Sandy’s 2011 Legislative Diary

In the room and not

No one was in the room, but progress was made.

My bill to protect the instructional, creative, or scholarly work product of professors was first on the list for the Government Operations subcommittee.

Before it was taken up, however, there was a request to leave the room from the lobbyist for the University System of Maryland, my chief of staff, counsel for the Washington Post, and a lawyer for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Email does wonders, but this face-to-face meeting resulted in a better understanding of what I was trying to accomplish than the many messages that had preceded it.

No agreement yet, but we’re now discussing a revised amendment online, instead of a request for summer study.

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My legislation to require businesses to make their websites accessible for the blind was also introduced in the State Senate.

The Senate sponsor is a member of the committee that will vote on the bill. I am not.

I discussed the legislation with the lawyer who asked me to introduce it.

“Let’s try to move the Senate bill first,” I suggested. “The sponsor will be in the room when decisions are made.”

If the Senate bill gets favorable action, the same is also likely for mine.

December 28 – A Fair Property Tax

December 28, 2011January 5, 2012 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2011 Legislative Diary | No Comments

For my first twenty years in Annapolis, my job was to make sure your money was spent wisely.

As a member of the Appropriations Committee, I reviewed the Governor’s budget – making cuts, suggesting which programs needed more money and how funds could be spent more effectively.

Next month, I begin my second year as vice chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, which hears all bills dealing with taxes.

Now, my job is to make sure that we raise your money fairly.

I assume that’s why a Sun reporter interviewed me about the homestead property tax credit.

This credit was adopted in the 1970’s to protect homeowners on fixed income living in a neighborhood where property values are rising. When the assessed value of your house rises, there is a 4% cap on that increase each year when calculating your property tax in Baltimore City, whatever your income.

The Sun story highlighted significant differences in the taxes owed by homeowners of means and of long standing, compared to new residents, who are assessed on the full value of their home.

“People are not going to have faith in a system that is unfair,” I told the reporter. “Are neighbors paying the same? If they’re not, there has to be a justification for it. If one is wealtrhier than the other, that is a justification. That is a progressive system.”

I’m no expert on this tax credit, as the emails and phone calls I’ve received since that quote have reminded me.

That’s why I’m meeting next week with legislative staff who know far more about the credit and the impact of any proposed changes upon lowering the property tax rate for Baltimore City and people’s ability to live or move here.

As always, I welcome your thoughts.

November 16 – Sometimes you don’t need a bill but most times you do

November 21, 2011 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2011 Legislative Diary, Sandy's Legislative Diary | No Comments

“I didn’t need to talk about putting in a bill.”

I had just completed a meeting with top Department of Human Resources officials. The topic was a pilot program to involve the non-custodial or absent father in the pregnant mother’s application for public benefits.

I’m still interested in welfare reform, even though it’s been nine years since I chaired the Appropriations subcommittee that dealt with the issue.

Last month, I heard Joe Jones speak on the topic at Johns Hopkins. Joe is a national leader in helping low-income men fulfill their roles as fathers, emotionally and financially.

My goal at today’s meeting: the state government would agree to a pilot program where both the mother and the father would meet with a case worker to discuss how they can best raise their child. That includes child support payments, a healthy personal relationship, and seeking work.

Just before the meeting began, I said to Joe, “If things don’t go well, I’ll remind everyone that I can introduce legislation on this matter in January.”

The meeting went very well. Afterwards, I told Joe that I didn’t need to speak to a bill drafter.

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I was reminded earlier today that most times you do need a bill to achieve your objective.

I went to a hearing on Capitol Hill for the Holocaust Rail Justice Act. This legislation would allow Leo Bretholz and the other survivors who were transported to the Nazi death camps by the French national railroad (SNCF) to sue the company.

Leo had movingly testified for my bill requiring disclosure of SNCF’s records for these transports. He was just as eloquent today when speaking of the elderly woman who urged him to escape from the cattle car heading for Germany.

“I can still see her face and hear her voice today. She emboldened me.”

“This was not coercion by the Nazis,” he continued. “This was business for SNCF.”

Next Monday is the deadline for companies to submit their bids for running the MARC commuter rail line in Maryland. For SNCF’s American subsidiary to be eligible, it must digitize its records consistent with the law we passed.

