All relationships are local, some are longstanding

I get great professional and personal satisfaction from working on bills that deal with major public policy issues.

In this session alone, I’ve got death penalty, voting rights, and religious accommodation.

But I also get pleasure from helping a constituent resolve a problem with the bureaucracy or the law. Even more so when that person is someone I’ve known since elementary school.

Herman Berlin is an auto parts wholesaler. He runs a family business. Over the last 60 years, Baltimore Auto Parts has done significant business with state agencies.

Then a contract with Autozone put the brakes on the requests for quotes from Herman and other small businesses in Maryland.

Last summer, he came to me for help. I asked the legislature’s reference library for assistance.

The state had signed an intergovernmental cooperative purchasing agreement (ICPA) with Autozone. However, once the state decides to enter into an ICPA, it does not allow any other businesses to submit a bid.

House Bill 1203 would change that. Potential competitors would be given 21 days to submit their bid.

“It’s a question of fairness,” I told the Health and Government Operations Committee today.

The chairman of the subcommittee that will consider my bill said, “These bids need to be competitive.”

The request from the chairman of the full committee to the witness from the state agency that handles these contracts was simple and direct: “Attend the next meeting of that subcommittee.”

It was very clear that the committee wants to change the law.

Afterwards, I said to Herman Berlin: “That was a good hearing!”

Sometimes you don’t

Sometimes you need to introduce a bill, and sometimes you don’t.

I’ve known Herman Berlin since childhood. He now runs an auto parts distributorship.

When the state entered into a contract with a national company, Herman did not have an opportunity to make a competing bid. He has lost a sizeable amount of business, as have other local firms – many of them small or minority companies.

We held our second meeting on this matter with Secretary of General Services Al Collins this morning. Since this national company has entered into similar contracts in other states, we agreed that I would draft a bill modeled on the Pennsylvania law dealing with this issue.

Our third meeting will take place after my bill is drafted, but before it is introduced.

Another bill I was considering deals with a more controversial issue. Federal legislation would provide money for states to provide this benefit in an innovative way.

Instead of waiting for the Congress to act, I thought, let’s do a pilot project with the state dollars already budgeted for this program for the upcoming fiscal year. (That means no additional cost to implement my bill.)

During a conference call today, state agency officials told me they already planned to do this. Keep me informed, I responded.

No need for a bill now.