Field Notes: Week 2 January 13-17, 2014

Observations and Reflections on Legislative Activities

By Delegate Michael A. McDermott

Monday Evening Session:

Here are the bills on First Reader.

Tuesday Morning Session:

We recognized several former delegates who passed away during the past year with brief eulogies on the floor delivered by several members.

Tuesday Afternoon Judiciary Hearings:

We heard a review of proposed marijuana possession law changes. The informational hearing did not address a particular proposed bill, but simply the potential for legalizing marijuana possession in Maryland.

HB-1 would require the courts to take “Educational Stability” into consideration when factoring on the needs of a Child in Need of Assistance (CNA). We asked some questions regarding protections of Home School families and other choices in education as this would require the court to be more involved in educational aspects of a child’s life.

HB-38 would streamline some of the process for an appeal to the Court of Special Appeals and would eliminate some of the document demands currently required under the process in place. There was some opposition indicating that these changes may be problematic for certain groups who are often indigent.

HB-45 would allow for Judiciary reports, etc. to be posted on line as opposed to being made part of the Maryland Register since they are already maintained on the Judiciary website.

HB-79 seeks to establish certain procedures for a person seeking a Juvenile Expungement of a criminal record. While current Juvenile records are sealed, the Judiciary is seeing instances where these records are being brought into question by potential employers of these juveniles as they become adults. This would not be “shielding” of the records, but the complete removal. The State’s Attorney’s Association came in and opposed the bill. It seems that the current system of “sealed” records once a person reaches the age of 21 should remain in place.

Wednesday Morning Session:

Here are the bills which were on First Reader.

Wednesday Afternoon Judiciary Hearing:

We received a briefing from several policy people addressing access to health care and our current medical liability system. Much of the time was spent hearing from health care professionals speaking to a crisis in Maryland in delivering services while addressing litigation that has grown out of control in recent years. One primary example is the absence of OBGYN services being provided in many hospitals across Maryland due to litigation. It is tough in this committee to discuss tort reform in a room full of defense attorneys.

Thursday Morning Session:

Here are the bills introduced on First Reader.

Thursday Afternoon Judiciary Hearing:

HB-31 this is a bill I introduced last session (HB-1382) which provides the victims of crime the absolute right to provide a Victim Impact Statement during the sentencing phase of any trial. The bill was supported by all of the victim rights advocates of Maryland as well as the Maryland State’s Attorney’s Assoc. and the Governor’s Office of Crime Control. I look for the bill to move quickly out of committee and to approval by the entire House as was the case in 2013.

HB-44 would allow a judge to require a person who is the subject of a temporary or final protective order to undergo an Emergency Evaluation. We heard testimony from victim advocates detailing several instances where victims were injured or killed by persons under protective orders who did not receive a mental health review.

HB-68 would restrict the ability of the courts to award child custody or visitation to an individual convicted as a sex offender. This seems like a no brainer, but we have had a small number of judges that are allowing visitation and custody to child sex offenders.

Friday Morning Eastern Shore Delegation Meeting:

The delegation met with Sec. Dallas of the Department of Human Resources. He provided details on several welfare programs as well as some success in welfare to work initiatives.

We also heard from Sec. Skinner of the Department of Housing and Community Development. Most of the discussion focused on the recovery efforts his agency was involved with in Crisfield and Somerset County. He broke down the dollar amounts and some of the ongoing timetables and efforts. I told him about some complaints I had heard from contractors who have said they could build homes for quite a bit less money per square foot but the state is demanding compliance with many add on features that are driving the costs up by 50%. The Secretary acknowledged the costs but said it was necessary to comply with federal mandates. Quite frankly, talking to some of the guys in the know, these features are outrageous. (The sprinkler mandate from the state does not help with costs either).

We had an update from Colonel Brown of the State Police on certain reorganization changes that will severely impact local narcotics task forces on the shore. The changes will pull MSP detectives from these units and use them to investigate larger cases that lead out of the counties and state. Sheriff Bounds was there and stated that he saw this as an immediate problem for them to try and keep operations going effectively without the manpower. He was hoping to negotiate for some additional time before the transition. It is unclear how the rest of the shore will be impacted as the first change is on the mid-shore. It is something we must keep an eye on going into the future.

Friday Morning Session:

Here are the bills introduced on First Reader.