slim and none.

Is there anything we can do in Maryland?

Should we lower the tax on cigarettes if they’re not addictive?

I’m looking into it.

—

Does free speech stop at the work place door?

Jimmy John’s was within its rights to fire six employees for making signs that protested the company’s policy of forcing workers to come to work when ill, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Employers have First Amendment rights, most notably to make unlimited campaign contributions under the Citizens United decision.

Should the General Assembly enact free speech protections for workers?

I’m looking into this as well.

—

State Attorneys General, including Brian Frosh, can sue the federal government regarding the Affordable Care Act, because they have identified concrete injuries – an increase in insurance prices and a decrease in the number of insured individuals in their states, that would result if the Trump Administration stopped making payments for peoples’ health insurance.

That was the ruling yesterday of a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court, one step below the Supreme Court. As you may remember, I sponsored the law broadening AG Frosh’s ability to bring such lawsuits.

July 29 – Support for keeping the Preakness where it belongs

| by delsandy | Sandy's 2017 Legislative Diary | No Comments

As you know, keeping the Preakness where it belongs – at Pimlico Race Track, is one of my priorities.

This summer, I’ve been broadening support for that effort and discussing how the track’s neighbors can benefit from a public-private investment in a modernized Pimlico.

An op-ed in support of moving the Preakness to Laurel was published in the Baltimore Sun earlier this month.

My response was co-signed by six business and community leaders.

Dear Editors:

Since we attended our first race at Pimlico, we have learned that the horse in the lead on the backstretch is often not the horse who gets his nose in front at the finish.

That maxim also applies to the policy-making process.

Both state and city governments funded a study by the Maryland Stadium Authority to “determine the extent of [their]…potential support to renovate or rebuild Pimlico Race Course to remain the long-term home for the Preakness Stakes.” (http://www.mdstad.com/sites/default/files/2017-06/PimlicoStudyPhase1.pdf, 3)

The first phase of that study has been completed. It concludes, “[T]here do not appear to be any situational factors that cannot be overcome with regard to continue hosting the Preakness at Pimlico.” (http://www.mdstad.com/sites/default/files/2017-06/PimlicoStudyPhase1.pdf, 63)

The potential price tag for a public-private partnership is $250 – $325 million. That has prompted both the business and the philanthropic community to come forward with proposals that would enhance the public’s use of the site, benefit the surrounding Park Heights community, and lower the public’s share of the cost to build a 21st Century facility.

Closing Pimlico would mean the loss of a major economic asset for the surrounding neighborhoods, the City, and the Baltimore region. In his op-ed, Kevin O’Keefe fails to mention that crucial factor.

This past May, yet another record breaking crowd came to Pimlico to watch the 142nd running there of the Preakness Stakes.

It’s premature to call Laurel the winner and Pimlico the loser when it comes to the future of the second jewel of the Triple Crown.

Delegate Sandy Rosenberg

William H. Cole IV, Baltimore Development Corporation, President and CEO

Mark Fetting, Camp Brightside Fund

Kirby Fowler, Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, President

Cheo Hurley, Park Heights Renaissance, Executive Director

Howard Libit, Baltimore Jewish Council, Executive Director

Neil Meltzer, Lifebridge Health, President and CEO

 

When I read the letter after it was published, I realized that I failed to include the Maryland Jockey Club among the funders of the Stadium Authority study. I’ve asked the Sun if there is a way to correct that.

 

July 4 – Jefferson and Yogi

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I was honored again to read from the Declaration of Independence at the start of the Roland Park 4th of July parade.

Unlike years past, there was no sound system this morning. Before I read from the Declaration, I said:

Thomas Jefferson did not have a microphone in 1776.  Neither did his colleagues who, in Ben Franklin’s phrase, hung together instead of hanging separately.  They had the power of Jefferson’s words. 

—

At lunchtime, I was waiting to be seated at Wicked Sisters in Hampden. One of the other people in line recognized me.

He had served as a page in Annapolis. He was a senior at City College then; he’s completed his junior year at Harvard.

“The best response I heard during floor debate was yours,” he said. “Someone on the other side quoted Yogi Berra, and you replied by quoting him as well.”

“I don’t remember it specifically,” I told him, “but my colleague could have said, ‘It’s not over until it’s over,’ and I said, ‘It gets late early.’”

Happy 4th!

June 30 – New Laws on the Holiday Weekend

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On November 16, I emailed this message to Robyn Elliot, Planned Parenthood’s lobbyist.

“I’ve just started to think about what we could do in Md. if federal government defunds Planned Parenthood. We should talk.”

Several of my colleagues joined that conversation.

The result was House Bill 1083, requiring our state government to pay for those health services that the federal government would no longer be funding if provided by Planned Parenthood. Abortions are not paid for under current federal law or our legislation.

