Legum’s New Line

Delegate Bill Frick (D-Montgomery) recently introduced an interesting piece of legislation that would encourage the state government and localities to use banks chartered in Maryland for financial services. The Baltimore Sun has the story:

The Maryland General Assembly is considering legislation that would essentially give state-chartered banks an edge when bidding to serve state agencies or local governments.

Del. Bill Frick, a Montgomery County Democrat who sponsored the legislation, says he’s been frustrated watching giant out-of-state banks gouge Marylanders with high fees and rate increases.

“Why do we turn around and give them our money on state contracts?” he says. “Why do we want our state dollars going into Wall Street bonuses instead of local small business loans?”

Frick’s legislation is compelling because Maryland banks are much more likely to take the cash they earn from state government and lend it back to Marylanders. Local lending has significant economic benefit to the state, ultimately leading to more economic growth and higher tax revenue.

The legislation would provide a small edge to local banks when bidding against Wall Street giants for the state’s financial services.

You can check out the full text of Frick’s legislation HERE.

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Yesterday, I expressed my opposition to a resolution recently co-sponsored by Ron George, the incumbent Republican Delegate in District 30. The resolution states that climate change is a “conspiracy” and urged the Environmental Protection Agency to “immediately halt” all efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. I noted that, setting climate science aside, this action would have disastrous consequences for the Chesapeake Bay.

This morning, Ron George responded. You can read his full response here.

First, George claims that I “misrepresent” his views on climate change because “The term ‘climate change conspiracy’ did not come from us and does not refer to climate change itself but to falsehoods that have been uncovered.” He states he actually believes that “Climate Change is a true concern.”

The best way to respond is to simply quote from the resolution George co-sponsored. The stated purpose of the bill is to investigate the “climate change conspiracy.” More from the body of the resolution itself:

[T]here is a well–organized and ongoing effort to manipulate global temperature data and incorporate tricks to substantiate the theory of climate change.

The Earth’s climate is constantly changing, and recent warming indicates a return to more normal temperatures

Second, George claims that “The resolution asks the EPA to separate facts from fiction so we can deal with the science. That is all it does.” Actually, the bill urges the EPA to “immediately halt its carbon dioxide reduction policies and programs.”

This is the real problem for District 30 and Maryland as a whole, because of severe damage such action would cause to the Chesapeake Bay. Of course, the co-sponsors of this resolution did not take that into account. They simply copied the language verbatim from a contentious resolution in the Utah legislature.

Cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay is a huge challenge. To succeed, we need to set aside the kind of partisan ideology that is embodied in George’s resolution and work together toward our shared goals.

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A few days ago, Ron George – the incumbent Republican delegate in Maryland’s District 30 – co-sponsored a resolution stating that climate change is a “conspiracy” and urging the Environmental Protection Agency to “immediately halt” all efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Besides ignoring the overwhelming consensus among the world’s climate scientists, George is advancing a position with disastrous consequences locally for the Chesapeake Bay:

– Increased carbon dioxide concentrations can increase algae blooms, which are the source of large “dead zones” in the Chesapeake Bay. [Source]

– Many of the most effective agricultural practices to sequester carbon — such as forest buffers, no-till farming and cover crops — are also essential to improving water quality in the Chesapeake Bay. [Source]

In a time of economic challenge, Maryland can’t afford to allow the Chesapeake Bay to continue to degrade. The Bay is Maryland’s most valuable economic resource: driving commerce, buttressing property values and attracting tourists.

But Ron George is more focused on far-right ideology than our shared goals in Maryland. We need to work together to clean our water and grow our economy. That’s why I’m running for Delegate.

Please stand up for the health of the Bay by signing this petition protesting George’s anti-environment resolution: juddlegum.com/baypetition

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The state budget has an enormous impact on many of the things that our central to our lives — our schools, our roads, our waterways — but is usually presented in a way that makes it very difficult to understand. The Maryland Budget and Tax Institute pulls back the curtain with a new document called “The Regular Person’s Guide to the Governor’s Fiscal Year 2011 Budget.”

It’s an incredibly useful document for anyone who is interested in where Maryland’s revenues come from and how they are spent. Here’s the top line information from the first page:

Size: $32.1 billion
Decrease from this year: $0.2 billion (-0.8%)

3 biggest items:

1. Health $8.7 billion
2. K-12 Education $6.9 billion
3. Higher Education $5.1 billion

3 biggest revenues:

1. Federal Funds $9.3 billion
2. Individual Income Tax $6.3 billion
3. Sales Tax $3.9 billion

So about 2/3 of the Maryland budget goes to health care and education.

I believe that there are many places in the budget where we can reduce spending. But it’s also important to be aware that much of the budget goes towards providing services that are broadly popular.

