The following subjects were discussed during this past week.

Jury Trials in Civil Actions
The Senate passed SB 118, which prohibits a party in a civil action from requesting a jury trial if the amount in controversy does not exceed $20,000, instead of the current $10,000.  The bill is contingent on the voters’ adoption of a constitutional amendment (SB 119, also passed by the Senate) that increases, from over $10,000 to over $20,000, the amount in controversy in civil proceeding in which the right to trial by jury may be limited by legislation.  Identical bills, HB 436 – Courts – Jury Trials in Civil Actions – Amount in Controversy and HB 434, – Civil Jury Trials – Amount in Controversy
respectively, had a hearing in the House this week.

Injured Workers’ Insurance Fund (IWIF)
Senate and House committees took testimony both for and against changing the status of IWIF from that of a State agency to a not-for-profit mutual insurer.  Under SB 507 -Injured Workers’ Insurance Fund – Status and Renaming and HB 1008, the new company retains its public purpose as the insurer of last resort and must continue to guarantee the availability of workers’ compensation insurance in the State.  One of the questions raised at the hearings concerned the long-term status of IWIF’s current State employees.  Also of concern is the new company’s retention of IWIF’s existing exemption from the 2% tax on premiums that other private insurers are required to pay.  There is a tentative agreement between the Governor’s office and IWIF that would allow more autonomy to the agency for a transfer of $20 million from their reserve account to the State’s General Fund.

Health Care and Health Insurance – Bisphenol-A
I voted in favor of House Bill 33 – Child Care Articles Containing Bisphenol-A – Prohibition that prohibits the sale, manufacture and distribution of children’s products that contain bisphenol-A (BPA), a harmful compound found in some plastics.  The bill also requires manufacturers to use materials that are the least toxic alternative available on the market.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), BPA can leach from reusable food and water containers and baby bottles.  While the U. S. food and Drug Administration used to assert that BPA packaging was safe, more recently the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has cited concerns that it may have an effect on the brain, behavior, and prostate gland of fetuses, infants, and young children.  It is important to protect the health of babies and children, especially when they are in the developmental stages.  While many manufacturers have voluntarily stopped producing items with BPA, I think that this legislation sends a strong message and is an important public safety measure for Maryland ’s children.

The Senate approved SB 213, which prohibits the use of the chemical bisphenol-A (BPA), in certain children’s products.  The amended Senate bill conforms to the crossfiled bill, HB 33, which passed in the House last week.  Amendments prohibit certain BPA levels from being in children’s cups intended for food or liquid for children under four (4) years of age and require the term “child care article” to be defined by federal law, should a federal law concerning the prohibition of BPA in children’s products be enacted.  The amendments also provide that a person may not manufacture the child care products specified in the bill after January 10, 2012.  The original bill specified the date as January 10, 2011.

Transportation – Criminally Negligent Driving
House Bill 388 -Criminal Law – Manslaughter by Vehicle or Vessel – Criminal Negligence makes it a misdemeanor to cause the death of a person by driving a vehicle or a vessel in a criminally negligent manner.  It authorizes a maximum jail term of three years and a maximum fine of $5,000, or both, for a violator.  Similar bills have been introduced in the House for the past three years and in the Senate in 2006.  The bill fills a gap in current law, which does not contain a separate offense for criminally negligent manslaughter by vehicle or vessel, but does not address driving a vehicle in a grossly negligent manner.  The bill was heard by a House committee this week.  The companion bill is SB 870, scheduled to be heard in March.

Speaker’s Medallion Award
On March 3, 2010 former Congresswoman Helen Bentley received the prestigious Speaker’s Medallion Award.  This award is presented to a Maryland citizen who has made outstanding contributions to the State.  Helen Bentley was honored at the annual Speaker’s Society Dinner as well as on the House floor.  I am attaching a copy of the picture that was taken after the award ceremony.  The State of Maryland is extremely grateful for Helen’s contributions and I feel honored to call her my friend and mentor.

I appreciate your comments and input so please continue to keep me informed of your views.

Kindest regards.

Very truly yours,
Delegate Susan L.M. Aumann
District 42 – Baltimore County
303 Lowe House Office Building
Annapolis, MD   21401
410-841-3258; FAX 410-841-3163
susan.aumann@house.state.md.us

On Wednesday, March 3, 2010 former Congresswoman Helen Bentley received the Speaker’s Medallion Award. This award is presented to a Maryland citizen who has made outstanding contributions to the State. Helen Bentley was honored at the annual Speaker’s Society Dinner as well as on the House floor. I am attaching a copy of the picture that was taken after the award ceremony. The State of Maryland is extremely grateful for Helen’s contributions and I feel honored to call her my friend and mentor.

Check out the February 26, 2010 article from the Gazette.net

Click Here to view

Click Here

Dear Friends,

The following relates to the February 19th meeting about Articulated Instruction Module (AIM).

