JUICE: Final Marijuana Decriminalization & Minimum Wage Votes Imminent // PLUS: Updates on "House of Cards" & More!

Sorry for the long hiatus in posts recently, but my latest "project" is keeping me quite busy these days. And if it is successful, this blog will go through a bit of a transition. But that's a story for another day.

In the meantime, we thought it best to give a quick status check on high profile bills in Annapolis, given that the legislative session ends this coming Monday. It's now or never to get your final emails and calls in to lawmakers, but we already know the outcome of several high-profile battles. Below Maryland Juice provides a quick status check on various hot-button legislative initiatives of interest to politicos:

JUICE #1: MARIJUANA DECRIMINALIZATION FACING "DO OR DIE" VOTE THIS SATURDAY MORNING  //  LAST CALL FOR EMAILS TO MD HOUSE MEMBERS - For the second year in a row, members of Maryland's State Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation to remove jail time as a penalty for marijuana possession. Over a dozen other states have adopted this reform, and polling numbers indicate fewer than 10% of Marylanders believe incarceration is appropriate in these cases. But the bill has faced an oddly tortured debate in the House of Delegates, where Judiciary Chair Joe Vallario seeks to kill the legislation by turning it into a "study commission" bill. Reform advocates are now alerting supporters that there may be a "do or die" vote on the decriminalization bill today (Saturday). Sorry for the late notice. In any case, Maryland Reporter's Len Lazarick posted an article tonight providing some details on the last ditch effort to pass marijuana decriminalization this year (excerpt below):

MARYLAND REPORTER: A wave of support among House Democrats for decriminalizing marijuana is apparently forcing the House Judiciary Committee to reverse itself and approve a Senate bill, SB364, removing criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana.

The committee earlier this week had turned the legislation into a two-year study of the issue, but Del. Keiffer Mitchell sought to revive the bill on the floor Friday. Floor debate and a potential vote are set for Saturday.

After counting votes for decriminalization, House leaders apparently decided there was too much support for the move the Senate has passed two years in a row to go along with Judiciary Chairman Joe Vallario’s staunch opposition.... Mitchell said the racial disparities in marijuana arrests could not wait another two years....

CONTACT MD HOUSE MEMBERS ASAP: A diverse group of advocates who have joined forces under the umbrella of The Marijuana Policy Coalition of Maryland are calling on residents to contact members of the House of Delegates ASAP. You can send an email to your House members through the link below:

[  EMAIL MD HOUSE MEMBERS TO SUPPORT MARIJUANA DECRIMINALIZATION  ]

The coalition includes groups ranging from the NAACP and ACLU to CASA de Maryland and Equality Maryland. Check out their urgent action alert and contact your House members as soon as possible. The vote on decriminalization is this Saturday, April 5th (excerpt below):

MARIJUANA POLICY COALITION OF MD: Earlier this week, the House Judiciary Committee gutted a decriminalization bill — SB 364 — and turned it into a study that wouldn’t even report its findings until December 2015. Since then, several delegates have made it clear they’re not going to let decriminalizing marijuana die a quiet death.

Members of the Legislative Black Caucus plan to propose an amendment on the House floor to restore the bill to the version that passed the Senate! Please take to the phones to ask your legislators to vote “yes” on the amendment.

If you don’t have time to make a phone call, you can instead send a pre-written email. It only takes a minute to let your voice be heard.

The vote will happen tomorrow (Saturday), so please don’t delay! Every year, about 20,000 Marylanders are arrested for possession of marijuana. Let your delegates know that it’s time for action, not yet another study. It’s past time for Maryland to stop branding its residents as criminals for using a substance that is safer than alcohol....

JUICE #2: MINIMUM WAGE HIKE FACING FINAL VOTE IN MD SENATE // HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED & WHAT COMES NEXT - Throughout the current legislative session, economic justice organizations have been calling on Maryland lawmakers to advance a minimum wage increase. Advocates specifically asked for the following reforms to the state's current $7.25 an hour wage rate:

1. Raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour
2. Raise the tipped minimum wage to 70% of the full minimum wage
3. Index the minimum wage to adjust with inflation

THE HOUSE'S VERSION OF THE MINIMUM WAGE HIKE: The House of Delegates took up the minimum wage proposals ahead of the Senate, and The Washington Post reported on the version of the legislation they passed last month (excerpt below):

WASHINGTON POST: The Maryland House of Delegates on Friday approved a plan to increase the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 by 2017.... The bill approved by the House is somewhat less ambitious than what O’Malley (D) proposed....

