Category: Sandy’s 2016 Legislative Diary

May 23 – 141 Preaknesses and counting

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If you rebuild it, they will continue to come.

135,256 people came to Pimlico two rainy days ago.

Now it’s our job to get the seating facility rebuilt so that the Preakness can be run there in the decades ahead.

A public-private partnership is necessary for that to happen, and there were positive developments this weekend

Governor Hogan said, “It’s got a great tradition, great history here, and hopefully we’re going to continue for many more years here. We’ve been here for 141, maybe we’ll be here for another 141.”

             Pimlico’s General Manager Sal Sinatra stated, “Once you come here and look through one Preakness, you feel the history, you feel the energy and you see what the kids are doing out there and you’re going to try every which way to keep it here.”

The next step in this process is a study evaluating Pimlico Race Course’s ability to serve as the permanent home of the Preakness.  That review will include an estimate of the economic and fiscal benefits associated with running the Preakness at Pimlico, as well as facility needs that would make the track more marketable.

This study is being conducted by the Maryland Stadium Authority.  It is funded by the Authority; the owners of Pimlico, the Maryland Jockey Club; the Maryland Racing Commission; and the City of Baltimore.

I was instrumental in convening this group for the first meeting of the Third Saturday in May Committee.  (That’s when the Preakness is run.)

I expect there will be other meetings in the months ahead.

The race and the track are too important for the economy of the neighborhood, the City, and the region for it to be run elsewhere.

May 9 – Advocate for a safe community

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“We do have slots money that could be used for that purpose, and I’m going to begin working on that tomorrow morning,” Del. Samuel I. “Sandy” Rosenberg said in response.

https://baltimorebrew.com/2016/05/06/amid-a-rash-of-shootings-howard-park-sends-an-sos/

That’s what I said at a community meeting prompted by four shootings in less than a week in Howard Park. That’s what I did the next morning.

Last Wednesday’s meeting, called by the Concerned Citizens of Howard Park, filled the cafeteria at Calvin Rodwell Elementary School. The school’s renovation plan will be presented to the School Board for approval in July.

Next door is a Shop Rite, which opened in 2014 and did away with the area’s designation as a food desert.

One block north is a street corner notorious for loitering and drug activity. That’s where the shootings occurred.

In Annapolis, I make public policy. Back home, my colleagues and I are the advocates for our constituents.

They don’t hire a lawyer. They elect us to represent them.

The morning after the meeting, I wrote two e-mails and made a phone call.

One was to the Mayor’s Office, urging urge expedited consideration of funding to resolve the status of the decaying Ambassador Theatre, trim trees on the Liberty Heights corridor to improve visibility, and provide brighter lighting on the corridor.

There is a liquor store on the corner where the shootings occurred. At the community meeting, both residents and the police were concerned about the adequacy of the City ordinance that authorizes the closing of a business that has become a nuisance to the community.

My second email asked the City Police to consider what changes are needed in this law.

Lastly, the liquor store has an LBD7 license that is highly valued. I spoke with an official at the City Liquor Board who sent me the relevant statutes and regulations.

People like to be asked and people like to be thanked, Tip O’Neill said.

They also like to have problems solved so that they can live in a safe community.

April 7 – Substance, Xeroxing, and the Holy Sepulcher

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We debated policy on the House floor, overriding the Governor’s vetoes of two bills.

However, when it came to my legislation today, it wasn’t substance.

I got the signatures of all of the Baltimore City Senators on a letter supporting my local bill to provide employment incentives for fathers so that they would make their child support payments.

Before we gave the letter to the Senate committee, did we Xerox a copy for our file?

My staff thought of that before I did.

Who should conduct the study of my lead poisoning prevention bills?  Is it a conflict of interest for the judiciary to do so if it would enforce the end result, if enacted?

Questions raised but not yet answered.

—-

On a far loftier note, work is underway to preserve Jesus’ tomb at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, reports today’s New York Times.   

“One of the serious issues in the church is that the status quo takes place over every other consideration, and it’s not a good thing,” said Athanasius Macora, a Franciscan friar. “Unity is more important than a turf war.”

Fr. Athanasius was my tour guide at the church last December, courtesy of Bishop Denis Madden, an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/07/world/middleeast/jerusalem-christians-jesus-tomb.html?_r=0

April 6 – Judging our commitment

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We should be judged this session by how we respond to the life and death of Freddie Gray.
I have focused on preventing lead poisoning and creating incentives for fathers who owe child support to find a job.

There will be several studies focused on enforcement but no new laws on lead. The child support bill could pass this weekend.

Speaker Mike Busch initiated several bills that include funding for demolition and neighborhood renovation, extended Pratt Library hours, tutoring and after-school programs.

Governor Hogan chose not to sign or veto this legislation, noting that requiring him to fund these programs was unnecessary because his “administration was already 100-percent committed to” those projects.

The proof of that commitment will be in the implementation – by the state government, as well as the new Baltimore City administration.

My priority this summer will be to find out from our neighborhood associations which of these programs can benefit their communities.  Then I’ll work with them and my 41st District colleagues to obtain this funding.

April 5 – The moral test

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“Nonvoters have an important stake in many policy debates — children, their parents, even their grandparents, for example, have a stake in a strong public-education system — and in receiving constituent services, such as help navigating public-benefits bureaucracies.”

Justice Ruth Ginsburg wrote that in her majority opinion yesterday. Her decision upheld using the full population, according to the Census, not just those who are registered voters, when drawing Congressional and legislative boundaries consistent with the “one person, one vote” principle.

The Justice’s opinion reminded me of another statement about the role of government in our democracy.

“The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”

Vice President Hubert Humphrey said that in his last speech.