The House and Senate members of the Baltimore County Delegation met on February 19^th to discuss the AIM Program with Superintendent Joseph Hairston regarding the highly contested grading system.  This issue has raised a number of questions over the past few weeks and because of this, the Superintendent stated he would discontinue the mandatory implementation of the reporting component of this program. Upon further pressing, Dr. Hairston said the data collection aspect of the program has been suspended, then followed up by saying AIM’s reporting component would not be implemented.  This was seen as good news.

The issues noted were in regard to the amount of time our teachers would spend recording the student’s mastering of more than 100 specific skills collected on a per student basis and then recorded in a twelve page report.  It was indicated this process would take one and one half hours of input per student. The AIM program would have educators set classroom instruction aside to complete the data input.  Many see this process as duplicative in light of what has been required by the No Child Left Behind Act.

Many questions were posed to the Superintendent about the development and copyright issues surrounding the creation of this program.  The Assistant to Dr. Hairston, Dr. Barbara Dezmon, has renewed her copyright six times, the latest in 2006 for the AIM Program.  This creates a questionable ethics issue.

I have joined in with other delegates in crafting a letter to the State’s Attorney’s office asking for an investigation.  If you would like a copy of the letter please let us know.

As I stated in the hearing: “This program has caused a lot of harm and I hope that there will not be any retaliation to those teachers and staff that were not supportive of this program. Teachers need more time to teach and less time on data collection and I hope this never happens again.”

The University of Maryland, Baltimore Audit

The University of Maryland, Baltimore had quite an audit that came out late last week.  It revealed that a senior management employee, Dean Karen Rothenberg of the Law school, received inappropriate payments totaling $410,000.  These payments breakdown into two categories: $350,000 in FY 2007; $60,000 over FY 2007-FY2009.  The $350,000 was characterized as compensation for a sabbatical that she had earned but did not take.   In her initial appointment letter she could take a sabbatical after 5 years of service as Dean at full salary. The Chancellor’s response included in his testimony indicated: “Due to work commitments, Dean Rothenberg felt she was not in a position to exercise this option.  In order to keep her on a Dean of the Law School, President David Ramsay opted to provide her with this $350,000 as payment for the unused sabbatical.”

Poor judgment and the disregard of USM policies caused swift action on the part of the Regents and the Chancellor to insist that Dr. Ramsay step down by March 1, 2010.  The interim president will be the Medical School Dean Albert Reece until July when President Jay Perman will take over.  A letter was sent to Karen Rothenberg indicating that the $60,000 in additional summer compensation she received be returned due to the lack of written documentation from her supervisor, President Ramsay, authorizing the payments.  The investigation has been turned over to the Office of the Attorney General.

Chancellor Kirwan needs to address the policy governing the payments for summer research which in this audit equaled $1.1 million dollars. The auditors tested 36 compensation payments made to employees during FY 07 to 09 totaling $877,000 which was not disclosed or supported in UMB annual budget submission. The Chancellor is compensated by our tax dollars and for these types of issues to occur and not be addressed in a formal and timely matter is something he should be ultimately held responsible for. The lack of internal controls needs to be addressed so receipts and disbursements are properly accounted for.  For the Audit Report of University System of Maryland, University of Maryland, Baltimore February 2010 see link: http://www.ola.state.md.us/Reports/Fiscal%20Compliance/UMB10.pdf.

I hope I never see another audit like this with disregard of our tax dollars in educating our students.

Sex Offender Laws

The growing problem of Maryland’s treatment of sexual offenders can be illustrated by the case of 11 year old Sarah Foxwell, who was abducted by a registered sex offender.  She was taken by a sex offender who was recently arrested for breaking into a woman’s bedroom – the man who abducted her had previous convictions that included molesting a 12 year old girl and raping a 16 year old, but was released the same day he was arrested on a $10,000 bond.  That very same day he was released on bond, he abducted Sarah from her Salisbury home.  Governor O’Malley and many members of the Maryland General Assembly have proposed bills to respond to this problem to try to help keep children like Sarah Foxwell safe.  The Governor has proposed an initiative that would put serious sex offenders under mandatory lifetime supervision after they were released from jail, including the possible use of GPS monitoring.  The Governor’s office makes the case that, with this law in place this offender would not have been able to abduct Sarah because the arrest would have been in violation of his probation.  There is proof from other states that lifetime supervision helps prevent the repeat of a sexual offense.  Other bills that were introduced to the Judiciary Committee institute the practice of making sex offenders stay in jail longer by reducing the amount of diminution credits they can amass, these credits allow prisoners to get out of jail earlier.  Right now a sex offender can get out of jail in 19 years on a 25 year sentence through the amassment of diminution credits.  The diminution credits should be excluded for all those convicted of a sex offense, to keep children safer from predators.