This week, a House committee struck a provision from the governor’s bill that called for automatic increases in the minimum wage beyond 2017 based on inflation.... Under the bill, individual Maryland counties would be allowed to set higher minimum wages than the state. Late last year, the Montgomery and Prince George’s county councils voted to raise the minimum wage to $11.50 an hour by 2017 in their jurisdictions.... The bill that passed the Maryland House would raise the minimum wage to $8.20 an hour on Jan. 1; to $9.15 an hour on Jan. 1, 2016; and to $10.10 an hour on Jan. 1, 2017.... The committee delayed the implementation date by six months to give businesses more time to adjust.

Lawmakers also carved out an exemption for Six Flags and other seasonal amusement park operators and, in response to pressure from the restaurant industry, changed the way that O’Malley proposed compensating tipped workers.... Tipped employees would have to be paid an hourly rate of $3.63 in addition to tips....

THE SENATE'S VERSION OF THE MINIMUM WAGE HIKE: In short, the House passed a $10.10 minimum wage to be phased in by 2017, but they removed advocates' "indexing" and tipped worker provisions, and they carved out an exemption for Six Flags. Tonight, the Maryland Senate settled on details of their version of the minimum wage bill and a final vote on the bill may happen tomorrow (SATURDAY). The Baltimore Sun reported on specifics within the Senate bill moving forward (excerpt below):

BALTIMORE SUN: Gov. Martin O'Malley's chief legislative priority to raise the minimum wage cleared another hurdle Friday as the Senate granted initial approval after a marathon debate. Lawmakers made 18 different attempts to redraft the proposal that incrementally raises pay for the state's lowest-earning workers from $7.25 to $10.10 by 2018.... the Senate could pass the measure as soon as Saturday....

The Senate created a "training wage" that allows employers to pay workers under 19 years old a lower rate for the first six months on the job. It also tied in the minimum wage increase to a hike in state pay for caregivers of the developmentally disabled, a plan that carries a $30 million price tag....

So the Senate's version of the minimum wage increase delays full implementation an extra year, compared to the House bill. Meanwhile, the exclusion of young workers is another twist in the narrative. Activists from the Raise Maryland coalition described the status of the minimum wage debate tonight (excerpt below):

RAISE MARYLAND: The Senate has completed the second reader of their version of the minimum wage bill, with one more scheduled for tomorrow (Saturday, April 5th). Unfortunately, their bill moved the phase-in period back so the minimum wage will not reach $10.10 until 2018, and it did not unfreeze the tipped minimum wage. However, this is still a big victory, given that advocates have been trying to raise Maryland's minimum wage since 2006. We look forward to both the Senate and House passing this bill right away!

Many of us are disappointed that the effort has been watered down, especially because removal of indexing means we will now be forced to fight for cost of living adjustments perpetually. But the context of the fight was happening in a seemingly polarized environment, as reported by WBAL (excerpt below):

WBAL: A marathon debate ensued in the Senate on Friday over the governor's minimum wage bill as time winds down before the close of the legislative session. They advanced the bill, paving the way for a rare Saturday voting session, giving both chambers just one day to find common ground.

An 11th-hour appeal arose as supporters of increasing the minimum wage formed a reception line to greet legislators entering the State House, urging them to get the bill on the governor's desk before the session ends midnight on Monday.

Liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans repeatedly tried to amend the legislation and for decidedly different reasons.... Liberal Democrats tried shorten the phase-in and tie future increases to the consumer price index, making a parallel to indexing the eventual elimination of the estate tax... The Senate is expected to take a final vote on the measure Saturday, but some wonder even then whether that's enough time to sort out differences before the session ends Monday....

Indeed, elimination of the tipped worker and indexing provisions is especially disappointing, but it seems these issues may have to return as advocacy efforts in future sessions.


JUICE #3: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE "HOUSE OF CARDS" HANDOUT, ESTATE TAX CUT, SECOND CHANCE ACT, TRANSGENDER BILL & MORE - A few bills of note were approved in recent weeks, and below we flag a few of the higher profile efforts:

TAXPAYER SUBSIDIES FOR THE "HOUSE OF CARDS" TV SERIES: The Washington Post reported last February that producers of the Netflix TV series "House of Cards" were demanding millions of dollars in taxpayer handouts, while threatening to move production out of state if their demands were not met. Actor Kevin Spacey himself even personally lobbied lawmakers for the welfare payment, and Delegate Bill Frick introduced an interesting amendment in response to the extortion. The Washington Post reported on the duel last week (excerpt below):

WASHINGTON POST: Members of the Maryland House of Delegates are still stewing over a threat from the “House of Cards” producers to leave the state if they don’t get millions more dollars in tax credits. So delegates have issued a threat of their own: Sure, go ahead, leave this beautiful place that’s brimming with dedicated workers. But if you do that, state officials might use eminent domain to purchase, condemn or somehow seize your sets, equipment and other property.