November 9 – Making the Right Match or Don't Bogart That Point

November 9, 2011 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2011 Legislative Diary | No Comments

I spent the morning speed dating.

My fellow speedsters were Baltimore City department heads and their top staff.

I stayed at the same table while the bureaucrats rotated among the legislators in the six districts in the City delegation to Annapolis.

If nothing concentrates the mind like a hanging – or in Annapolis, a bill hearing, having the ear of top bureaucrats concentrated my mind today.

Among the issues I raised were:

Can we use slots dollars designated for neighborhoods near Pimlico Race Track to conduct a site study for commercial development near the Cold Spring light rail station? Both the private and public parties involved have said they don’t have the money. This morning, the light went on, and I thought of this alternative.

Many couples who integrated communities in West Baltimore nearly 50 years ago still live in those residences. However, they’re aging in place. Census data can tell us the number of such homeowners. The City Housing Department will do the research. Then we can discuss whether the program that the Jewish community is running to help seniors maintain their homes in Upper Park Heights can be replicated with public dollars.

The Forest Park Golf Course wants to add a driving range. Senator Gladden has told me that. So I asked the head of Recreation and Parks to set up a meeting for his staff, the people running the golf course, and the 41st District delegation.

I’ll let you know whether any of these brief encounters turn out to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship – policy-wise.

November 2 – Earning a grade

November 2, 2011 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2011 Legislative Diary, Sandy's Legislative Diary | No Comments

I try to practice what I preach.

“When you testify in Annapolis, don’t read your written remarks. Know your subject well enough that you don’t use that piece of paper as a crutch. You’re better off stumbling a bit but always keeping eye contact.”

That’s my mantra for advocates during the 90-day session and for my law school students during the fall semester.

Today, I was put to the test.

Senator Bill Ferguson and I will be introducing a series of education reform bills next January. We’ve begun meeting with interested groups and individuals to get their input.

Bill is a Teach For America alumnus. He knows the subject matter.

I’m there for strategic advice or as “the muscle,” as one of my friends describes it.

Bill could not attend today’s meeting. So I had to describe the four bills, with John Stierhoff, our lobbyist, there to fill in the blanks or correct any major errors.

I’ve heard Bill describe what we’re trying to do with mandatory pre-kindegarten, a scholarship for people who commit to four years in the classroom, and time off from work for parents to meet with their kids’ teachers.

I looked at our summary sheet a few times but provided a decent outline of what the bills would do.

I’d give myself a B+.

October 26 – Seeking a remedy and idolizing Brooks Robinson

October 26, 2011 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2011 Legislative Diary, Sandy's Legislative Diary | No Comments

99% of the time, it’s the little guy who wants to change the law.

The consumer who needs protection, the employee who’s been discriminated against in the workplace, or the tenant who’s living in unsafe housing.

The business community tries to kill the legislation or to weaken it with amendments.

Those roles will be reversed in response to Monday’s court decision that held unconstitutional the immunity provision in the Lead Risk Reduction in Housing Law.

Landlords must still abide by the provisions of the law requiring them to clean up the lead hazards in rental properties built before 1950. However, they will no longer be immune from lawsuits on behalf of children suffering from lead poisoning if they do comply with the statute.

I was the principal legislative sponsor of House Bill 760 in 1994. My objective – then and now, is to reduce the number of children poisoned by lead while maintaining decent, safe, and affordable rental housing for lower-income families in Baltimore City and elsewhere in Maryland. This law and other public health measures have resulted in an extraordinary reduction in the number of poisoned children in Maryland.

Landlords will be seeking a legislative remedy to the court’s decision.

We will be offering amendments that strengthen the preventive measures taken on behalf of vulnerable children.

—-

Lots of Orioles Fantasy Campers choose number 5 for their uniforms because that was Brooks Robinson’s number.

I’m a fan of Brooks, but my number is 18. We were both born on May 18.

You could walk up to Brooks and tell him that you idolized him growing up, and he would respond as if you were the very first person to say that to him.

I don’t know if that was the case for the person whose picture I took after the unveiling of the Brooks Robinson statue this past Saturday.

But it’s pretty likely.