Kindest Regards.

Very truly yours,

Susan L.M. Aumann

District 42, Baltimore County

410-841-3258

Dear Constituents,

Another week in Annapolis proved to be less then exciting and exposing more of our fiscal problems to come.

GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS

Bond bills are introduced each year that aim to support specific projects in the State. These capital projects must serve a wide spectrum of public purposes. The bonds that are issued are General Obligations bonds and are sold with a single coupon rate of 5% for 15 years. The debt service for the General Obligations bonds are funded almost entirely through property taxes. In Appendix F of the 2010 Budget Highlights has a worrisome note that the “Property tax collections are not expected to keep up with the debt service payments, thus requiring additional general funds effective in Fiscal Year 2011.” If the State of Maryland accepts more Bond Bills and increases our General Obligations, the funding of the debt service may increase property taxes. This year, Fiscal Year 2012, the O’Malley administration has provided $15,000,000 in the budget for Bond Bills.

Cutting back on grants and bonds when the State is facing debt service requirements that will out-pace property tax revenues is a sensible action to take.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

In 2009 the General Assembly passed an expansion of the Unemployment Benefits, HB 740 which will take effect in October 1, 2010. This expansion has caused many businesses to realize up to 300% increase in their bi monthly payments. Unemployment benefits are paid by the employer in the form of unemployment taxes, any increase in benefits necessitates an increase in taxes on business.

House Bill 740 expanded the Unemployment benefits to part time workers. The Department of Legislative Services Issue Papers, 2010 Legislative Session, states “Maryland employers will pay from the highest tax rate table for calendar 2010 due to the low balance of the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund.” When the funds are fully depleted, states may borrow from the Federal Government’s unemployment trust fund. The amount borrowed should be paid back within one year in order to prevent interest from accruing. Under the Obama plan states were required to amend their UI statute in-order to qualify for additional funds. These changes would include: (1) making part time workers eligible for benefits; (2) providing coverage to individuals who separate from work for compelling family reasons (illness of a family member, safety reasons due to domestic violence, change in spouse’s employment location); (3) providing Workforce Investment Act training benefits for at least 26 weeks in high demand industries; or (4) adding a $15 weekly allowance to UI payments for dependents.

As reported in the Baltimore Sun paper on January 21, 2010 Maryland is seeking a short-term advance (loan) around $250 Million from the Federal Government so the state can continue paying unemployment benefits. Maryland currently pays out $22 million a week to residents who lost their job through no fault of their own. The effect of the increases on the Unemployment Insurance to businesses has been devastating. I have received a number of emails form business owners in my district who are worried about how they can afford the increase in rates and stay in business. One employer stated that she employed 50 people and her rates went from $800.00 every two weeks to $3800.00. It is crushing and businesses are locked into this without an appeal process for hardship.

LEGISLATION

I am sponsoring a bill entitled, Public Safety-Electronic Control Devices-Training Program and Permit Process. In light of the recommendations from the Attorney General’s report on electronic weapons, I have selected two points that will strengthen the training and permit process for citizens.

This bill would prohibit a person from possessing or using an electronic control device unless the person has been issued a certain permit. It would prohibit the sale and activation of an electronic control device in the State unless the purchaser provides valid proof to the seller that the purchaser has completed successfully an electronic control device training program approved by the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commission.

Another bill that I am sponsoring is Public Schools – Maryland Youth Crisis Hotline – Distribution of Information. This bill would require each county board of education to provide certain students with the telephone number of the Maryland Youth Crisis Hotline. It would also require certain schools to hold a school assembly at a certain time each year. It would also require certain schools to send certain information about the Maryland Youth Crisis Hotline to the parents or guardians.

I hope that you and your family stay warm and safe during these extreme weather conditions.

Kindest Regards.

Very truly yours,

Susan L.M. Aumann

Dear Constituents,

I wanted to keep you updated on some of the topics as well as House/Senate Bills that were discussed this week.  I value your input and please continue to express your opinions on issues that are important to you.  Below are some of the “hot” issues for this week.

The Articulated Instruction Module Program (AIM)

On January 21^st the Baltimore County Delegation held a joint hearing regarding the AIM program.  It was the first time in sixteen years that both the House and Senate members met to discuss pressing issues affecting Baltimore County. The Aim program has been controversial. Teachers, PTA representatives and the Teachers Union have expressed their concerns about the amount of collected data required each quarter per student on top of what is currently required by the No Child Left Behind Act, Middle School Assessment (MSA) and High School Assessments (HSA).  It was stated that the data collection under this program would be an added layered on top of the time to satisfy the State’s requirements.  Superintendent Dr. Hairston of the Baltimore County School System scheduled an appearance before the Joint Delegation to discuss the program; unfortunately, Dr. Hairston could not attend the meeting because of physical therapy. The Baltimore County Delegation noted that the Superintendent could have rescheduled his appointment and been available to appear before this Delegation.   Mr. Ed Novak, Manager, Government & External Relations represented Dr. Hairston.  The program details were not known by Mr. Novak who was questioned vigorously by the Delegation.