The threat was proposed Thursday afternoon by Del. C. William Frick (D-Montgomery) and quickly approved with barely any debate or even a roll-call vote. “I literally thought: What is an appropriate Frank Underwood response to a threat like this?” said Frick, referring to the Netflix drama’s lead character, a charming but conniving politician who murders, blackmails and threatens his way to greater power. “Eminent domain really struck me as the most dramatic response....  It’s a terrific show. I love it. You probably love it,” Frick said on the House floor. But, he added, the threatening letter that Media Rights Capital sent to Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) in January “went a little far....”

But alas, you can usually bet on the house to win, especially if the house in question involves industry lobbyists making lawmakers play "race-to-the-bottom" game theory. The Capital Gazette reported yesterday that legislators removed Frick's "eminent domain" provision from the House of Cards bill, and so Maryland taxpayers will be paying the producers over $18 million to subsidize taping of Season 3 (excerpt below):

CAPITAL GAZETTE: A General Assembly conference committee has done away with a budget provision that would have allowed Maryland to seize the property of the production company for the Netflix television series "House of Cards...."

"House of Cards" is on track to have taken more than $30 million in tax credits through fiscal 2016.... The Senate has passed Senate Bill 1051, which would ramp up funding for the film credit from $7.5 million to $18.5 million....

MARYLAND SECOND CHANCE ACT: A bill to allow nonviolent offenders to shield their records from public view after a few years has passed the House 87-49 and the Senate 43-4. But advocates at the Job Opportunities Task Force were hoping to revive some of the provisions that were amended out during the legislative process (excerpt below):

JOB OPPORTUNITIES TASK FORCE: While we are thrilled that the senate committee listened to all of your calls and emails urging them to resist adopting the harmful amendments from the house bill to the senate bill and pass a clean senate bill, a conviction for theft under $1000 was removed from the list of crimes eligible for shielding.  This means that over 50,000 Marylanders convicted of theft will be unable to shield their record....

SHACKLING OF PREGNANT INMATES : Advocates have been attempting to ban the shackling of pregnant inmates in Maryland in recent sessions. But according to a press release from the ACLU, the bill has finally passed this year (excerpt below):

ACLU: Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maryland celebrated passage of House Bill 27, the Healthy Births for Incarcerated Women Act, which would impose restrictions on the shackling of pregnant incarcerated women during labor, delivery, and post-partum recovery. Delegates Mary L. Washington (D-Baltimore City), Ariana B. Kelly (D-Montgomery), and Barbara Robinson (D-Baltimore City), supported by a strong coalition of organizations, introduced HB 27 to ensure that Maryland’s women have protections against this barbaric and dangerous practice. The bill, which passed unanimously, now goes to Governor Martin O’Malley, who will hopefully sign it....

TRANSGENDER NONDISCRIMINATION: We previously reported that an effort to protect transgender residents from discrimination finally passed the Maryland Senate this year. Last week Senate sponsor Rich Madaleno reported that the House of Delegates joined the upper chamber in approving the legislation (excerpt below):

RICH MADALENO: I am thrilled to report that just moments ago, the Maryland House of Delegates passed the Fairness for All Marylanders Act (Senate Bill 212) by a vote of 82-57.  Since the House passed the Senate bill without amendments, it now heads to Governor O’Malley for final approval.  When he signs this legislation, which I proudly sponsored, Maryland will be the 18th state in the nation – plus Washington, D.C. - to ensure equal civil rights protections for transgender persons....

TAX CUT FOR WEALTHY ESTATES: Liberal advocacy group Progressive Maryland has been fighting a cut to the state's estate tax for the wealthiest residents this year. But the organization reports that the State House and Senate approved the tax cut this session (excerpt below):

PROGRESSIVE MARYLAND: Governor Martin O'Malley must soon decide whether to sign or veto HB 739, one of the General Assembly's most misguided bills to gift Maryland's wealthiest 3% a wholly unwarranted major tax cut at the expense of the rest of us. As Dan Rodrick's recent column in the Baltimore Sun, With Democrats like these, who needs GOP?, explains:

"If Gov. Martin O'Malley signs it into law, the measure would raise the amount of an estate exempt from Maryland's tax from 1 million to nearly 6 million. The new exemption would cost the state more than 100 million in annual revenue by 2019, when it would fully take effect. Over the five-year phase-in, the loss to the state would be an estimated 431 million..."

This bill’s passage through the House and Senate is grossly ironic, given the struggles of so many families and recent disclosure that Maryland's in a budget hole that could place state employee pension funds on the chopping block. Politicians' arguments that Maryland isn’t competitive enough and that wealthy might move away if they don't cut this tax run counter to the facts....