I encourage you to check out the whole thing, which is available below: Continue Reading »

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There’s a major new effort underway to ramp up the use of solar energy in Maryland. The ambitious goal of the program is to create 100,000 solar rooftops in 10 years. If successful, the initiative could reduce air and water pollution, create jobs and save consumers money.

A coalition of legislators and business owners promoted the plan at a press conference held yesterday in Annapolis. Environment Maryland provides the details:

First, Governor O’Malley has introduced legislation that would require a quicker ramp-up of the solar portion of the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS). This would mean that utilities would have to get a greater percentage of their energy portfolio from solar power sooner, which would jumpstart job creation and cut down on our emission of greenhouse gases.

Second, Delegate Hecht and Senator Middleton are leading an effort to introduce legislation that would give municipalities the means by which to loan people money for solar and other clean energy projects at very low interest rates, resulting in more homeowners taking advantage of the clean, reliable electricity that solar energy generation provides.

Finally, Delegates Pinsky and Hecht are working on “net-metering” legislation, which would require utilities to pay customers back for surplus energy they create with the solar panels on their roofs.

In a related development, Constellation Energy – the state’s largest electricity producer – announced “said Tuesday it would invest $90 million to support the development of solar power systems for commercial customers…for customers that begin construction before mid-2010.”

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We are fortunate to have a President who understands to importance of restoring the Chesapeake Bay, even in difficult economic times. Early in his first year, President Obama issued an executive order, committing the federal government to improving the health of the Bay. Now, he’s backed up that commitment:

President Barack Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal 2011, released yesterday, includes $63 million for the Chesapeake Bay Program – a $13 million increase over the current year.

…Lisa Jackson, the EPA administrator, said her agency’s money for the bay is intended to help carry out Obama’s executive order from last year for the federal government to do more for the bay.

In a conference call with reporters, Jackson said it’s important for the EPA as well as the states to make headway in reducing pollution from stormwater runoff, which she called “primarily the intractable problem for the bay.”

The money also will help the EPA come up with new rules for controlling stormwater and pollution from large farms with animals if the states don’t design their own rules.
“We need people to see that we’re serious,” Jackson said.

Governor O’Malley also doubled funding to Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay Trust Fund.

Funding alone, however, will not solve the Chesapeake Bay’s problem. We need to use these resources more effectively. More on that topic soon.

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There was a fairly major snow storm in the Annapolis area today and a high temperature of 23 degrees. It was also the start of my door-to-door campaign for state delegate.

We weren’t going to let a little bit of inclement weather get in our way. Here’s a short video we recorded just before getting started at 10:30AM:

We were able to canvass in Cape St. Claire for about 2 hours, until the snow made the side roads impassible.

As a challenger in this race, I know I need to work hard every day from now to the election. The best use of my time is talking to voters one-on-one and hearing their concerns. One great thing about knocking doors during a snow storm: plenty of people are at home.

The forecast for next weekend is sunny, with a high of 43 degrees. We’ll be back at it.

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Yesterday, I attended the Maryland Environmental Legislative Summit at St. John’s College here in Annapolis. The highlight was a speech from Congressman Elijah Cummings on the importance of moving forward with efforts to restore the health of the Chesapeake Bay, even in the face of challenging economic and political circumstances.

The was recently a lot of publicity about a poll which suggested that Marylanders are more interested in jobs and the economy than restoring the Chesapeake. The question itself sets up a false choice. We need to aggressively address both issues.

Congressman Cummings ended his speech with this quote (which I believe originated at the 1988 Democratic National Convention):

I’m tired of sailing my little boat, far inside the harbor bar. I want to go out where the big ships float, out on the deep where the great ones are. And should my frail craft prove too slight for waves that sweep those billows o’er, I’d rather go down in the stirring fight than drowse to death at the sheltered shore.”

We’ve got to go out, my friends, where the big boats are.

Congressman Cummings is sponsoring The Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act of 2009 which would set and enforce a total maximum pollution budget for all states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. You can read more about this important bill here.

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Today was an important day in my campaign for state delegate. We submitted our first campaign finance report.

I was extremely pleased with all the early financial support to my campaign. Eighty-five percent of contributions were $100 or less and we didn’t accept a penny from special interest PACs.

I also know, however, that this race won’t be won with campaign finance reports. It will be won by hitting the streets throughout District 30 and talking to voters one-on-one. That effort will start in just a few days and I’ll share the details with you on this blog.

If you’d like to join the hundreds of people who have invested in this campaign so far, you can do so here.

You can find a press release with more details of the filing below. Continue Reading »

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The Maryland Department of Legislative Services has produced an incredibly useful (255 page) report outlining the major issues that face the Maryland General Assembly in 2010. You can check it out here.

If that’s too much heavy lifting, the Maryland Gazette boils it down to about a page.

We’ll be following the action closely here on Legum’s New Line.

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