Category: Sandy’s 2017 Legislative Diary

Horse Feathers

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“Whatever it is, I’m against it.”

Groucho Marx sings that line in Horse Feathers.

Sometimes, perhaps oftentimes, bureaucrats and lobbyists sing that line, instead of reading my bills.

My bill in question would amend an existing grant program by authorizing – permitting but not requiring, that the money can be used to repay the academic debt of a grantee’s lower-paid employees.

Several years ago, after reading an op-ed by UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski, I passed a bill creating a program that would provide stipends for interns in high-tech businesses.

That program has never been funded.

The bill we discussed today would meet the purpose of the Hrabowski program with funds from another program – if the grantee chooses to do so.

But first you have to read the bill.

Closed schools and open discussions about their future

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Sweat the details.

That applies to the language in a bill and, just as importantly, to government-funded construction projects back home.

At meetings with neighborhoods in the Edmondson Village corridor about the Red Line, my 41st District colleagues and I made that promise.

Today, the subject was school construction.

Seven schools in our district will be gut renovated or replaced by a new school.

Three schools will be closed.

Community input is part of the construction process. We need to make sure that’s also the case for the closed schools.

No one wants the neighborhood school to be closed.

That makes it all the more important that the community be fully involved in helping to determine the best use for the building and the grounds.

I’ve introduced House Bill 1449, Baltimore City – Modifying or Closing Public School Facility – Review by Community Task Force.

If our discussions with the City government are fruitful, we may not need to pass the bill.

From Essex and Dundalk to Germany

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Which area of the state has the lowest percentage of residents 25 and older with a college degree?

In what area of the state did Donald Trump get his highest percentage of the vote in the Republican primary last June ?

The answer to both questions: Essex and Dundalk.

I learned that this summer, which prompted me to say this in my prayer on the Opening Day prayer:

“A 34-year old in Baltimore County is without a college degree or a well-paying job. The Beth Steel plant where his father had a union job is closed.”

What we do for those Essex residents, I continued, will help determine how this 90-day session is judged.

Building a wall on the Mexican border will not enable that 34-year old to get a better-paying job.

Further education or job training will.

Today, I introduced a bill creating a task force to study whether the German apprentice model would work in Essex, Dundalk, and four other areas of the state with the fewest number of college graduates.

Not dead dead

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A fiscal note of $22.4 million and your bill is dead.

But perhaps not dead dead.

House Bill 435 would require data encryption by several state agencies.

The projected cost of $22.4M in the first year, then $8.7M every year thereafter, normally lays a bill to rest.

If an agency opposes a bill, it may inflate the projected cost.

However, this legislation was prompted, in part, by the legislative auditor’s recommendation that certain agencies encrypt personal information.

I suggested to the sponsor that he find out the costs incurred by the audited departments.

“The point of the bill is very important, but the fiscal note is daunting,” said a ranking member of my committee.

House Bill 435 may be revived.

A wise choice and Socialist Rosenberg

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Two ancient history lessons today.

During the Cuban missile crisis, Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader, sent President Kennedy two messages. One was belligerent, the other was not.

Kennedy responded to the second.

The crisis was solved without shots (or missiles) being fired.

I met with an advocate this morning and attended a press conference on a related issue later in the day.

My advice to the advocate: respond to the rhetoric that was consistent with your goal. Don’t get flustered by the talk that was not.

—-

Legislation limiting the use of guns on college campuses will be debated on the House floor tomorrow.

Consequently, gun rights supporters were demonstrating in front of the State House today.

One yelled at me, “Socialist Rosenberg.”

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of espionage in the 1950’s and executed.

Julius was a Communist. Most historians have concluded that Ethel was framed.

I am not now nor have I ever been related to Julius Rosenberg.

Legislative Company

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Legislating loves company.

I will be testifying next to Attorney General Brian Frosh later this week.

The subject: authorizing his office to bring a law suit to prevent arbitrary or unconstitutional federal actions from harming Maryland residents.

Unlike his counterpart in Washington state, our AG cannot initiate a legal action regarding the travel ban or any future action improperly affecting such areas as our environment, schools, and civil liberties.

I know the issue, but Brian knows it better.