MOCO SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION DOLLARS: Though lawmakers found funding to cut $431 million in taxes for wealthy estates and $18 million for Kevin Spacey's TV show, it appears that Montgomery County is not going to get increased funding for its overcrowded schools. The Gazette reported on the news Friday (excerpt below):

GAZETTE: Maryland has three days left in its legislative session and ... Montgomery County’s top priority for the session appears to be headed nowhere. The session ends at midnight Monday. Montgomery County has been pushing since the outset of the 90-day session in January to establish a dedicated program that would provide the county with school construction funding. As of Thursday, both proposals to do just that are mired in committees with no hope of advancing. Montgomery asked for up to $20 million in extra school construction matching funds from the state by way of either a capital grant or an application program....

GUEST POST: Progressive Maryland Sounds Off On Estate Tax Cut Proposal // By Kate Planco Waybright, Executive Director

Maryland Juice received the following guest post from Kate Planco Waybright, Executive Director of Progressive Maryland:

Maryland Progressives Lead Charge to Give Top 2% a Tax-Break 

on the Backs of Working Class Marylanders

KATE PLANCO WAYBRIGHT: Something smells fishy in Annapolis, and it’s not crab cakes. Unfortunately, some so-called progressive legislators (wait till you hear who!) have hopped on the Republican bandwagon—they are seeking to increase the Maryland estate tax exemption from the current level of $1 million to the federal level of $5.34 million. At a time when income inequality is one of the nation’s most discussed issues, a reduction in the estate tax fails to encourage a fair and progressive tax structure and will serve only the wealthiest Maryland citizens at the expense of hardworking middle and lower class families.

A just-released Baltimore Sun poll of 1200 registered voters likely to vote in the June primary show that a whopping 71% are concerned about the state budget deficit. At a time in which 594,000 Marylanders are still living in poverty, it is difficult to understand why any lawmaker—let alone one who bills him or herself as progressive—would cast a vote in support of cutting taxes on the wealthiest estates in Maryland, especially when such a measure will cost the state tens of millions each year. With a current estate tax exemption up to $1 million, less than 3% of estates are subject to the tax while nearly $90 million in revenues each year go to the state’s General Fund for core public services. These public services help provide a critical social safety net for our state’s most vulnerable citizens, and support our state’s investment in schools, job training, health care, public safety, infrastructure, clean energy, and so much more.

Senate President Mike Miller and Speaker of the House Mike Busch are the most enthusiastic about this move. They have sponsored bills in their respective chambers and lined up an impressive array of legislators as cosponsors. In the Senate, for instance, we have Montgomery County Sens. Jennie Forehand, Brian Feldman, Karen Montgomery, and Nancy King. Prince George’s County Sens. Joanne Bensen and Ulysses Currie. And Baltimore City Sens. Lisa Gladden, Nathaniel McFadden, and Catherine Pugh. That’s not the full list of Democrats adding their name to the proposal, either.

In the House, we have Montgomery County Delegates Jim Gilchrist, Ana Sol Gutierrez, Kathleen Dumais, Anne Kaiser, Ariana Kelly, Susan Lee, Aruna Miller, Lou Simmons, and Craig Zucker, plus a whole crop of Democrats from other parts of the state, including 2 attorney general candidates—Jon Cardin and Bill Frick. Full details on: SB602 & HB739.

Right above the lists of Democrats are these bills' fiscal notes, which say this:

The bill increases the value of the federal unified credit used in the calculation of Maryland estate taxes equal to an exclusion of $1.75 million for decedents dying in calendar 2014, $2.5 million in calendar 2015, and $3.5 million in calendar 2016. Beginning in 2017, the value of the credit will be equal to the amount of the federal exclusion allowed in the taxable year. As a result, general fund revenues decrease by $27.9 million in fiscal 2015, $58.6 million in fiscal 2016, $84.7 million in fiscal 2017, $121.9 million in fiscal 2018, and $137.7 million in fiscal 2019.

So, to review: Democrats in Maryland want to join Republicans in passing a tax break for the very wealthiest of Marylanders that will result in millions lost from our General Fund—more than $100 million in a few years. And to think—people say Maryland is so progressive. If that’s the case, what are these so-called progressives thinking?

Let me knock out some of the arguments I have heard. First, it’s important to note that while the estate tax is imposed on the transfer of the taxable estate of a deceased person, all property left to a surviving spouse, no matter the amount, is exempt from the estate tax. Second, you should be aware that the estate tax is not a duplicative tax, which some argue. Yes, Maryland has an inheritance tax—but inheritance taxes aren’t paid by the estate of the deceased, but by the inheritors of the estate. And the inheritance tax doesn’t apply to a direct beneficiary that includes a child, parent, step-parent, grandparent, spouse, sibling, other descendent, or a corporation if all stockholders are direct beneficiaries. That’s a pretty generous list.

