Sandy’s 2011 Legislative Diary – Page 5

The delegate has a question and a vote

February 23, 2011 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2011 Legislative Diary | No Comments

He has a vote, and I want it.

One of my bills has been referred to a subcommittee. A freshman delegate asked a question about the legislation at a meeting last week.

The General Assembly research staff found a relevant court case. I gave the delegate a copy of the decision before the subcommittee met again this morning and explained why I thought it addressed his concern.

He was very flattered. No doubt it’s the first time it’s happened to him.

This afternoon, he told me had started reading the case but hadn’t finished it yet.

. He has a vote, and I want it.

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Pimlico has some land, and the community cares about its use.

Officials from the race track informed me and other legislators that Frank Stronach would soon be the sole owner, buying out Penn National.

My first questions were about the implications this would have for slots and horse racing.

Then I made sure to remind these officials of the concerns Pimlico’s neighbors had about its future use.

At the track, all ponies are local.

February 23

Sticking with the union

February 22, 2011 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2011 Legislative Diary | No Comments

I wasn’t sure if people would understand the reference.

I was about to speak to a labor rally protesting the attempted union busting by Wisconsin’s governor.

Yesterday, I had been reminded of a major event in labor history – the Triangle shirtwaist factory fire in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

In 1911, 146 workers – most of them immigrant women in their teens and twenties, died in a fire because the exits were locked – to make sure no employees left their workplace.

Six of those bodies remained unidentified until recently. Yesterday’s New York Times story put the fire in its historical context:

The fire was a wrenching event in New York’s history, one that had a profound influence on building codes, labor laws, politics and the beginning of the New Deal two decades later.

One hundred years later, I wondered if anyone in today’s crowd would understand if I mentioned that fire.

Plenty of them did.

“The Triangle fire is beaten into us when we start in the labor movement,” one of the rally organizers said to me afterwards.

One of my political mentors was Jake Edelman, a Russian Jewish immigrant, labor organizer in the garment trades, and member of the Baltimore City Council.

He endorsed me when I first ran for office in 1982.

I’m sure he would have appreciated my historical reference.

February 22

Avoiding double secret probation

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

I had visions of John Belushi.

We were trying to find a professor who had taught a certain freshman delegate, thinking that relationship would be very effective for lobbying.

We knew where the legislator had gone to school but not who had taught him.

I thought of Belushi rummaging through the trash to find last year’s exam.

“However you can legally find out who the delegate’s professor was, do it,” I advised the group around the table.

I know who taught me constitutional law. It was Telford Taylor, Chief Counsel for 12 cases during the Nuremberg trials of the Nazis.

One of the legal principles established by that tribunal: coercion – acting pursuant to an order of the government or of a superior, does not relieve you of responsibility for your actions.

That’s one of the arguments we’ll be making regarding the legal responsibility of the French railroad company for transporting Jews and others to the concentration camps under direction of the Germans.

“In my testimony, I want to quote Telford Taylor on this point,” I told one of the lawyers we’re working with.

February 21

A better deal than I expected

February 20, 2011 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2011 Legislative Diary | No Comments

You can’t always get what you want, but sometimes you get more than what you need.

It’s the exception when your bill passes without amendments the first time it’s introduced, but sometimes developments exceed your expectations.

Since my bill allowing used car dealers to remain open on Sunday and close on Saturday affects only Baltimore City, it must be approved by both the City delegation and the Economic Matters Committee.

Before the hearing began today, one City delegate asked me whether this legislation would give an advantage to dealers open on Sunday when their competition was closed. We’ll have to talk to him again after the hearing, I said to myself.

After Delegate Oaks and I testified for House Bill 520, several delegates asked questions, and I again made mental notes as to which ones would need further discussion before the delegation voted on the bill next week.

Then Delegate Haynes asked a question that favorably summarized the bill. A motion immediately followed for a favorable report.

The vote was unanimous. And one week before I expected it.

“Do we still need to testify next Tuesday before the other committee?” asked Mr. Sher, who had asked me to introduce the bill because he observes the Sabbath on Saturday and cannot open his dealership on that day, in addition to the Sunday closure required by state law.

“That we still need to do,” I replied.

February 18

Stacking the deck, Ignoring the truth

February 17, 2011 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2011 Legislative Diary | No Comments

Witnesses are not under oath in Annapolis.

Perhaps they should be.

“The deck is stacked against many consumers,” I began my remarks to the committee on House Bill 442, the Transparency in Consumer Arbitration Act.

The nursing home industry was the only opponent.

Its witness alleged that I had introduced the bill at the request of the trial lawyers – the plaintiffs bar.

I assume this was designed to gain support from the more conservative members of the committee.

It’s not true. The trial lawyers have never talked to me about HB 442. They didn’t testify for it today.

I may have grown accustomed to some things that would have offended me when I first got to Annapolis.

A claim with no basis in fact is not one of them.

February 17

Close but not quite an MVP

February 16, 2011 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2011 Legislative Diary | No Comments

It’s not often that a witness begins his testimony at a bill hearing by congratulating the vice chairman for winning a Most Valuable Player award.

The witness was Billy Ripken. The bill would encourage physical fitness by providing a tax credit for the cost of qualified physical activity programs.

