Sandy’s 2017 Legislative Diary – Page 5

A schools day

March 6, 2017 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2017 Legislative Diary | No Comments

Public schools were the topic of my first and last meetings of the day.

The $130 million deficit confronting the Baltimore City school system is one of the most consequential issues we face this session.

However, my breakfast meeting was about the long term.

A commission is studying the adequacy of the formula that determines the amount of state aid for the 24 school districts in Maryland.

That will surely require additional revenue, which means new taxes.

I met today with someone who has experience in creating a state-wide coalition that accomplished an increase in school aid elsewhere.

I offered what I hope was sound advice on the policy, the politics, and the fundraising.

In the present, more public schools have been closed in the City than have been rebuilt.

Those numbers will change, but not before next year’s primary election.

There must be community input into the future use of these empty buildings.

My 41st District colleagues and had a productive meeting with City officials about a process that would ensure that involvement.

The bill I’ve introduced on the issue was helpful in bringing about this meeting.

It’s not who’s on first

March 2, 2017 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2017 Legislative Diary | No Comments

A crossfile is a bill that has been introduced in both houses in identical form.

Which bill should be voted on first?

The one with greater support.

An impressive majority in committee can build momentum for the floor. An impressive majority in the full body can do the same as the bill moves to the other house.

But there’s one problem.

If you are the lead sponsor of the bill that does not move first, your legislation may not pass.

Time may run out. If your bill is controversial, your colleagues won’t want to vote on the issue a second time.

But there’s the newsletter rule.

If I can say in my post-session newsletter that I played a role in moving public policy in the right direction, I’m satisfied. My name doesn’t have to be listed first on a bill that’s signed by the Governor.

I learned that a long time ago.

We’ve been in this place before

March 1, 2017 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2017 Legislative Diary | No Comments

The fate of Obamacare, and with it Medicaid, is one of those Washington issues that will affect Maryland.

States could get less money but more freedom in running their Medicaid programs if the Congress decides to block grant the program.

That’s what happened under federal welfare reform.

Since Fiscal Year 2011, Maryland’s program has run a deficit. The ending balance over the last four years has averaged minus $15 million.

Several Republican governors are devising proposals that would require many Medicaid recipients to have a job, participate in job training, or perform community service, according to the New York Times.

When we adopted a drug testing requirement as part of Maryland’s welfare reform, I asked Peter Beilenson, then the Baltimore City Health Commissioner, for his advice.

I did so again this week.

Peter responded: “I’ve come to the conclusion that work requirements for vital social service programs are, most of the time, short-sighted, particularly with medical services. Imposing work requirements for Medicaid will push many so-called able-bodied individuals off the Medicaid rolls due to inability to find jobs (mentally ill, substance users, under-qualified for any livable wage jobs, etc) and these people who lose Medicaid coverage will cost far more due to uncompensated care for untreated chronic conditions than if they had stayed on Medicaid.”

I’m just a tourist

February 28, 2017 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2017 Legislative Diary | No Comments

I tell people to personalize their testimony.

Describe how the bill would affect you or the witness sitting next to you at the witness table.

I took my advice today.

House Bill 949 would prohibit the State of Maryland from doing business with or buying the stock of companies that support the BDS boycott of Israel.

I was supposed to talk about the constitutionality of the bill. But this how I began my testimony…

“I’ve been to Israel many times. I’ve gone to the usual tourist sites – the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the church on the Mount of the Beatitudes.

“I’ve also accompanied a friend to the grave of his father. Toured Hebron and walked through the shuttered Arab market. Went to a kibbutz within range of the missiles fired from Gaza City.

“I support a two-state solution. But I’m just a tourist, a schlepper, if you will.

“Dennis Ross, however, is a career diplomat. He has tried to negotiate a two-state solution on behalf of Democratic and Republican Presidents.

“He has submitted written testimony on House Bill 949.

“It says, ‘Only two states for two peoples can fulfill the needs of both national movements. But BDS is promoting Palestinian national rights to the exclusion of Jewish national rights.’”

Counting, Comparing, and Amending

February 23, 2017 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2017 Legislative Diary | No Comments

Lyndon Johnson would be proud of me – if the bills I’m working on are enacted into law.

We’re in the counting stage.

Counting to 71, a majority of the House of Delegates.

“If your constituents know that you work hard and reach a decision on a difficult issue after much thought,” I told a first-term delegate, “they’ll cut you some slack if you cast a vote they disagree with.”

“But try not to make a habit of it,” I added.

The best poll is the one on Election Day. We think that the results of a referendum (in a member’s legislative district) are a good indication of how those constituents will react to his or her vote on a similar issue this session.

If so, it may not be such a tough vote. (see above.)

An amendment can make a good bill better, provided that change brings with it additional votes for the legislation.

We haven’t offered any yet on a certain bill.

We’re waiting for the bill hearing, where we can gauge my colleagues’ reaction.