I contacted his office so that we could coordinate our testimony.

—-

I’ve asked that amendments be drafted to my two election bills that have public hearings tomorrow afternoon.

The lawyer drafting the amendments told me that she did not expect to get to them until tomorrow morning.

“That’s when I usually finish editing my written testimony,” I replied. “I’ve got company.”

Preparing for a Public Hearing, Preparing to do a Mitzvah

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It helps to meet with the people affected by your bill before the public hearing.

That way, you can learn about their concerns and, if they’re reasonable, address them with an amendment.

That’s far better than their testifying against your bill before the committee.

The public hearing for two of my election law bills is next Tuesday.

I met today with an official from the State Board of Elections and with Del. Alonzo Washington, chair of the Election Law Subcommittee.

Amendments and another meeting with an affected party are in the works.

—-

Del. Cheryl Glenn, chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, invited me to join her at the rostrum to celebrate Black History Month.

This is what I said.

On July 4, 1963, 283 people were arrested and charged with trespassing outside Gwynn Oak Park during a protest by those outraged over its refusal to admit African-Americans.

Baltimore Hebrew Congregation’s Rabbi Morris Lieberman was one of the many clergy arrested at the protest.
Rabbi Abraham Shusterman shed tears at a 1966 City Council meeting when Cardinal Lawrence Shehan was jeered for supporting a fair housing bill.

Rabbi Shusterman said it was “not only tears of sadness, but tears of pride that I could follow Cardinal Shehan as a speaker and identify myself with his views and his great dignity.”

Rabbi Shusterman officiated at my Bar Mitzvah.

Power intoxicates and it corrupts

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“Precisely because the problem is one of temperament and character, it will not get better. It will get worse, as power intoxicates Trump and those around him,” former Bush administration official Eliot Cohen wrote in The Atlantic.

President Kennedy said the same thing – almost.

“When power intoxicates, poetry restores sobriety,” read the draft of his speech for the groundbreaking of the Robert Frost Library at Amherst College in October 1963.

The President edited that sentence to read, “When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.”

How do I know?

The full text of the speech, with Kennedy’s hand-written changes to Arthur Schlesinger’s draft, was on display at the Kennedy Library in Boston. I asked Kathleen Kennedy Townsend for a copy. It now hangs on my office wall.

As a student at Amherst, I studied in the Robert Frost Library.

Remaining Focused

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Repealing and replacing Obamacare would have a huge impact on our state budget.

Speaker Ryan has proposed that the Medicaid program be block granted. Instead of billing the federal government for the health care provided to eligible patients, each state would get a lump sum of money annually.

We did this once before: welfare reform.

Did this block grant meet the need of the families in need of assistance? Did it help adults enter the work force? Did the federal block grant remain stable while the need (and cost) grew?

I asked those questions at a briefing today.

Welfare reform could give us insight into how a Medicaid block grant would affect health care and our budget.

—-

Legislation enabling Maryland’s Attorney General to take legal action when the federal government is threatening the public interest and welfare of Marylanders will be introduced by myself and a state Senator.

The AG would no longer need the Governor’s approval to file suit regarding President Trump’s immigration order.

The Republican response: “The Governor and our legislative agenda will remain focused on Maryland.” The legislature “should do the same.”

A doctor wrote me this morning, “I have…residents affected by this ban and a number of faculty members as well.”

The Trump immigration ban affects the wellbeing of countless Marylanders.

The General Assembly, the Attorney General and the Governor should remain focused on the harm it is causing.

We are all refugees

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A professor at Moscow State University had to leave the Soviet Union because he was Jewish.

He was recruited to the University of Maryland College Park in 1979 by the head of the math department, Brit Kirwan.

His son attended the public schools in Prince George’s County before graduating from College Park and attending Stanford.

Sergey Brin, Google co-founder and president of Alphabet, joined protesters at San Francisco International Airport Saturday night.

He told Forbes magazine, “I’m here because I’m a refugee.”

I attended the rally at BWI-Thurgood Marshall Airport last night.

I will introduce legislation to protect the rights of Marylanders affected by President Trump’s executive order.

We are all refugees.

  • My Key Issues:

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