The award was a Gold Glove for defensive performance, close but not quite an MVP. And I’m the Vice Chairman. Before and after that accolade from Billy, my staff and I worked on amendments to several of my bills.

Subcommittees are considering House Bill 32, which would provide health care for homeless youth, and House Bill 101, which would protect participants in the petition gathering process for a referendum from harassment.

House Bill 442, which would protect consumers in arbitration, has a public hearing tomorrow.

By the way, I forgot to mention that the Gold Glove trophy is in my Annapolis office…

February 16

Gaining support in many ways

February 15, 2011 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2011 Legislative Diary | No Comments

I’ll take support for my bills from whomever and for whatever reason.

Citizens United is the controversial Supreme Court decision that said corporations are people too – with rights under the First Amendment.

The government can’t limit how much they spend on a political campaign. However, you can require them to report what they spend.

Last year, I was one of several legislators who sponsored bills to do that. They were opposed by the Chamber of Commerce.

This past summer, I helped draft a bill that would extend the existing disclosure requirements in our campaign law to independent expenditures by corporations and unions. This modest, conservative approach can serve liberal ends.

Last week, the Chamber provided us with four proposed amendments. Committee counsel advised that the changes were minor, truly “tweaks” that did not gut the bill.

The Chamber’s support should make a big difference.

I hope that a phone call from a prominent attorney to an undecided legislator on another bill I’m sponsoring will also make a big difference – on the merits.

Turns out the lawyer is also a contributor to the legislator’s campaign and will remind him of that.

February 15

After the bill passes, the work continues

February 14, 2011 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2011 Legislative Diary | No Comments

My work doesn’t end when a bill becomes law.

Significant economic and community development projects will be funded with slots money in the neighborhoods surrounding Pimlico Race Track.

My 41^st District colleagues and I worked with Speaker Busch and Governor O’Malley at the 2007 special session to keep that allocation in the bill.

But many of our constituents didn’t believe us when we told them about it. The urban myth that the lottery proceeds would be spent on education still prevails.

So we organized a tour of the areas where this money would be spent, and we urged the leaders of these communities to work together so that every eligible neighborhood would receive its fair share.

We met with the appropriate City government officials, and we put some shovels in the ground. The renovated outdoor track at Northwestern Senior High School is the kind of improvement that can be funded with slots money. We got it done with other funding sources last summer.

This morning, the City Planning Department met with elected officials to discuss its plan for implementing the law. Each neighborhood will be consulted with a timeline of final decisions by mid-June.

The projected revenue in Fiscal Year 2012 is nearly $900,000 for the Park Heights Master Plan and almost $300,000 for the other communities within one mile of the race track. Three years from now, those numbers are projected to increase nearly eightfold

Now it’s my job to help make this process work to the benefit of these neighborhoods.

February 14

The Egypt Moment

February 13, 2011 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2011 Legislative Diary | 1 Comment

As I joined the hundreds of young adults streaming into the Teach For America 20th Anniversary Summit at the DC Convention Center, I said to myself, “Tahrir Square has come from Cairo to Washington.”

Inside, several speakers referred to the “Egypt moment” for education reform.

The potential exists for significant reform in the wake of Race to the Top, President Obama’s education initiative, and the collective efforts of TFA and many other local and national groups.

I had a similar feeling last fall, when I saw “Waiting for Superman,” the documentary film about children – and their families, hoping that they could win a lottery to get themselves into a better school.

That was the night that I spoke to Bill Ferguson, newly elected to the State Senator and a TFA alumnus, about forming a coalition for education reform in Maryland.

We have introduced three bills. The most controversial one deals with dismissal of ineffective teachers, as measured by standards being devised in response to the Race to the Top law the legislature passed last year.

My take away from this extraordinary gathering in DC: Aim higher. Don’t settle for incremental change. Our kids can’t afford it.

February 12

Just an innocent man

February 10, 2011 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2011 Legislative Diary | No Comments

There are lots of reasons to oppose the death penalty.

“Legislators, advocates, and lawyers spend an extraordinary amount of time and money on these cases. Those resources would be far better spent on initiatives that would protect our citizens in their daily lives,” I began my remarks at a press conference announcing that a record number of members in both houses are co-sponsoring the repeal bill this year.

Then I spoke of the Thurgood Marshall statue adjacent to the State House, which honors his work desegregating the University of Maryland Law School and ultimately, Brown vs. the Board, the case that put an end to the legal fiction of separate but equal.

“But Marshall also represented defendants in death penalty cases and knew well the racial biases permeating the death penalty. That is still the case today,” I concluded.

Afterwards, I Googled to make sure my memory had served me correctly. I found this in a law review article.

Marshall was trial counsel for an African American man accused of raping a white woman. The prosecution offered a life sentence in exchange for a guilty plea. Marshall conveyed the offer to his client who exclaimed: “Plead guilty to what? Raping that woman? You gotta be kidding. I won’t do it.” Marshall later recounted: “That’s when I knew I had an innocent man.”

Marshall told that story to his fellow justices, concluding: “The guy was found guilty and sentenced to death. But he never raped that woman.” He paused, flicking his hand, and added: “Oh well, he was just a Negro.” In a tribute to Justice Marshall after his retirement, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor reflected that stories like these “would, by and by, perhaps change the way I see the world.”

February 10

My Key Issues:

Category: Sandy’s 2011 Legislative Diary