On death they do part

February 22, 2017 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2017 Legislative Diary | No Comments

We spent much of the afternoon talking about funeral homes.

Two bills before my committee would make significant changes to the operation of the State Board of Morticians and Funeral Directors.

A group of funeral home owners cited a survey that indicated widespread disapproval of how the Board conducts its business.

If a restaurant had such poor ratings from its customers, they argued, it would close.

The Board members took a different tack.

They compared the industry to the banks that want to get rid of Dodd-Frank.

Slogans make a point, but they don’t make law.

It will be our task to balance the competing claims.

We may begin by asking both sides to meet and try to resolve their differences.

Targeting tobacco money

February 22, 2017 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2017 Legislative Diary | No Comments

Pete Rawlings and I co-wrote the law creating the Cigarette Restitution Fund in 1999.

The State of Maryland was about to receive more than $500 million in annual payments from the tobacco companies under the settlement of our lawsuit against the industry.

We targeted the use of this money, instead of having it go into the state’s General Fund, where it could be used for any purpose.

Educating youngsters and teenagers on the negative health effects of tobacco is crucial to ending the tobacco epidemic in our state and nation. That’s one of the targeted uses in our law.

I testified today on House Bill 703, which would require that $21 million be spent annually for this purpose.

This would be an $11 million increase, requiring a reduction elsewhere in how the money in the Fund is spent.

That makes passage of our bill far from certain.

Later in the day, I learned about House Bill 747, a Hogan administration bill that would modify the Cigarette Restitution fund.

This “could be the vehicle for amendments that make changes to the program w/ a huge fiscal note,” I write the advocates for my legislation. “We need to think of things that can be done without money.”

All progress is local – sometimes.

February 20, 2017 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2017 Legislative Diary | No Comments

Two summers ago, a Shop Rite opened in Howard Park on a lot where the remnants of a failed super market had blighted the neighborhood for more than a decade.

Calvin Rodwell Elementary School is across the street – on Forest Park Av. Planning has begun to make this a 21st Century school, which will open in the fall of 2019.

The Ambassador Theatre is on Liberty Heights Av., east of the grocery store. Barry Levenson first went to the movies here.

Slots money and other capital funds will be needed to restore the building.
“Three killed in three days within a block of Howard Park,” blared the headline in the Sun this past April.

The fulcrum of that block was a liquor store with a license that allowed it to stay open past the closing time for other liquor stores.

Within a week, a community meeting packed the cafeteria at Calvin Rodwell.

A greater police presence has cut down on the loitering outside the store, which is on Gwynn Oak Av., the western boundary of the Shop Rite.

Another product of the community meeting was House Bill 1136, which would reduce the store’s hours of operation to 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

My 41st District colleagues and I drafted this legislation and attended more meetings to secure the community’s support.

The public hearing for HB 1136 was this afternoon.

There was no opposition.

A side conversation and Jim Crow states

February 16, 2017 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2017 Legislative Diary | No Comments

“Sandy, can we pull the two proposed bills, or slow roll them, while this side conversation takes place?”

A constituent sent me that message today.

I met with him and several colleagues in December to discuss how their businesses could benefit from changes in state law.

That side conversation is taking place, I replied, because the bills were introduced.

I may withdraw this legislation before the hearing dates, March 1 and 15.

Between now and then, however, the side conversation may result in agreement on a policy change that would benefit my constituent and serve the public interest.

—-

At a bill hearing today, I began by saying that House Bill 353 is based on a simple but fundamental premise: before administrative changes are made that could affect the fundamental right to vote, the public is entitled to adequate notice.

My legislation deals with any action related to voter registration, provisional voting, absentee voting, or the location of a polling place.

The state or local boards of election would have to give 48 hours’ notice of a proposed change if it’s on the agenda and post such changes online within 48 hours after they’re made.

This used to be a problem only in Jim Crow states.

However, the Montgomery County Board of Elections voted two years ago to move an early voting polling center from a working class neighborhood to a more upscale community.

After a furor arose, both locations were open for early voting.

All of the skeptical questions today were from Republican legislators.

As I told my niece and nephew

February 15, 2017 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2017 Legislative Diary | No Comments

I didn’t speak on the House floor this morning, even though I sponsored the legislation we were debating.

I didn’t need to speak.

We had the votes to pass the resolution, 89-50.

It authorizes the Maryland Attorney General to bring a lawsuit when action by the federal government harms state residents, without obtaining the approval of the Governor.

As you most likely know, we were prompted to act by President Trump’s executive orders.

The state constitution gives us the authority to enlarge the authority of the AG, in this instance, to preserve our rights under the federal constitution and laws.

On Election Night, I told my niece and nephew, as well as a very close friend, to concentrate on an issue they really cared about and to volunteer their time and money.

As a state legislator, I told them, I will be in a unique position to do things for the people of Maryland. To protect them, where possible, against bad decisions in Washington.

Today, I did just that.

My Key Issues:

Category: Sandy’s 2017 Legislative Diary