Preparing for a Bill

At the outset of the Trump administration, legislation was introduced authorizing Maryland’s Attorney General to sue the federal government without obtaining the Governor’s approval.

Speaker Mike Busch referred the bill to the subcommittee that I chaired.

The day before the floor debate, my committee chair, Delegate Shane Pendergrass, asked me if I was prepared to defend the bill.

I replied, “I’ve been preparing to defend this bill for 66 years.”

In response to the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, I am sponsoring one of the bills that would protect women and health care providers in Maryland from civil and criminal liability under the laws of Texas and other states.

It was 32 years ago this week that the General Assembly enacted legislation adopting the Roe standard.

How do I know this (without Googling)?

The day before the final vote on that bill, my aunt celebrated her birthday.

She told her guests that I would be the floor leader for the bill the next day.

Aunt Margie is coming to Annapolis tonight to celebrate her birthday.

At dinner, I told her, “I’ve been preparing to defend this pro-choice legislation for 32 years.”

People Are Benefiting

Money from Maryland’s legal settlements with the tobacco industry and opioid distributors is being used to address the problems caused by cigarettes and fentanyl.

Money from settlements with violators of the safe housing provisions of our consumer protection law is being used to provide legal counsel for tenants facing eviction.

I was the lead sponsor in the House of Delegates of the legislation requiring that these funds be used for these purposes.  Senator Shelly Hettleman sponsored the housing bill in that body.

Last fall, Westminster Management reached a settlement regarding allegations that it had violated the consumer protection law.

“Tenants in Westminster properties suffered with mold, leaks, floods and infestations of rodents, roaches and bedbugs,” stated Attorney General Brian Frosh.

The principal investors in Westminster are the Kushner family.

Approximately, three thousand tenants are expected to be represented by lawyers in housing court because of the $2.45 million payment the State has received.

It is fitting that violators of our housing laws will be assisting tenants. whose lawyers will have the housing law applied to their circumstances.

I learned about setting aside funds from legal settlements in this manner during my first term in Annapolis.

Forty years later, it is gratifying that people are benefiting.

How A Lawsuit Becomes A Bill Becomes a Law

Attorney General Brian Frosh sued Westminster Management, an apartment management company, for routinely using “unfair or deceptive” rental practices while running rodent-infested apartments in Baltimore.

That suit was filed in October 2019.

I introduced House Bill 499 at the 2021 session, requiring that any funds the State receives from such a lawsuit, brought under our Consumer Protection Act, be deposited in a Rental Housing Restitution Fund.

That money could then be used only for rental and legal assistance for individuals facing eviction.

HB 499 did not pass, but legislation creating access to counsel in eviction cases did.

I introduced a revised bill this session.

Under House Bill 571, money received from these lawsuits would be deposited in the Access to Counsel in Evictions Special Fund.

That fund was created in the law we passed last year.

HB 571 passed the Senate yesterday and now awaits Governor Hogan’s approval.

The rental property owners opposed my bill until I removed language referring to the lawsuit brought against Westminster Management.

One of the owners of that company is Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump.

Researching the law

“Frosh joins suit on census” was the headline for the main story in today’s Baltimore Sun.

It prompted me to write this letter to the editor.

Dear Editors:

It is the judiciary’s duty to “say what the law is,” declared Chief Justice Marshall in 1803.

The lawsuits brought by Attorney General Brian Frosh in response to the questionable actions of the Trump Administration further that bedrock principle.

My colleague Delegate Kathy Szeliga, the minority whip, believes that these cases are “wasting taxpayer money on petty partisan politics.”

The record demonstrates otherwise.

More than forty attorneys general have the legal authority to sue the federal government without the approval of their governor.

Under the law that the General Assembly enacted last year, when Mr. Frosh believes that “the federal government’s action or inaction…threatens the public interest and welfare” of the state’s residents, he must seek Governor Hogan’s input before going to court.

When Obamacare was challenged in 2010, 26 attorneys general filed a brief opposing the law.

When Scott Pruitt was the Oklahoma Attorney General, he frequently sued the Environmental Protection Agency, which he now heads.

Among the cases that Attorney General Frosh has brought are legal challenges to the Muslim travel ban; a Presidential decision on the Affordable Cate Act that would skyrocket health insurance premiums in the private market; and actions harmful to the Chesapeake Bay and climate change.

Judge Peter Messitte has cleared the way to proceed on the suit asserting that President Trump has unconstitutionally profited from his business dealings.

Before AG Frosh took these actions, he did not examine the poll numbers, he researched the law.

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.”

Reducing the nicotine level, Free speech in the work place, and Our AG can sue

Nicotine kills. It’s what makes cigarettes addictive.

The federal Food and Drug Administration has announced a plan aimed at reducing the nicotine in cigarettes to a nonaddictive level.

The likelihood of that being adopted by the Trump Administration is slim and none.

Is there anything we can do in Maryland?

Should we lower the tax on cigarettes if they’re not addictive?

I’m looking into it.

Does free speech stop at the work place door?

Jimmy John’s was within its rights to fire six employees for making signs that protested the company’s policy of forcing workers to come to work when ill, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Employers have First Amendment rights, most notably to make unlimited campaign contributions under the Citizens United decision.

Should the General Assembly enact free speech protections for workers?

I’m looking into this as well.

State Attorneys General, including Brian Frosh, can sue the federal government regarding the Affordable Care Act, because they have identified concrete injuries – an increase in insurance prices and a decrease in the number of insured individuals in their states, that would result if the Trump Administration stopped making payments for peoples’ health insurance.

That was the ruling yesterday of a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court, one step below the Supreme Court. As you may remember, I sponsored the law broadening AG Frosh’s ability to bring such lawsuits.

  • My Key Issues:

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