Guest Commentary: Keeping the Preakness at Pimlico. What Are the Odds?
Category: Sandy’s 2018 Legislative Diary
Defending the rule of law is not tomfoolery
I sponsored the legislation last year that gave the Maryland Attorney General the authority to sue the federal government without the Governor’s approval.
Funding for the attorneys needed to litigate these actions would have been deleted from the budget by a floor amendment offered today by a Republican delegate.
This is what I said in response.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the House, when we enacted the Defense of Maryland Act last year, we said, as a body, that it is imperative that our Attorney General, on behalf of the people of Maryland, defend the rule of law.
That when in his judgment, he felt that there was a violation of federal law impairing the well-being of the citizens of this state, that he should request the counsel of the Governor.
He is mandated before he brings a lawsuit under the law, to seek the advice of the Governor.
It’s my understanding the Governor has chosen not to respond to any of those requests except when the Governor himself initiated legal action.
The Attorney General is not 0 for 20 [in the lawsuits he has brought, as one Republican claimed]. All these lawsuits are in the preliminary stage.
We are still, if I may, “at bat” in each and every one of those cases.
It is not tomfoolery to defend the rule of law. It is not political grandstanding to defend the rule of law.
That’s what we asked our Attorney General to do. This money is needed for him to do just that. Thank you.”
A fence for another purpose
“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,” wrote Robert Frost.
A fence, in the budget bill, is another matter.
Maryland’s budget system gives great power to the Governor.
But the legislature can fence off money by saying that the Governor can spend a certain allocation only for a specific purpose.
Including a specific recreation center.
Governor Hogan’s budget includes Program Open Space money for Baltimore City.
A House Appropriations Committee amendment provides that $3.7 million of this appropriation shall be allocated for seven park or recreation center projects.
One of them is the Mary E. Rodman Recreation Center in the Allendale community, near Edmondson Av. and Hilton St.
The Rec Center is next door to the Mary E. Rodman Elementary School, which will be fully renovated as part of the 21st Century School Program.
Senator Nathaniel Oaks, community leader Wanda Wallace, and I came up with the idea of upgrading the Rec Center after attending a meeting about the renovation of the school.
This appropriation must still be approved by the State Senate, but I will work hard to make sure that it is.
Singing and settling
“I’m not going to take anything for granted.”
I didn’t say that but I could have.
The lobbyist I’m working with did.
We were singing off the same voting list.
Better to anticipate an opponent’s action to harm your bill that doesn’t come about than to be ambushed by some maneuver you didn’t anticipate.
The lobbyist and I also discussed what a compromise might consist of.
Support from the other side of an amended bill is not likely.
We’d settle for not opposing the bill – in any way shape or form.
Four bills on Crossover
Four of my bills passed the House today.
Each of these bills will now get a hearing in the Senate, having crossed over from the House by the deadline.
A good reason to celebrate Crossover Day.
But also time to strategize how to get the four bills through the Senate.
My bill to provide care for people with crisis behavioral health needs by creating a competitive grant program for counties and Baltimore City passed, 133-5.
The comparable Senate bill has passed that body.
We need to amend that legislation the same way that mine was modified.
Two of my landlord-tenant bills passed, 105-32 and 90-48, on party line votes.
I need to make sure that the landlords do not work to kill the bills in the Senate, despite their passive position today.
At the public hearing, no one opposed my bill to provide the same penalties for the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors as we already do for the illegal sale of tobacco products.
The vote today was 96-41, again a party-line vote.
In the Senate, I will work with my allies on tobacco issues.
A letter from someone in authority
My bill requiring that a tenant be given a lawyer before the court proceeding that could put him or her in jail is not going to pass, a member of the Judiciary Committee told me when I asked for an update before the floor session began this morning.
I was also told that the bill reforming the body attachment process, which lands tenants in jail, will get a favorable committee report.