Advocates for raising the exemption claim that wealthy, older Marylanders are leaving the state to avoid having their estates pay this tax, but arguments of tax migration are just a myth. Recent studies have confirmed Maryland’s distinction as the number one state for millionaires per capita. (The top six states in millionaires per capita in 2013 all have an estate tax!). In fact, a December report by the Maryland Dept. of Planning confirmed that people over 55 are the wealthiest segment of Marylanders, and that our state continues to gain wealthy residents in this age bracket.

Advocates also cite the burden on farms, but Maryland law protects family farms by exempting up to $5 million of unqualified agricultural property passing from a decedent to a family member who will continue to use the property for agricultural purposes for at least ten years. State law also limits the tax rate imposed and provides for a 3-year payment deferral for estate taxes on family farms.

So why would so-called progressive legislators in Maryland allow us to go in the wrong direction? Are they donning their George W. Bush masks because it’s an election year and they want to curry favor with conservatives? Do these legislators themselves have estates worth more than a million dollars? Do they feel it’s more important to ensure their wealthy constituents can hang onto every last penny of their millions than to take care of all Marylanders? 

Since 2010, six states have reinstated or increased their estate tax. Passage of this measure would be a grave injustice to the residents of the state of Maryland—helping the very few at the expense of many. Reducing taxes for the wealthy while robbing the state budget of funds that support programs that working families depend upon is just wrong. Progressive Maryland believes that a fair tax system asks all citizens to contribute to the cost of government services based on their ability to pay. We hope Maryland Juice readers will join us in opposing these efforts to increase the estate tax exemption for Maryland’s wealthiest citizens.

Please take a moment to send a message to your letters in opposition to these proposals:
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5206/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=9194

Kate Planco Waybright
Executive Director, Progressive Maryland

WHOA: Sen. Rob Garagiola to Resign from Office // PLUS: The Coming Battle for Majority Leader & An Open D15 Delegate Seat

Maryland Juice's Internet terminal started buzzing this evening with news that State Senator Rob Garagiola is resigning from his District 15 Seat and job as Majority Leader! The Washington Post's John Wagner has the scoop (excerpt below):

WASHINGTON POST: Maryland Senate Majority Leader Robert A. Garagiola (D-Montgomery), once among the state’s brightest young political stars, said Wednesday he plans to resign his seat this fall and has no plans to seek elected office....

Garagiola said he planned to leave the Senate when his term expires in January 2015 and more recently began thinking about stepping down sooner. His resignation will take effect Sept. 1.

The Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee will be tasked with recommending a replacement for Garagiola to Gov. Martin O’Malley (D). Several lawmakers and legislative aides suggested Del. Brian J. Feldman (D-Montgomery) would be the leading contender....

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? //  A SENATE BATTLE AND OPEN DELEGATE SEAT IN 2014 - The Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee (MCDCC) will nominate a replacement for the District 15 State Senate seat, subject to approval by Gov. O'Malley. Note that there is still one legislation session remaining in Garagiola's term, so his successor will need to be able to hit the ground running. The question then raised is whether the MCDCC will appoint a caretaker who promises not to run in 2014, or whether they appoint a sitting elected who then has a leg up on competition in 2014.

Another interesting dynamic here is that people of color, women and immigrant-based communities have been clamoring for greater representation in Democratic politics, and so that may be a factor in the appointment process. At some points in the past, the MCDCC has faced scrutiny for not recommending the appointment of women and racial/ethnic minorities for past high-profile vacancies. Either way, it is near certain that one of the sitting Delegates will either be appointed to the D15 Senate seat or will seek the office in 2014. That means we will not only have a Senate battle on our hands, but we can likely look forward to an open Delegate seat in District 15.


A NEW SENATE MAJORITY LEADER IS COMING SOON - The resignation of State Senator Garagiola also means that his post as Majority Leader will now be vacant. This too could lead to a showdown, as a large amount of pent up ambition in the Senate now has a rung on the ladder to fight for. Maryland Juice will be keeping his eyes on the coming showdown!


MEANWHILE IN BALTIMORE COUNTY //  SEN. BOBBY ZIRKIN RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION - This is old news by now, but since the make-up of the Senate Democratic Caucus will be changing, I thought it was worth printing that State Senator Bobby Zirkin is running for re-election. We previously printed rumors that he was thinking of retiring at the end of his term, but Catonsville Patch.com reported that he decided to stay put (excerpt below):

PATCH: Democratic State Sen. Bobby Zirkin is running for re-election in 2014 after all. Zirkin, in a text message to a reporter late Friday, write that he "officially filed for Senate today." The decision to run for a third term in the Maryland Senate comes a month after an interview in which he said he was considering leaving public office....

