Author: delsandy

Next year in Annapolis

| by delsandy | Sandy's 2015 Legislative Diary | No Comments

Sometimes your only option is to withdraw your bill and wait for next year.

Make that set the stage for next year.

Ken Birnbaum is a life insurance agent and former president of the Cross Country Improvement Association. Last year, he told me that a client had been denied coverage for any travel to the West Bank of Israel.

Today, I concluded that the bill would not pass this session.

I wrote Ken the following letter.

Ken,

As you know, the insurance industry proposed an amendment to HB 352 at the bill hearing. That made it necessary for me to seek a compromise that would protect travelers to Israel and other countries and not be opposed by the industry. After discussing several options with members of the Health and Government Operations Committee (HGO), I have reluctantly decided that we cannot pass an acceptable bill at this session of the General Assembly. Consequently, I have withdrawn the legislation.

HB 352 is based upon model language provided by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. I have informed the chairman of HGO that I will research how this language has been implemented in other states and whether those jurisdictions have considered the changes proposed to HB 352 by the life insurance industry.

With that information in hand, I will resume discussions with my fellow legislators and the insurance industry.

I will keep you informed of those conversations.

Sandy

Not always in our neighborhoods

| by delsandy | Sandy's 2015 Legislative Diary | No Comments

“Neighborhoods such as Roland Park required homeowners to sign covenants barring African-Americans.”

That sentence is from Baltimore leaders agree: City has a race problem, a front-page story in yesterday’s Baltimore Sun.

Those restrictive covenants also excluded Jews.

I have represented Roland Park my entire career.

My three colleagues in the 41st District for the last 12 years, Lisa Gladden, Jill Carter, and Nathaniel Oaks, are African-American.

Approximately 2/3 of the population of our district is African-American.

Blacks and Jews have a shared but not identical history of being outsiders, bearing the brunt of discrimination.

There are local concerns and public policy issues where these communities agree, but sometimes they don’t.

What’s constant is our effort to represent our diverse constituencies.

Should a conflict or crisis arise, we’re not newcomers in any neighborhood.

Words not spoken

| by delsandy | Sandy's 2015 Legislative Diary | No Comments

Sometimes you keep quiet.

My bill was being debated on the House floor. It would authorize the Maryland Attorney General to ask a judge to issue an order prohibiting an imminent violation of the law that would affect a pending election.

Republicans have opposed the bill in the past. They did so today.

I might have answered their questions differently than did the chair of the Election Law Subcommittee.

But I’m waiting until the debate just before the vote that would send the bill to the Senate.

My bill on police body cameras “seeks to find the appropriate middle ground between the various complex and competing interests” on this issue, I wrote in my testimony for today’s public hearing.

I drafted this legislation with the American Civil Liberties Union. I have encouraged the ACLU and the police chiefs to seek compromise.

When I was asked about specific provisions in my bill, I replied that those questions could be better answered by the negotiators.

Don’t read it. Know it.

| by delsandy | Sandy's 2015 Legislative Diary | No Comments

Don’t read your testimony.

Know it.

That’s the advice I give the law students in my Legislation class, and I follow it myself.

You’re far more effective if you know your issue and speak directly to the committee members, instead of constantly glancing down at a piece of paper and losing eye contact.

I didn’t read my testimony today. Instead I read a letter of information from the state health department.

We risk the loss of $3.8 million in federal substance abuse grants because nearly 1/3 of Maryland retailers sold tobacco products to minors when inspected, wrote Secretary Van T. Mitchell.

Under one of the provisions in House Bill 1015, retailers would be required to complete a training program, which would educate them about the laws governing the sale of tobacco products and the proper procedures for verifying the age of a customer.

I don’t know if my bill will pass. I now know that Secretary Mitchell recognizes the need to act.

Between the Lion and the Lamb

| by delsandy | Sandy's 2015 Legislative Diary | No Comments

I don’t think I’ve ever said this before.

“I’m not sure which is the lion and which is the lamb.”

I was testifying between a supporter and an opponent of my legislation.

House Bill 1098 would protect the rights of elderly and disabled tenants when their public housing units are sold to private developers.

Before the bill hearing, a lawyer from the Maryland Disability Law Center and a Deputy Commissioner of Housing for Baltimore City met with me and the chair of the subcommittee that would review my bill.

They didn’t reach a final agreement on tenant protections, but they’re close.

I asked them to meet again. They will.

I asked them to testify beside me to let the committee know a compromise was near. They did.

The clock is ticking

| by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

When the legislature is in session for only 90 days, time is your enemy.

The session ends five weeks from today.

However, two weeks from today is the deadline for my bills to pass the House and cross over to the Senate. Ditto for Senate bills.

If your bill doesn’t meet that deadline, it’s delayed in the Rules Committee.