I never met Humphrey.  I did volunteer for him when he ran for President in 1968.

I took Professor Ginsburg’s class on Sex Discrimination and the Law.  I’d like to think that I learned something.

Those on the right who keep trying to limit the franchise, as in yesterday’s Supreme Court case, should try instead to come up with policies that meet the needs of our children, grandparents, the sick, the needy, and the handicapped.

April 4 – Opening Days

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I gave this prayer at the start of today’s General Assembly Session.

 

Seventy years ago, the Opening Day second baseman for the AAA Montreal Royals, was making his minor league debut. Jackie Robinson made history that Opening Day.

He hit a three-run homer in the third inning. His next at bat, he reached on a bunt single, stole second, and advanced to third on a ground out.  Dancing off third base, he scored when the pitcher balked.  No disputed tag by Yogi Berra this time. But the way baseball was played had changed.

Twenty years later, the Opening Day right fielder for the Baltimore Orioles was making his American League debut. In his first plate appearance, Frank Robinson was hit by a pitch.  Two at bats later, he hit one over the Green Monster as the Orioles beat the Red Sox, 5-4, in 13 innings.

“We knew how to play,” says Brooks Robinson, “but starting with spring training, Frank taught us how to win.”  The Oriole way of playing baseball had changed.  All the way to the World Series that October.

Frank left Florida early that spring. He needed to find a home in Baltimore.  No one would rent to his family in all-white neighborhoods.

The previous winter, Cardinal Sheehan was booed when he spoke in support of a fair housing ordinance at the War Memorial Building in Baltimore. Our predecessors did not pass a state law until 1967, but it was full of exceptions.

When Jerry Hoffberger, the Orioles owner, learned that his star player had no place to live, he helped the Robinsons rent a home on Cedardale Road in Ashburton – what is now the 41st District.

Before he went to the team party after Game 4 of the World Series, Frank and his wife celebrated with their neighbors.

On this Opening Day, let’s recall two – Jackie and Frank Robinson.

March 31 – It’s what you have to do after you take nothing for granted…

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“take NOTHING for granted.”

A friendly lobbyist on my pre-kindergarten funding bill wrote that to me today.

I responded, “Earlier today, on another bill I had occasion to remind my staff and myself to take NOTHING for granted…

And after you take nothing for granted, an issue may arise that you didn’t think about.

As it did at today’s hearing on my bill to incentivize fathers who owe child support to find employment.

Committee members were skeptical when they heard that those who failed to comply with the program could be jailed for contempt of court.

Under existing law, if you don’t comply with a child support order, you can already be found in contempt, a Department of Human Resources official reminded us right after the hearing. .

That will be shared with the committee’s counsel.

March 30 – An avoidable dispute

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It’s about to get late early in Annapolis.

Normally, the Governor vetoes a bill after the General Assembly has adjourned.

The override vote takes place in January when the legislature returns.

However, if a bill takes effect then, it does not apply to the fiscal year starting that July.

Several of the bills we’re about to pass would impose mandates in next year’s budget.  Governor Hogan opposes mandates.

Several of the bills would benefit Baltimore City by paying to keep Pratt Library branches open for 12 hours every day of the week, redevelop blighted areas, and use public schools for after-school and summer programs.

This $290 million five-year initiative is designed to begin this year. I will be working with the neighborhoods in the 41st District this summer so that we can get our fair share of this money.

That will be delayed if the Governor vetoes the bills in May and we override in January.

The Maryland Constitution provides that if a bill passes both houses and is presented to the Governor by this Friday and he chooses to veto it, he must do so before we adjourn.

That would enable us to override his veto and have the law take effect in 30 days.

It doesn’t have to happen this way.

The Governor could sit down with the Speaker and the Senate President to resolve most, if not all, of the issues presented by the bills he might veto.

I’ve seen it happen many times before.

 

March 29 – SLAPP Happy

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I thought I was going to get SLAPPed.

Mother, that is not a spelling mistake.

Translated, I had a far better hearing than expected on my bill to amend the statute dealing with a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.

A SLAPP suit seeks to intimidate someone from exercising their 1st Amendment rights.  The suit itself is without merit, but that would not be resolved until the defendant has gone through the expense and turmoil of depositions.

Under the law that I successfully sponsored several years ago, you can put a quick end to such a case if you can persuade a judge that it is a SLAPP.

As introduced, House Bill 263 would have made several controversial procedural changes to the existing law, such as awarding lawyer’s fees.  They were amended out of the bill by the House of Delegates.

The revised HB 263 would make two modest but important changes to the definition of a SLAPP, I began my testimony today.

The bill would include a suit brought to prevent a person from making a statement, not just after the individual has exercised his or her free speech right.

It would also cover a statement made in a public forum, such as a park, not just before a public body.

My best guess is that today’s hearing went well because the more controversial provisions were no longer in the bill.

But I’m not taking that for granted.  We’re going to talk further with several committee members to try to find out.

March 28 – The decisions we make

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“We are about to pass a structured settlement bill largely because one judge became a rubber stamp for financial arrangements that took advantage of people who were without an attorney or financial advisor,” I said to Chief Judge John Morrissey of the District Court.  “In light of that, should we now give discretion to a judge to decide whether someone should be reincarcerated for certain parole violations?”

In response, the Chief Judge spoke of the training that all judges receive every year on the changes made to the law by the legislature.  What we decide on structured settlements and parole will, of course,  be part of that training.

It’s an awesome power to sentence someone to jail – to deny their liberty, he continued.  I never made that decision lightly.

How much discretion to give judges, as well as members of the executive branch, is a decision that my colleagues and I make on countless bills.

Not lightly, I’d like to think.

 

  • My Key Issues:

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