Some points highlighted during the meeting are as follows:

The Teachers Union indicated that meetings were closed to its representative, in light of the open meetings law.

The PTA’s were highly concerned that classroom instruction would be limited due to the data collected and reported in a 12 page report card with 100 objectives per course. For a teacher with 100 students, the input per student is approximately 1.5 hours; it would take an additional 150 hours a year.

Teachers mentioned the potential of an ethic violation.  Dr. Dezmon, Assistant to the Superintendent, copyrighted this plan while working for Dr. Hairston on Baltimore County time.

Dr. Dezmon’s AIM program could benefit her directly with the profits of selling this program. The Dezmon Educational Strategies, LLC, has been copyrighted 6 times.

The AIM Program’s original purpose was to evaluate low performing students as a pilot program, but an emergency superintendent’s bulletin mandating the new program was issued December 18, 2009 for all Baltimore County Students.

The hearing was well attended but very disappointing because Dr. Hairston was not there to answer questions. It has been a very controversial issue in our school system because of the cumbersome, time consuming and redundant nature of the per student data collection contained in this AIM program.  By the end of the week Dr. Hairston said that he would discontinue the mandatory use of AIM.  A committee continues to work on issues raised by parents, teachers, and lawmakers who have been highly critical of the program.

The Budget for 2011

The Budget the Governor submitted last Wednesday afternoon was creative.  Transfers, borrowings, 10 days of furloughs for the 70,000 state workers, under funding, and relief expected from the Federal Government of $1.2 billon will close the majority of the deficit. These items contained in the three thousand pages of the budget don’t solve our over spending.  The Federal Government will not continue to support the States fiscal strains and we the citizens will be faced with looming deficits that will have to be made up by large tax increases.  What hard decisions we postpone making this year will cause greater pain just when the economic recovery begins to be realized.

This chart (page 26 of Fiscal Briefing 2010, attachment to this email) visually explains the problem we are going to face. It was presented by Legislative Services to the Appropriation Committee. The link to the entire document is : http://mlis.state.md.us/2010RS/budget_docs/All/Operating/Fiscal_Briefing.pdf

This week I was presented a Certificate of Appreciation from the Maryland Municipal League (MML) for my efforts on behalf of municipal government in Maryland.  I was truly very grateful to have received this honor.

Kindest regards.

Very truly yours,

Susan L.M. Aumann

Schools in the 42nd District were sent letters outlining the initiative and inviting them to have their students participate.  I have visited numerous classes already and relayed my experiences as a legislator and taught how that plays a role in our representative democracy.  These presentations are designed to teach our young people that their ideas have value and they should become involved in the policy making process.  I engage with the students and outline what it is like to be a delegate, the process of making laws, the pressures of making challenging decisions, debates, compromise and responding to constituent concerns.

Some of the schools I have had the opportunity to visit include Hampton Elementary, Stoneleigh Elementary, Ridge Ruxton, Timonium Elementary, St. Paul’s School for Girls, Dumbarton Middle, Pikesville Senior, St. Pius and Calvert Hall.  It is fantastic to reach out into the community and provide a civics lesson to these future leaders.  The questions are priceless and the time we spend together has been great.  I really enjoy it and look forward to coming to other schools.

The delegate said lessons learned from the Minneapolis tragedy and other bridge failures around the country compel us to redouble efforts to inspect these critical structures.  With the new information about the Susquehanna bridges, the Transportation Authority has moved the projects to the top of the list.  Coupled with the deterioration found on the Route 90 Bridge in Ocean City, which has resulted in its closure for several months, the importance of inspections becomes even more pronounced.  Transportation safety is a vital component of government’s responsibility to its citizens.

All of the identified repairs will be completed on the fastest schedule possible and the State will find the financial resources needed to complete the projects.  Since some of the effected roads are federal highways, the State will partner with the U.S. Department of Transportation to fully fund the repairs

Revenue collection and estimates have been revised downward leaving a deficit of over $2.5 billion out of a $32 billion State budget. Economic recovery seems elusive, especially for those without work. With the unemployment rate at 10.2% nationally, I believe managed furloughs and salary reductions are appropriate but, it will not solve the long term issue. The State must change its approach to the budget dramatically and seriously focus on reducing spending.

While furloughs are preferable to layoffs during these difficult times, they are a small bandage on a huge problem – the failure to realistically organize our finances and live within our means. I believe additional furloughs are not part of a comprehensive solution to the State budget crisis.