Category: Sandy’s 2017 Legislative Diary

Time well spent and a Big IF

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Sometimes, I follow my own advice.

Co-sponsorship is the biggest waste of time in Annapolis, I’ve declared in this diary more than once.

A committee chair made that point this week. He advised that more cosponsors on your bill won’t be of much help if it’s heard at 8:00 at night on a Friday in March because you delayed introducing it to spend time obtaining co-sponsors.

I have a bill that would extend the criminal harassment law to actions on the Internet that are directed at a group of people, instead of just one individual.

Better to put the bill in the hopper today, I decided, than to waste time getting several co-sponsors.

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IF President Trump’s voter fraud investigation is a valid scientific study (a very big IF), it will debunk (for a significant majority of the public) his “3 to 5 million people voted illegally” claim, as well as the argument for voter ID laws.

The party’s not over

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A fiscal note can kill your bill.

The note estimates the cost of implementing your legislation.

It’s prepared by our non-partisan staff, with input from the affected executive branch agency and other interested parties.

If the cost is high, you can turn out the lights on your bill; the party’s over.

That was not the case with House Bill 14, my first bill to get a public hearing.
HB 14 would increase the fee for the special admission of an out-of-state attorney to handle a case in Maryland. The additional revenue (an estimated $72,200) would be used for the repayment of academic loans of law school graduates entering public service under an existing program.

Preparing for my testimony, I read the fiscal note.

Only 21 lawyers applied for this assistance in Fiscal Year 2016. There were 349 applicants from other professions.

I’m taking steps to make law students more aware of this opportunity.

A fake justification

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Why does it matter that President Trump said that the illegal votes of millions of unauthorized immigrants denied him a popular vote majority?

Voter fraud is the fake justification for voter-ID laws, whose purpose is to make it difficult for people to vote who are likely to vote Democratic.

Elected officials who support these infringements on the right to vote must be held accountable.

Under North Carolina law election law, forms of identification that were disproportionately held by African Americans were unacceptable, but the forms of identification that were disproportionately held by whites were acceptable. Since this distinction had a disproportionate impact on certain groups of people, it violated the 14th Amendment and the Voting Rights Act, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in North Carolina State Conference of NAACP v. McCrory.

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When it comes to bill drafting, I’m very conservative.

If it’s been done before, don’t reinvent the wheel.

Today is the last day to request that a bill be drafted and be guaranteed a public hearing.

I asked how another state had funded an administrative unit that I hope to replicate.

A court settlement addresses the same problem as another bill I’m requesting. The settlement applies only to the parties in that case. My legislation would apply certain provisions in the settlement to everyone engaging in certain real estate transactions.

An important lesson

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I learned an important lesson from George Mills.

George was a studio camera man when I worked at WJZ-TV from 1976-79.

I produced shows like Square Off, which was hosted by Richard Sher.

If you respected George and the other camera men, they would look for good shots. (They were all camera men forty years ago.)

If you did not respect them, they would do what they had to do but nothing more.

I haven’t forgotten that lesson.

I respect our professional staff in Annapolis. They can be of enormous benefit with advice and insight.
I also try to work hard for all of my constituents, whatever neighborhood they live in.

George is the father of Keith Mills, the sportscaster.

At the viewing today, he took me over to the casket and said, “He loved you.”

January 19 – Repeal and re-fund

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A big number and two words.

If the Congress reduces the federal portion of the cost of the expansion of Medicaid coverage under Obamacare, the cost to Maryland would be $1.27 billion.

For more than 30 years, Maryland’s all-payer system has meant that all patients pay the same rate for hospital care, whether they have private insurance or are on Medicare or Medicaid. If a person doesn’t have health coverage, the rates increase for those with insurance to cover that uncompensated cost of care.

If the federal government were to end its contract with us for this all-payer system, $2.3 billion in annual federal payments to Maryland hospitals would be jeopardized.

That’s $3.57 billion. Per year.

The need to provide for that health care will not disappear. Nor will the need to compensate health care providers.

The two words: special session.

No one expects the Congress to “repeal and replace” Obamacare before we adjourn in April.

A gap in funding of this magnitude – and its effect on the provision of health care, would need to be addressed immediately.

And in a bipartisan manner.

January 18 – What this job is about

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This job is about public policy.

How should we spend taxpayers’ dollars?

What is the appropriate penalty for the worst crimes that take someone’s life? For the minor crimes that can affect a person’s long-term future?

This job is also about neighborhoods.

Elected officials are the advocates for their constituents, who can’t afford to hire the lawyers and consultants to make their case.

It’s about all of those neighborhoods – not only the ones where you did well on Election Day.

Last night, the Democratic State Central Committee chose a new member of the House of Delegates for the 41st District, Billal Ali.

Delegate Nat Oaks and I already know that our job is about both public policy and neighborhoods.

I’m confident that Billal Ali will be a quick learner.

January 17 – A better work product

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I took my subcommittee members to lunch today.

I told them that I’m a big fan of Socratic dialogue.

Translated from law school, that means: “Ask questions.”

That back and forth will result in a better work product.

I talked about a Republican leader who served on my Appropriations subcommittee.

I gave his views as much weight as those of everyone else.

We will undoubtedly have votes that split along party lines, but that will take place after our Socratic dialogue.

—–

We were given the list of committee members with email addresses, cell phone numbers, and birthdays.

Mine was incorrectly listed as June 18, instead of May 18.

“If that’s the case,” I told someone, “they’ll have to move the Preakness to the third Saturday in June.”

January 16 – Action on voting rights

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John Lewis nearly died when he marched over the Edmund Pettis Bridge.

Alabama state troopers fractured his skull.

Within days, President Johnson spoke to a joint session of Congress.

He concluded his speech introducing the Voting Rights Act by declaring, “We shall overcome.”

The Supreme Court gutted the enforcement provision of that law in a 5-4 decision in 2013.

President-elect Trump concluded his recent tweet to Congressman Lewis by saying, “All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad.”

My response: Enact the “Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2014,” which would restore the protections undone by the Supreme Court.

The lead sponsors in the House of Representatives are both former chairs of the Judiciary Committee, which wrote this law.

One is a Democrat and one is a Republican.

Turf battles and a scientific discovery

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I was being lobbied.

Who can be reimbursed for providing medical care is one of the issues considered by my new committee, Health and Government Operations.

We call them turf battles.

Yesterday afternoon, I was being lobbied by an opthamologist.

Dr. Laura Green opposes a bill that would authorize optometrists to perform certain surgical procedures.

I asked her if she knew Arnall Patz.

In the early 1950s, Dr. Patz and a colleague proved that oxygen therapy was the cause of an epidemic of blindness among thousands of premature babies.

“I didn’t know Dr. Patz,” Dr. Green replied. “However, with far more premature babies surviving, his discovery means that they will not be blinded by excessive oxygen.”

Arnall Patz was a friend of my family.

I read this diary entry to Ellen Patz, his widow.

January 12 – The Room Where It Happens

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I want to be in the room where it happens.

When a decision is being made in Annapolis, I want to be in that room – or have someone there who’s looking after my bill.

So does Alexander Hamilton. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovje92D742s

I also want to help my constituents be in that room.

As our City schools are being rebuilt, some of them are being closed. I want the neighbors and alumni of a closed school to have a real say in what happens next to that building.

Today, I discussed how to do that with two colleagues.

Two Baltimore Sun reporters interviewed me about a data analysis they conducted of rent escrow court proceedings in Baltimore.

If the tenant is in the court room but does not have a lawyer, I told them, the chances are far less that his or her rights will be protected.

  • My Key Issues:

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