MORE ON THE D15 & SENATE MAJORITY LEADER BATTLES SOON!

UGH: MD Senate Approves Lockheed Handout // MEANWHILE: Key House Committee Quietly Cancels Steak Dinner w/ Lockheed

MARYLAND DEMOCRATS ARE BRUSHING ASIDE VOTERS TO APPROVE THE LOCKHEED MARTIN WELFARE PLAN - Maryland Juice has been tracking the scandalous efforts by our politicians to give Pentagon contractor Lockheed Martin millions of dollars of corporate welfare -- in exchange for nothing at all. Over the objections of the Montgomery County Council, state lawmakers are trying to force MoCo to exempt Lockheed (and Lockheed alone) from having to pay millions in lodging taxes. No other person or business in Maryland gets to avoid this tax -- but then again no other company has the chutzpah of Lockheed Martin (consistently rated tops in the nation for government contract abuse). Even worse, Lockheed is admitting that the Federal government already reimburses them for most or all of the lodging tax that they are now trying to avoid paying!

In these challenging budgetary times, the Lockheed handout would net the wildly profitable company $4.5 million from our taxpayers every ten years in perpetuity. This is the same Lockheed that a few months ago used 3.5 million taxpayer dollars to give their CEO a golden parachute after he was caught having an affair with a subordinate (excerpt via AmericaBlog):

AMERICA BLOG: A man who was being groomed to take over as CEO of Lockheed, the nation’s largest defense contractor, has been forced to resign shortly before taking office. The reason — he was having a long-term extramarital affair with a “subordinate employee." But that’s not the scandal — the scandal is that you, the taxpayer, will pony up $3.5 million as a parting gift (or maybe a “partying gift”) even though he resigned in disgrace....

Dozens of groups have called on Democratic lawmakers to shut down Lockheed Martin's corporate welfare plan, but it looks like the politicians still aren't getting the message.

ROLL CALL // LOCKHEED CORPORATE WELFARE PLAN PASSES STATE SENATE 37 TO 9 - Late Monday night, the State Senate finally held a long-delayed vote on the Lockheed Martin welfare plan, and our elected officials demonstrated a rare moment of bipartisanship to pass this massive corporate hackery by the overwhelming margin of 37 to 9. Here are the only nine State Senators who rejected this inherently ridiculous welfare handout:

1. Jim Brochin (Democrat)
2. Brian Frosh (Democrat)
3. Delores Kelley (Democrat)
4. Karen Montgomery (Democrat)
5. Anthony Muse (Democrat)
6. Paul Pinsky (Democrat)
7. Jamie Raskin (Democrat)
8. Bryan Simonaire (Republican)
9. Bobby Zirkin (Democrat)

A RARE MOMENT OF "BIPARTISANSHIP" FOR THE LOCKHEED HANDOUT - Amazingly, bipartisanship appears to be alive and well when it comes to corporate welfare. A bipartisan supermajority made up of 37 Senators voted to support this blind handout for Lockheed Martin (see their names here). The list includes all but one GOP member of the Senate, and 5 of the 8 State Senators from liberal Montgomery County. Maryland Juice has heard reports of intense lobbying from leadership figures and Lockheed Martin lobbyists in Annapolis, but I am disappointed that this sort of pro-forma pressure and institutional inertia actually works on our mostly able-minded Senators. Oy vey! 


BATTLE TO STOP LOCKHEED MARTIN HANDOUT MOVES TO HOUSE WAYS & MEANS COMMITTEE - Even though the Maryland Senate approved the Lockheed Martin welfare plan, voters still have several more opportunities to kill this proposal. The Lockheed bill (HB815) will now be debated in the House of Delegates Ways & Means Committee, where Montgomery County's Sheila Hixson serves as Committee Chair.  But the launch of the Lockheed effort in Hixson's committee was met with some early controversy....

HOUSE WAYS & MEANS MEMBERS QUIETLY CANCEL PRIVATE DINNER WITH LOCKHEED MARTIN LOBBYISTS AT RUTH'S CHRIS STEAK HOUSE - Amazingly, Lockheed Martin had planned a private dinner with the members of the House of Delegates Ways & Means Committee members only one day after the State Senate voted to send the Lockheed bill to the Ways & Means Committee. Indeed, Lockheed lobbyists had planned to ply the members of Sheila Hixson's committee with a lovely meal at Ruth's Chris Steak House in Annapolis. But someone apparently sensed that the public would go nuts about such shameless crony capitalism tactics, and the event was quickly and quietly canceled yesterday afternoon -- only 4.5 hours before the dinner was due to begin! Look at the leaked email below:

From: West, Nikki <Nikki.West@mlis.state.md.us>
Date: Tue, Mar 19, 2013 at 2:28 PM
Subject: Protocol Calendar Cancelation
To: Senate of Maryland <Senators@mlis.state.md.us>, MD House of Delegates <Delegates@mlis.state.md.us>

Good Afternoon,

Please note the following Cancelation in the Protocol Calendar.

