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Email Newsletter of April 3, 2006
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News Update from Senator Nancy Jacobs
District 34: Harford and Cecil Counties
April 3, 2006
In this Issue...
* The Way I Voted On BGE and Why
* Election Laws That You Need to Know About
* The Take Over of Baltimore City Schools
* Castle Law
This past week reminded me of the first week of session. The
democrats are ramming their veto overrides and bills through the
senate with party call votes. The senate democrats get what they
want while Marylanders get the short end of the stick.
Issues such as Eminent Domain and stem cell research take a back
seat; because in their political game the Democrat’s get to blame
the Republicans for the mess they’ve made in Annapolis. Whether it
is the BGE issue that was championed by Senate President Mike
Miller, or the Baltimore City school take over scenario, which has
the Democrats screaming bloody politics, when thousands of students
lack the necessary skills to receive a high school diploma.
If the democrats start to look bad you can be sure that they will
be blaming a republican sometime soon. Stay tuned, because we have
just one more week of session and I assure you it will be a
memorable one. |
The Way I Voted On BGE and Why
The BGE negotiations have been the topic of conversations in
households all across Maryland, in the Legislative halls of
Annapolis, and of course in the media.
To say that I am taking this situation seriously would be a drastic
understatement. Negotiations with Constellation Energy, the parent
company of BGE, have been going on throughout this week with some of
the details of the meetings being released by members of the General
Assembly.
This issue is very complicated. As a representative of the people of
District 34 it is my job to listen to the debates and gather all of
the information that is available to me, and then make an educated
decision on the bills before me.
I am also taking into consideration the business aspect of stopping
the merger of two companies while knowing that no state’s General
Assembly in the country has ever stopped the merger of a business
before. I’m aware that the block of a merger would hurt the business
outlook of Constellation Energy as one of Maryland’s Fortune 500
Companies. Even Wall Street has hired a lobbyist to watch the BGE
debate here in Annapolis. In essence, they are paying someone just
to listen. I am also aware that Moody’s Investors Service has placed
BGE under review for possible downgrade. A downgrade in a credit
rating would be disastrous for this company. Constellation Energy’s
stock has been falling this entire month. It appears that the stock
will continue to fall until this situation comes to a conclusion,
which will prolong the negative effects on to many mutual funds and
stock holdings.
With all this in mind, I voted for HB 1713- Public Service
Companies - Mergers, Acquisitions, and Financing.This bill gives
the Maryland General Assembly the veto power between the merger of
Constellation Energy and Florida Power and Light Company. My hope is
that this bill, which passed through the Senate 39-7, will encourage
the parties that are in negations to come to an equitable
compromise. Then the Governor has to make a decision to sign the
bill into law or veto it.
This is certainly not the end of the BGE debate, and I am hopeful
the issue will be resolved before we adjourn on April 10. The
Following article summarizes why many Republicans voted the way I
did.
Republicans Part Ways on BGE |
Election Laws That You Need to Know About
This past week has seen partisan politics hit a new level.
The Majority party this past Friday sent a clear message to the
residents of Maryland; they don’t intend to recognize the minority
party or to even include them in debates.
However, this past Friday, the Republican Party fired back. In a
bold move, the minority leader announced that the republican caucus
was leaving the senate floor in the middle of session. The bill that
broke the camel’s back was SB712/HB1368 – Election Law- Voter
Bill of Rights. Normally when both the House and Senate have to
resolve differences in a bill, they assign a conference committee to
meet and iron things out. Three senators and three delegates are
chosen to be on the conference committee. Two of the three senators
and delegates are usually democrats with the republicans having one
senator and one delegate on the conference committee. In an
unprecedented move, neither the House nor Senate leaders put a
republican on the conference committee. We were not even aware that
a conference committee had been formed. Imagine our dismay when the
bill was brought to the floor of the senate. There were probably
close to ten pages of amendments that changed the entire bill. We
asked to special order the bill to allow us time to look it over
before voting on it. Once they took a vote to ignore our request,
the fourteen republican senators left the floor.
SB712/HB1368 is such a bad bill that would need numerous
amendments to make it even a half way decent bill. The republicans
offered eight amendments, two of which were my own. Senator Pipkin
offered an amendment that would make it a requirement for election
judges to ask for identification before voters could cast their
ballots. One of my amendments would defer early voting until 2008
because this election is too important to rush in new policies with
little or no way of testing the new procedures.
All eight amendments failed by a straight party call vote. Friday
was a frustrating day in Annapolis. It reassures my belief that we
need must get more republicans elected to office. With more
republicans in Annapolis, the democrats will be forced to listen to
other opinions beside their own. With election bills like
SB712/HB1368, the task of challenging incumbents will be much
harder as the potential for voter fraud increases.