One of my bills will be considered in subcommittee this week. I met today with the chair and committee counsel to see if an amendment would satisfy my objectives and address the objections raised by the industry.

Another bill has passed the House in prior years. It’s scheduled for a subcommittee vote this week. An amendment has been drafted; I’m ok with it.

A letter from the affected agency will say that we can achieve one of my bill’s goals under existing law. No legislation would have to be passed.

I thought one of my bills would be voted on this week. Apparently not. The identical bill has been introduced in the Senate. I asked the sponsor to press for a vote.

It doesn’t matter which of our bills becomes law.

Playing on another court at another time

| by delsandy | Sandy's 2015 Legislative Diary | No Comments

If you have a good shot, take it, Bill Russell advises.

When someone opposes your bill but asks you to engage in a dialogue on their home court after the legislature adjourns, take it.

That’s the advice I gave someone today.

Bill Russell starred on 11 NBA championship teams. He didn’t have to admit defeat often.

In the legislature, however, when defeat is imminent, you can withdraw your bill.

The outcome is the same. The bill doesn’t become law.

But no one is recorded as voting against it. That makes it easier to get their support next season.

A pleasant surprise from two lobbyists

| by delsandy | Sandy's 2015 Legislative Diary | No Comments

I didn’t think the two lobbyists would be pleased.

My legislation to create a college admission outreach program for high-achieving students will have its public hearing tomorrow. http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2015RS/bills/hb/hb0364F.pdf

High school seniors without a parent who went to college are really behind the eight ball when it comes to applying to the most suitable schools and obtaining financial aid.

I asked that amendments be drafted this morning. One would require the public and private colleges in Maryland to present a joint report next fall on how they will inform students about the outreach program at “all Maryland high schools in which at least 75% of the students are enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program.”

Then I sent this language to two of the lobbyists for these schools.

“I know this is short notice,” I began my email.

I expected they would not want to be required to do this study or to visit so many schools.

I was wrong.

We are “fine with your proposed amendment,” one wrote.

It’s nice to have an idea whose time has come.

Making changes to save costs and gain votes

| by delsandy | Sandy's 2015 Legislative Diary | No Comments

Without amendments, most of your bills don’t have a prayer.

Amendments to several of my bills were the focus of my day.

My legislation to mandate mental health crisis response teams throughout the state would be costly, as introduced and as pared down by the amendment I offered at the bill hearing.

I suggested to the committee chairman today that the bill be stripped of the provisions requiring additional services. All that would remain is language authorizing, but not requiring, hospitals to use the existing “community benefit” program improve their crisis response services.

That would be a step forward.

The insurance industry offered amendments to my bill protecting the right to travel of life insurance policy holders and applicants. I have asked the Attorney General’s Office to review that language.

A reporter asked me about the bill’s status. I responded, “That [legal] analysis will enable me to determine what effect that amendment, if adopted, would have upon the availability of life insurance for Ken Birnbaum’s client, who was denied coverage if he traveled to the West Bank or Gaza, and for the other individuals and organizations that support House Bill 352.”

Attorneys who know far more than I about workplace harassment have agreed to amendments to my bill on that topic. That prompted me to ask the AG’s Office if these changes would make my legislation “consistent with Maryland case law on workplace harassment.”

A yes from a neutral party would be very helpful.

Finally, I learned that my bill affecting referendum petition drives passed the Election Law Subcommittee of the Ways and Means Committee.

It was not amended.

We’re going to hold them

| by delsandy | Sandy's 2015 Legislative Diary | No Comments

The Speaker honored me by asking me to give the opening prayer for tonight’s session.

This is what I said.

Father Ted got his last wish.

Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, President of Notre Dame University from 1952-1987, died on Thursday.

His last wish was to say Mass on his last day on Earth. Thursday morning, he did.

During his career, Fr. Hesburgh’s beliefs and courage no doubt prompted Presidents and Popes to wonder who would rid them of this meddlesome priest.

He was chairman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission in 1970 when the commission found a “major breakdown” in enforcement of federal laws and executive orders against racial discrimination.

Two years later, he resigned, at the request of White House officials.

Closer to home, he resisted the Vatican’s attempts to assert greater control over Catholic universities in the United States.

I didn’t go to Notre Dame but I did go to the Notre Dame – Miami game in 1988. The t-shirts on campus read Catholics vs. Convicts.

I went with Jay Schwartz. Dutch.

The Fighting Irish led late in the 4th quarter, but Miami was driving down the field. “I think we’re going to hold them,” I told Jay.

“Who is “we,” Delegate O’Rosenberg?” he responded.

ND won, 31-30, on its way to a national championship.

Today, WE as a nation mourn a champion – a distinguished priest, educator, and American.

  • My Key Issues:

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