Only two Republican members of the House of Delegates or the State Senate voted for HB 1083. In 1991, when we protected a woman’s right to choose by writing the principles of Roe v. Wade into Maryland law, approximately two dozen Republicans voted for the bill.

The Republican health care bill awaiting action by the U.S. Senate would defund Planned Parenthood for one year.

HB 1083 takes effect tomorrow.

—

Over the last weekend in April last year, three adult males were murdered within one block of 4Gs, a problem liquor store at Liberty Heights and Gwynn Oak Avenues.

The Howard Park community was justifiably upset.

A few days later at a community meeting, my 41st District colleagues and I pledged to draft legislation to limit the hours of the 4Gs liquor store. Under the existing law, it could stay open from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m.

House Bill 1036 limited its hours of operation to 9 am to 9 pm. We amended the bill to limit all liquor licenses in the Liberty Heights corridor to those 12 hours.

Our bill passed at 11:48 pm on the last night of the 90-day legislative session.

HB 1036 takes effect tomorrow.

PS We have already requested that a bill be drafted to impose a similar limit on the hours of operation for liquor stores in the Park Heights area.

I went to a synagogue this weekend – and a church as well.

| by delsandy | Sandy's 2017 Legislative Diary | No Comments

My colleagues and I attended two community meetings Saturday morning.

 

The Forest Park Golf Course Neighbors met first in the Pratt Library branch on Garrison Avenue.

 

Then we walked across the street to the Wayland Baptist Church.

 

We met with the WWFF-BOC Neighborhood Association in the chapel in the church basement.

 

“My father was Bar Mitzvah here when it was Beth Tfiloh,” I said to Delegate Angie Gibson.

 

Each of the pews still had a six-pointed Jewish star.

 

“The church made a decision to keep these pews,” I told the community members, “to remember who had come here to pray before them and to improve the world for those who would come after them. “

A win in their lives

| by delsandy | Sandy's 2017 Legislative Diary | No Comments

I introduced House Bill 792 in 2011.

I did so at the request of KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program), a charter school in my neighborhood. Jason Botel was the school’s leader. He’s now in Washington, serving as the deputy assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education.

In an article headlined Some Hires by Betsy DeVos Are a Stark Departure From Her Reputation, the New York Times reported yesterday:

    As the operator of KIPP, Mr. Botel battled the Baltimore Teachers Union over the school’s extended day, which resulted in a deal that both sides praised.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/02/us/politics/betsy-devos-education-secretary-hiring-diversity.html?_r=0

KIPP came to me and then Senator Catherine Pugh because it could not afford to pay its teachers the overtime required under the City schools’ union contract for their 9 ½ –hour day.

Our legislation would have allowed a charter school to adopt an exemption from the union contract if 80% of its teachers voted to do so. The bill was designed to bring the teachers union and KIPP to the negotiating table.

The day of the public hearing, those discussions were at a crucial point. We asked that HB 792 be delayed to the end of that day’s hearing schedule.

During that extra time, an agreement was reached.

Dozens of KIPP parents had come to Annapolis. I had the honor of telling them of our success.

They don’t have many wins in their lives, I said to myself afterwards.

If I have another chance to tell them they have a win, I’d jump at it.

 

 

Keeping the Preakness Where It Belongs

| by delsandy | Sandy's 2017 Legislative Diary | No Comments

140,327 people voted with their feet at this year’s Preakness.

A record crowd demonstrated its support for keeping the race where it belongs – Pimlico Race Track.

In the months ahead, I will continue to work with state and local government officials, the Maryland Jockey Club, and all of the neighborhoods that surround the track to achieve that objective.

The next step is to have Phase Two of the Preakness study authorized by the Maryland Stadium Authority.

That study will estimate the cost of building a new seating facility and propose ways to finance it with a public-private partnership.

For that analysis to be completed by year’s end – in time for the Governor and the General Assembly to resolve this issue next winter, the Stadium Authority must act now and determine the scope of the study.

Governor Hogan has expressed his support for keeping the Preakness in Baltimore.

Mayor Pugh has made very clear her commitment to investing in the neighborhoods near the track and keeping the race there.

The communities south of Pimlico want their residents to be hired for construction jobs if the facility is rebuilt.

All of the track’s neighbors look forward to discussing with the track owners and elected officials possible uses that would keep Pimlico viable.

Unlike the Baltimore Colts, the Preakness cannot be moved in the middle of the night.  Maryland law requires that the race be run at Pimlico.

The Maryland Jockey Club would have to pass a bill to do away with that provision.

Those of us who want to keep the Preakness at Pimlico must also pass a bill – to finance the site’s modernization.

We should stop kicking the can down the road about the future of Pimlico Race Track and its neighbors.  We need to make an informed decision in Annapolis next winter.

 

  • My Key Issues:

  • Pimlico and The Preakness
  • Our Neighborhoods
  • Pre-Kindergarten
  • Lead Paint Poisoning