The following are several articles that go more in depth on this
important issue.
Partisan Politics in Poll Fight
Senate Republicans’ Vote Proposals Fail
GOP Senators Protest Their Exclusion on Voting Bill’s Conference
Committee
Voting-by-Mail Plan Meets Criticism |
The Take Over of Baltimore City Schools
There’s just never a dull moment here in Annapolis. This past
week was no exception. I’m sure by now you have seen the results
President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act has had on our schools in
Maryland. Standardized tests, government studies, and stricter
adherence to federal curriculum are just some of the characteristics
of the implementation of that Act. As per the rules of the Act,
there was to be a two-year period of information gathering to assess
the needs of each school. No action could be taken on any school
until after the two-year period, beginning in 2002.
This issue began to really hit home this week, when the Maryland
State Board of Education made a decision to take over some of the
failing Baltimore City schools, whose math and reading proficiency
ratings have proven to be downright appalling. For example,
Southwestern High School’s statistics showed a math proficiency of
1.6% and a reading proficiency of 8.9% among all students last year.
These percentages are far below federal education standards. And
this is just one school. There are a total of eleven schools that
are falling short of the federal standards. According to the No
Child Left Behind Act, when a school fails to reach these education
standards, the state has the authority to take over the school and
employ a third party to administrate.
This is the scenario in Baltimore City. Senate Bill 1215 –
Baltimore City Public School System, which passed in both the
House and the Senate, would grant a moratorium of one year before a
take over could happen. It would also grant more funding to these
already failed schools. In essence, we have decided to throw more
money at the problem instead of trying to do something about it. I
voted against the moratorium and the additional funding to these
schools because I believe that they have been given enough chances
to improve. The fact is that they are not improving. Other City
schools that have been given over to a third party administration in
an attempt to improve education standards have done just that. I
believe that this is a process that works, and it is obvious from
the proficiency statistics from the past few years that granting
more funding is not something that works.
As I said, the bill passed, and the state will continue to funnel
money into those failed Baltimore City schools. Perhaps someday when
Maryland has more of a bipartisan legislature, our decisions will
reflect what is in the best interest of the children of Baltimore
rather than partisan politics. Until then, we are sentencing the
school children of Baltimore City to failure and ignoring the
opportunity to give them hope.
Grasmick's Heavy Hand Deserves Applause
U.S. Education Secretary Applauds State Move |
Castle Law
There are a few bills dealing with our second amendment right to
bear arms. I introduced the "Castle law" which would permit law
abiding citizens to use deadly force in a situation where their life
was in danger (car hijacking, robbery etc). It seems inconceivable
to me that we aren't allowed to protect oursleves without fear of
being taken to court and perhaps receive jail time. It appears that
the chairman of our Judicial Proceedings Committee is not going to
let it come up for a vote.
SB 870 Protections of Person and Property - Immunity
The bill creates a statutory justification for use of deadly force
if the person reasonably believes that the use of deadly force is
necessary to prevent (1) imminent or serious bodily harm to the
person or another; or (2) imminent commission of a forcible felony.
The bill provides that a person who is not engaged in unlawful
activity and is in a place where the person has a right to be has no
duty to retreat when attacked or threatened with the use of force.
A person who unlawfully and forcibly enters or attempts to enter a
person's dwelling or occupied vehicle is statutorily presumed to be
doing so with the intent to commit a forcible felony.
The bill also creates a statutory presumption that a person
reasonably believed use of deadly force was necessary in
self-defense if the attacker against whom the deadly force was used
had, or was in the process of (1) unlawfully and forcibly entering a
dwelling or occupied vehicle; or (2) removing a third person from a
dwelling or occupied vehicle against the third person's will.
Persons justified in using force under this bill are immune from
criminal prosecution and civil action. This immunity does not apply
if the person knew or reasonably should have known that the person
subject to the force was a law enforcement officer acting in an
official capacity. If a court finds that a defendant in a civil
action is entitled to civil immunity under this bill, the court is
required to award reasonable attorney's fees, court costs,
compensation for loss of income, and all legal expenses incurred by
the defendant.
Senator John Astle put in a bill (SB 907) that would provide
protection to existing shooting ranges. It passed the senate by a
margin of 34 - 11 and is now in the House Environmental Matters
committee. It is scheduled for a hearing on April 6.
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News You Can Use
Eminent Domain Reform Unlikely
Senate Passes Pension Plan, Compromise Sought
Senate Blocks Easy Access to Emergency Contraception
***Rascovar: Let's Get Some Facts Straight***
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