I spoke about two bills at my fundraiser last night.

The first was the law requiring any bidder for the MARC commuter rail contract to disclose its involvement in transporting people to Nazi death camps during World War II.

Leo Bretholz was the prime mover of that legislation. He leapt from the train transporting him from Paris to the German border and has lived to tell the tale – in Annapolis this winter and countless other places as well.

Leo could not be with us last night. He was attending his granddaughter’s birthday party.

The second bill did not pass, but we accomplished our objective. Students at KIPP, a public charter school, have gone on to excel in high school and college. Their teachers work extra hours, but the school cannot afford to pay them the overtime mandated by the contract between the Baltimore Teachers Union and the Baltimore City Public Schools.

The afternoon of the bill hearing, an agreement was reached between KIPP and the union, which will allow the school to continue its great work.

Donna McCall is the grandmother of a KIPP student. She was in Annapolis to testify for the bill, and she was a guest at my fundraiser last night.

I can now turn my attention to legislation for next year’s General Assembly session and to neighborhood issues.

Repeal of the death penalty, education reform that rewards our best teachers, and fair treatment in the work place for the disabled and the religiously observant are my legislative priorities.

A grocery store in Howard Park, school improvements with slots money in communities near Pimlico Race Track, and planning for the Red Line in the Edmondson Avenue corridor are some of the neighborhood issues I’ll be working on.

As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.

          “I hate to say this, but I don’t think we have much choice. At this late hour, we have to accept the Senate amendments. That being said, what do the amendments do?” I emailed our committee counsel on election law.

          I had just read the changes that a Senate committee had made to the House bill requiring disclosure of independent expenditures in campaigns for state or local offices.

          Prompted by the Supreme Court’s United Citizens decision, my objective when helping to draft this bill was to impose the same requirements for campaign spending by groups acting independently of a candidate that we have long had for committees formed by a candidate.

           I was far from elated when I read the lengthy Senate amendments. So I emailed our staff person.

            “They’re technical,” he responded.

              I hope that’s the case for the amendments that may be added to other bills in the approaching final days of the session.

April 7

           Many games will be played between now and midnight on April 11, when the session ends.

           And I don’t mean baseball games.

           A senator may delay action on your bill because the committee you serve on hasn’t voted favorably on the senator’s bill.

           In response, the House committee can amend your bill onto the Senator’s bill, if they both deal with the same subject.

           I have encouraged this in the past and may do so again in the near future.

           Do unto others as they have done unto you.

           Sometimes, a delay can be only a delay, without any Machiavellian intentions.

           I spoke with an advocate who was concerned that inaction on our bill was a bad sign.

           “I don’t think so,” I replied. “Besides, with seven work days left in the session, we don’t need to be paranoid yet.”

            We also talked about getting publicity for our bill the day it is signed into law by the Governor.

            “I’m not going to request that our legislation be signed on a certain day until it passes both houses,” I said. “I may not be paranoid, but I am superstitious.”

April 1

            I got most of my work done today by running into people. 

            Just before the Senate went into session, I walked into that chamber, looking for a senator who had delayed a vote on one of my bills in committee yesterday. 

            I didn’t find that person but did run into the chair of another committee.  We talked briefly about another bill of mine.  He told me he supported it. 

           Outside of my committee, I ran into the government relations for a non-profit association.  He agreed to put in writing his group’s position on a certain bill of mine. 

            After testifying in the Senate on a bill that I had co-sponsored, I had a conversation with a for-hire lobbyist.  I told him about my strategy for a bill at next year’s session.  He liked it.  He then lobbied me about a bill that will be voted on by the Baltimore City delegation tomorrow. 

            I won’t have discussions like this when I swim at the Naval Academy later today.

March 31