TUESDAY, March 19, 2013 - 7:00 p.m.
Lockheed Martin and Ways & Means Committee Dinner
Ruth's Chris
(House W&M Committee)
Susan Bernard - (410) 974-9000
BY INVITATION ONLY

STOP THE LOCKHEED WELFARE BILL IN THE HOUSE WAYS & MEANS COMMITTEE - I know I can't be the only one who is sick and tired of this type of cynical corporate politics. Maryland Juice encourages readers to contact Delegate Hixson ASAP, along with the other members of the Ways & Means Committee. Notably, Delegate Hixson has the power as a committee Chair to simply kill this bill by herself:

Photo Source: Edward Kimmel

ACT NOW

[ TELL WAYS & MEANS CHAIR SHEILA HIXSON TO KILL THE LOCKHEED BILL ]

Below I've listed the email addresses for the 23 Delegates on Ways & Means. I've also flagged their political parties and highlighted in red the 7 committee members who are sponsoring the Lockheed welfare bill (see below):

MARYLAND HOUSE WAYS & MEANS COMMITTEE

1. Sheila Hixson (D Chair) - sheila.hixson@house.state.md.us
2. Frank Turner (D Vice-Chair) - frank.turner@house.state.md.us
3. Kathy Afzali (R) - kathy.afzali@house.state.md.us
4. Kumar Barve (D) - kumar.barve@house.state.md.us - LOCKHEED WELFARE SPONSOR
5. Joseph Boteler (R) - joseph.boteler@house.state.md.us
6. Talmadge Branch (D) - talmadge.branch@house.state.md.us
7. Jon Cardin (D) - jon.cardin@house.state.md.us - LOCKHEED WELFARE SPONSOR
8. Don Dwyer (R) - don.dwyer@house.state.md.us
9. Mark Fisher (R) - mark.fisher@house.state.md.us
10. Bill Frick (D) - bill.frick@house.state.md.us - LOCKHEED WELFARE SPONSOR
11. Ronald George (R) - ron.george@house.state.md.us
12. Nina Harper (D) - nina.harper@house.state.md.us
13. Carolyn Howard (D) - carolyn.howard@house.state.md.us
14. Jolene Ivey (D) - jolene.ivey@house.state.md.us - LOCKHEED WELFARE SPONSOR
15. Anne Kaiser (D) - anne.kaiser@house.state.md.us - LOCKHEED WELFARE SPONSOR
16. Eric Luedtke (D) - eric.luedtke@house.state.md.us - LOCKHEED WELFARE SPONSOR
17. Aruna Miller (D) - aruna.miller@house.state.md.us - LOCKHEED WELFARE SPONSOR
18. LeRoy Myers (R) - leroy.myers@house.state.md.us
19. Andrew Serafini (R) - andrew.serafini@house.state.md.us
20. Melvin Stukes (D) - melvin.stukes@house.state.md.us
21. Michael Summers (D) - michael.summers@house.state.md.us
22. Jay Walker (D) - jay.walker@house.state.md.us
23. Alonzo Washington (D) - alonzo.washington@house.state.md.us

CONTINGENCIES - If Sheila Hixson is unwilling to kill the Lockheed Welfare bill in the Ways & Means Committee, advocates will have to fight this unjust corporate handout on the House Floor. And if that fails, it is time to ask Governor O'Malley to break out his VETO sword!


MORE ON THE LOCKHEED MARTIN WELFARE SCANDAL SOON!


P.S. MARYLAND TAXPAYERS FUND A CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR LOBBYISTS & LAWMAKERS?  - The email copied above, which announced the cancellation of the Lockheed dinner, mentioned that the event was listed in a "protocol calendar." But as Maryland Juice has discovered, a "protocol calendar" is in reality a "lobbyist event calendar," plain and simple.

It turns out that our state tax dollars are spent on staff time for government employees to build and maintain this calendar of lobbyist events. Amazingly, the "protocol calendar" was apparently intended to bring transparency to the fact that these lobbyist-lawmaker mixers even occur. Fair enough, but it seems more and more like the calendar is actually facilitating the lobbyist contacts with legislators. Maybe lawmakers need to rename the "protocol calendar" with a less deceptive name (like "lobbyist event calendar") and proactively make sure they are actually seen by the public. If you're curious to see which industry lobbyists have been wining and dining your lawmakers, you can see two copies of protocol calendars from 2013. It looks like lawmakers have multiple options for lobbyist-paid meals practically every day of the legislative session!

