Wednesday February 24 – Before or after

What you do before or after the bill hearing (or before the floor vote) is often crucial.

State funding for abortions would be eliminated under the House Republicans’ budget proposal, I read in the Sun this morning.

So my first email was to the pro-choice lobbyists: “We need to assume there will be a floor amendment and organize accordingly.” The response was positive.

On the House floor, I asked a committee chair if it made sense for the proponents and opponents of my bill to meet now that their views had been publicly aired. The chair agreed.

My bill that would restore money to the Cigarette Restitution Fund doesn’t have a hearing date yet. Nonetheless, I asked the Secretary of Health if we should meet to discuss the fund. We will next week.

I attended the press conference supporting Attorney General Gansler’s legal opinion that Maryland can recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

I made the point that the Judiciary Committee has already killed a bill that would prohibit state agencies from recognizing such unions. “And the outcome would be the same after today’s events,” I declared.

That has the added virtue of being true, but sometimes saying it’s so helps make it so.