Legislators Speak Candidly on Victories, Embarrassments in General Assembly

There were plenty of legislative victories for local delegates in this most recent Maryland General Assembly session, but two state delegates said they are embarrassed at how the session ended.

“It’s embarrassing we didn’t get [the budget] done in 90 days,” , D-11, told members of the Reisterstown-Owings Mills-Glyndon Coordinating Council at Monday night’s meeting. , D-11, expressed similar sentiment.

But both delegates discussed victories that they said were overlooked due to other issues taking over the spotlight.

Morhaim, the only physician in the General Assembly, sponsored several health bills that passed. One offered protection to older residents in nursing homes, another gave tax breaks for clinics and doctors working in underserved areas and another established regulations for art therapists, among others.

Stein highlighted several environmental bills that passed this year. A bill requiring certain counties to better manage their stormwater runoff should help protect the Chesapeake Bay, he said. One bill put a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing – drilling for natural gas – and another bill outlawed the use of arsenic in chicken feed. Two bills Stein worked on that passed included one that implemented a financial literacy curriculum into schools and another that further refined child safety seat rules.

While Morhaim expressed dismay over his bill not passing, both he and Stein spoke very critically of how the session ended with the passage of what many called a “doomsday” budget.

Morhaim expects that in the special session, lawmakers will be asked to raise taxes on Maryland residents, and then be asked to lower taxes on casino owners. As a delegate looking to increase government efficiency, he pointed out several budget items the state could cut before resorting to raising taxes.

“We’re going to have to find ways to tighten our belt,” he said.

Morhaim, Stein and Helena Mastrogianis, an aide to Del. Jon Cardin’s , D-11, all pointed to the debate on expanding gambling in Maryland as the reason budget talks were held up.

“It was frustrating at the end,” Mastrogianis said.

Morhaim recalled a night near the end of the legislative session when he walked into the General Assembly and saw lobbyists from just about every major casino and developer, what he says amounted to "rich people arguing over who gets to be richer."

Another meeting attendee called the Maryland General Assembly "very top heavy," and said the political bureaucracy stifles politicians, who head to Annapolis to have their good intentions crushed.

“If [legislators] don’t do what the leadership wants, they won’t get committee assignments, they won’t get their bills passed,” said Mark Schlossberg, an Owings Mills resident and president of the Maryland Association of Green Industries. While he does not lobby on behalf of the group, he’s made many trips to Annapolis over the years.

But Stein said he is hopeful for the special session.

“We’re coming back May 14 for hopefully just three days,” he said. “It won’t be a long, drawn-out session. No one wants that.”