“You could add language to that bill,” I suggested, “requiring the court system to report to the legislature on the number of people who are still incarcerated if the reforms are enacted.”
If that doesn’t happen, I’ll try to get someone in authority to sign a letter making that request.
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“Is my bill going to be on the list?”
This time I was the chair, and my colleague was making the request.
If a bill is on my subcommittee’s voting list, then there’s enough time for it to be voted out of the full committee, and enough time after that for it to be considered by the full House before Monday.
Then you start all over again with a bill hearing in the Senate.
Real Guns and Virtual Ads
Two bills that I worked on were debated on the House floor today.
I was the lead sponsor of neither.
Under House Bill 819, an appeal of the State Police’s denial of a license to carry a hand gun would be heard by an administrative law judge, instead of political appointees of the Governor.
A gun safety lobbyist raised this idea with me last summer.
I told her that the lead sponsor of the bill should be someone on the Judiciary Committee.
Delegate Atterbeary was in the room when the vote was taken on whether to give the bill a favorable report and send it to the House floor.
My role: strategize on how to pass the bill, testify at the public hearing, and prepare to speak during the floor debate.
The bill passed with enough votes to overcome a veto, should Governor Hogan choose to do so.
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Much of the Russian meddling in the 2016 election took place on Facebook and other online platforms.
Protecting and expanding our right to vote is one of my proudest and most important areas of accomplishment as a legislator.
My bill would compel buyers of online political ads to register with the State Board of Elections and file reports of their disbursements over a certain amount.
House Bill 768 would also direct online platforms to retain digital copies of online political ads, as well as contact information for the political committees or individuals who purchase such ads.
A bill addressing this problem was also introduced by Delegate Alonzo Washington, chair of the Election Law subcommittee in the ways and Means Committee.
It was his bill that was debated on the House floor today.
Several provisions of my bill were amended onto his.
Mission accomplished.
A letter not a bill
A letter signed by the committee chair isn’t as good as a bill signed by the governor.
But it’s better than an unfavorable report and no letter.
As a subcommittee chair, I deliver the bad news to colleagues whose bills don’t have the votes to pass.
However, I have offered to work with some of them on a letter to the relevant government agency, where the response can help make a better case for the bill next year.
I practice what I preach.
I’ve made two requests this week to the General Assembly’s non-partisan budget staff to research issues of concern to me and to a constituent.
The Kitchen Sink and a Newsworthy Forum
“We put the kitchen sink in this bill,” Delegate Pendergrass said during the hearing on House Bill 1782. “Provisions can be taken out after we have a public debate. “
The intent of the bill is to lower costs in the individual health insurance market.
The kitchen sink consists of various fees and revenue sources to subsidize and thus lower the cost of premiums.
Delegate Pendergrass is chair of the committee hearing HB 1782 and one of two sponsors of the legislation.
The bill has bipartisan support – from the Hogan Administration and Republican members of the committee.
Since it’s an emergency bill, 85 votes will be needed to pass it, instead of 71.
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The first forum for House of Delegates candidates in my district was held last night.
The Baltimore Brew reports that I was “enthusiastic” about the renovation of Pimlico Race Track.
That is true.
What’s more newsworthy, however, is that all of the candidates present agreed with my position.
https://baltimorebrew.com/2018/03/12/house-of-delegates-candidates-battle-over-the-future-of-the-41st-district/
Making a good bill better
Very few bills become law without being amended.
Most often, the amendments reflect a compromise.
Last year, I introduced legislation to protect people who enter into Rent-to-own contracts, often on property with serious code violations.
The realtors opposed it, and I knew the bill was dead after they testified against it.
This time, I introduced a scaled down version, House Bill 1257; met with the realtors; and after the bill hearing, asked them to meet with the Attorney General’s Office.
I received their consensus amendments today.
As a subcommittee chair, I frequently ask the opposing parties to see if they can find common ground.
Sometimes, my presence in the room is needed to resolve the remaining differences.
My Key Issues:
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