October 19 – A different kind of tax

October 19, 2011 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2011 Legislative Diary | No Comments

How is a gas tax different from all other taxes?

The business community supports it.

That’s not my great insight. The witness from the Washington Board of Trade said so when testifying before our committee.

“That’s well and good,” one of my colleagues stated, “but how do we persuade the people we represent that they should pay this tax?”

“It’s an investment in our economy,” one of the business reps responded. “Goods will be delivered sooner, and your constituents won’t waste their time and money in traffic.”

It’s the same argument President Obama is making.

October 17 – It's Not True

October 17, 2011 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2011 Legislative Diary | 1 Comment

“I don’t think the number of Democrats or Republicans who would be elected to Congress is the issue.”

I forget who said that at today’s hearing. It doesn’t matter.

It’s not true.

Redistricting is all about politics.

The lines on the maps drawn by Republicans in states where they control the executive and legislative branches look just like those on Governor O’Malley’s map and serve the same purpose – to gain seats in the U.S. Congress.

“One Congressman cannot represent both Cumberland in Western Maryland and Gaithersburg in Montgomery County,” said another witness today.

That’s not true either.

I wasn’t happy with the court-drawn 41st district in 2002. I went from being a shoo-in to winning my primary by 245 votes.

But now I love my district and the challenge of representing my African-American and Orthodox Jewish constituents, as well as every other person I have the honor of serving.

A Congressional district has six times the population of mine.

October 12 – It should have been among the news fit to print

October 12, 2011 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2011 Legislative Diary | No Comments

I get ideas for bills from lots of places – community meetings, advocacy groups, newspapers and magazines.

Yesterday, the New York Times ran a story that failed to mention a bill that I’ve already passed.

“States Adding Drug Test as Hurdle for Welfare” read the front-page headline.

Legislation requiring applicants for welfare to take a test for drugs before they can receive assistance was introduced in 36 states this year.

We’ve been doing that in Maryland since 2002 – with one very big difference. If someone tests positive, they are offered drug treatment.

A Republican State Senator and my co-chair of the Joint Committee on Welfare Reform, Marty Madden, suggested that we do this. After the initial outcry, we worked with the public health community to devise procedures that make it more likely that an individual will acknowledge an addiction and successfully participate in treatment.

In a typical year, 39,020 people were screened; 1,782 were already in treatment; 1,760 were referred for treatment; and 222 were denied assistance because they didn’t comply.

I could write the Times about it, but it’s not likely to get published.

I’ll settle for spreading the word here and the satisfaction that in Maryland, we’re doing it the right way.

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My thanks to those of you who responded so positively to the idea of scholarships for high school students who commit to teaching in our public schools for four years.

We will be incorporating some of your ideas in the bill draft.

Two Bills and Two Grandparents

July 12, 2011 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2011 Legislative Diary | No Comments

I spoke about two bills at my fundraiser last night.

The first was the law requiring any bidder for the MARC commuter rail contract to disclose its involvement in transporting people to Nazi death camps during World War II.

Leo Bretholz was the prime mover of that legislation. He leapt from the train transporting him from Paris to the German border and has lived to tell the tale – in Annapolis this winter and countless other places as well.

Leo could not be with us last night. He was attending his granddaughter’s birthday party.

The second bill did not pass, but we accomplished our objective. Students at KIPP, a public charter school, have gone on to excel in high school and college. Their teachers work extra hours, but the school cannot afford to pay them the overtime mandated by the contract between the Baltimore Teachers Union and the Baltimore City Public Schools.

The afternoon of the bill hearing, an agreement was reached between KIPP and the union, which will allow the school to continue its great work.

Donna McCall is the grandmother of a KIPP student. She was in Annapolis to testify for the bill, and she was a guest at my fundraiser last night.

I can now turn my attention to legislation for next year’s General Assembly session and to neighborhood issues.

Repeal of the death penalty, education reform that rewards our best teachers, and fair treatment in the work place for the disabled and the religiously observant are my legislative priorities.

A grocery store in Howard Park, school improvements with slots money in communities near Pimlico Race Track, and planning for the Red Line in the Edmondson Avenue corridor are some of the neighborhood issues I’ll be working on.

As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.

My Key Issues:

Category: Sandy’s 2011 Legislative Diary