December 31, 2000|By Larry Carson | By Larry Carson,SUN STAFF
Howard County's state legislators want the 2001 General Assembly that convenes next month to enact laws ranging from changing the way Maryland awards electoral votes for U.S. president to making dog fighting a felony -- as well as providing a balanced budget and health care reform.
The three state senators and eight delegates talk mostly about the big things -- such as better health care for the elderly and uninsured, keeping spending in check, attaining more state money for school and community college projects and making Howard part of a standard, statewide, new voting system.
The five Republicans and six Democrats often agree with one another on goals, if not the means to those goals, but many have personal issues, too.
Democratic Del. James E. Malone Jr. wants to increase the penalty for staging dogfights and legally define aggressive driving, while Republican Del. Donald E. Murphy plans to renew his effort to ease the use of marijuana for medical purposes.
Never afraid to buck convention, Murphy also wants to convince the Democratically controlled legislature that Maryland should divide its electoral votes in presidential elections based on the proportion of the popular vote, instead of awarding all 10 to the candidate who wins the state. This year, they went to Democrat Al Gore.
"Why do we have winner- take-all? If you're a Republican, you feel like your vote doesn't count," Murphy said.
County Executive James N. Robey's wish list has one central theme: Send money. In addition to about $25 million for school construction, Robey wants $2.25 million in state money for three other projects -- a new Head Start building in Columbia, U.S. 1 revitalization and development of the 300-acre Blandair Farm in Columbia into a park.
The U.S. 1 project is also a top priority for Del. John A. Giannetti Jr., a Democrat who represents the commercial corridor in Howard and Prince George's counties. But Giannetti has other interests, too -- such as changing drunken-driving laws to make a driver's refusal to take a Breathalyzer test admissible at trial, and lowering the legal standard for intoxication from 0.10 percent to 0.08 percent.
State Sen. Edward J. Kasemeyer wants state matching money to help the private, nonprofit Norbel School in Baltimore renovate the former Elkridge Elementary School building for its new home.
Kasemeyer and Del. Frank S. Turner, both Democrats, also want Gov. Parris N. Glendening to devote more state money to community colleges, partly to help Howard Community College pay for a badly needed classroom building.
The broader issues -- the level of state spending, lax enforcement of parole and probation rules, juvenile crime and health care -- are what most of Howard's legislators believe will dominate the session.
"There are 2,300 seniors in Howard County who have lost their HMOs [health maintenance organizations]. I'm convinced there are going to be some attempts to address the problem statewide," in addition to efforts to cut prescription drug costs, said Del. Shane Pendergrass, a Democrat.
"I just think it's an outrage that seniors have the prescription drug problems and health care problems they have," said Del. Elizabeth Bobo, a Democrat who is the county's House delegation chairwoman.
Not that Bobo doesn't have more specific interests -- such as blocking Glendening's plan to give $8 million to private schools for textbooks.
Republicans are worried about Glendening's spending habits, too, they say -- specifically that he will spend Maryland into a deficit as the huge revenue surpluses of the past few years disappear. The latest estimate is for a $375 million state budget surplus for this fiscal year, less than half of last year's.
"What I have observed with the governor and the General Assembly leadership is that they're committed to spending the surplus on new programs they think are beneficial. They've shown a principled opposition to any tax reduction," said Senate delegation Chairman Christopher J. McCabe, a Republican who is also pushing for charter schools and a shorter -- 15 days -- revocation-of-consent time for adoptions.
Other Republicans aren't quite as diplomatic.
"I intend to be a fiscal watchdog," said Sen. Martin G. Madden, the minority leader. "I thought we expanded the state budget too rapidly last year. My fear is that the governor is looking to expand it to the limit again -- at or above spending affordability. I'm just very concerned that we could be heading for a repeat of the 1991 budget crisis."
Republican House leader Robert H. Kittleman agrees. "The super good times are coming to an end," he said, adding that even in public transportation, Glendening has "overspent and over-promised" over the next five years.
But members of the two parties agree on some issues -- the need for health care reform and health insurance for more people; a standardized, modern voting system; and reform of the state parole and probation department.
Criticisms of the state's handling of a convicted child sex offender who has been charged with murdering a 9-year-old boy in Frederick and a parole violator charged with killing an undercover state police trooper in Washington were aimed at Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the Glendening administration's point person on criminal and juvenile justice -- and the Democrats' leading candidate for governor in 2002.
"We're letting people out of prison early to save money, but when they are let out of jail early they are not properly monitored," said Del. Robert L. Flanagan, a Republican.
"Juvenile justice is in such bad shape. It's a mess, and that's been Kathleen's only job for six years," Kittleman said.