Maryland Lobbyist Events - March 2013

Maryland Lobbyist Events - January 2013

Support for Lockheed Martin Corporate Welfare Sinking // They're Trying to Hoodwink Taxpayers Into Paying Them Twice

BACKGROUND: Earlier this week Maryland Juice cried foul over attempts by some lawmakers in Annapolis to give Pentagon weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin millions of dollars in corporate welfare. Lockheed has been claiming that a $100 million private hotel and conference center they built should be exempt from Montgomery County's lodging and hotel tax, even though every other visitor and conference attendee in MoCo must pay this lodging tax. Lockheed is headquartered in Montgomery County, but ironically so are the Marriott and Choice Hotels corporations. Over the objections of County Executive Ike Leggett, the County Council twice rejected this proposal, and did so again for a third time on Monday:



Below Maryland Juice provides several updates on the quickly exploding story, followed by a deconstruction of Lockheed's B.S. arguments:


LAWMAKERS RETREATING FROM LOCKHEED PROPOSAL (KIND OF) - The proposal to give Lockheed a handout has sparked outrage across Maryland and is now making national news. Meanwhile, some lawmakers are quietly tiptoeing away from the Lockheed handout.  Our sources in Annapolis indicate that though the bill was on the verge of passage in the State Senate earlier this week, Senators have delayed a final floor vote and are trying to pass a half-assed "compromise" with Lockheed Martin. Instead of giving Lockheed $1.8 million in handouts, plus $450,000 a year, Maryland lawmakers are now proposing to eliminate the $1.8 million cash payment and "only" give Lockheed $450,000 a year. This "compromise" is unacceptable, as it still amounts to Montgomery County paying Lockheed Martin $4.5 million every ten years. Aren't we struggling to find funding for the Purple Line, Corridor Cities Transitway and other transportation projects?


LOCKHEED MARTIN TRYING TO GET HOTEL TAXES REFUNDED TWICE - Notably, 82% of Lockheed's revenue already comes from taxpayer funding, and company lobbyists have admitted that they are already being reimbursed by the Feds for a very large percentage of the MoCo hotel tax! A May 4th County Council analyst memo includes an admission from Lockheed that they already get 50%-75% (or more?) of their hotel taxes reimbursed by the Feds (aka taxpayers):

LOCKHEED MARTIN: The CLE lodging tax is rolled into our overall corporate overhead costs and those costs are allocated to different businesses and to different contracts based on what the contracts are and what form they take -e.g., fixed-price, cost-plus, etc. In addition, different contracts have different cost reimbursement rates.... There is a range of reimbursement for contract costs, depending on the contract vehicle and what the Federal Government has agreed to reimburse. That range can vary greatly - for some contracts its 50%, for others it might be 75% -- it depends. The significant point is that we build corporate overhead costs into our contracts in advance when we seek to do business with our customers....

Lockheed Martin wants taxpayers to pay them THREE TIMES for this hotel tax. First, Lockheed's "customers" are government agencies funded by taxpayers. The Huffington Post noted last November that 82% of Lockheed's funding comes from taxpayers (excerpt below):

HUFFINGTON POST: [The] U.S. government is essentially Lockheed's only customer. Last year, a full 82 percent of their sales came from Uncle Sam directly while a good portion of the remaining 17 percent was funded by the federal government through our support for foreign military sales and local and state government security contracts. Put another way, nearly every penny that Lockheed earns comes directly from you and me.

Second, Lockheed (by their own admission) is already getting reimbursed by the Feds (aka taxpayers) for most of the MoCo hotel tax -- an outrage in itself. But it is simply incomprehensible that after all this free taxpayer money, Lockheed also wants Montgomery County to give them the same amount of money they've already been refunded by the Feds. In short, Lockheed Martin's lobbyists are trying to pull a fast one on Maryland lawmakers and clearly cannot be trusted.

Bethesda Now's poll on the Lockheed welfare plan

SENATORS PLANNING ON VOTING AGAINST LOCKHEED WELFARE PLAN - A bipartisan group of State Senators is planning on voting against the entire Lockheed Martin welfare proposal, including Jamie Raskin, Brian Frosh, Karen Montgomery, Paul Pinsky, Bobby Zirkin, Jim Brochin, Bryan Simonaire and more. But there are potentially more "no" votes for the Lockheed welfare plan in the Senate, given that in a vote last Friday, the group of Lockheed opponents listed above was joined by Senators Lisa Gladden, Barry Glassman, Nancy Jacobs, Allan Kittleman, Anthony Muse, E.J. Pipkin, Ed Reilly, Jim Rosapepe, and Norm Stone in trying to slow down the attempted shotgunning of the Lockheed bill through the legislative process.

Notably, State Senator Brian Frosh is running for Attorney General in 2014, and two of his Democratic Primary opponents (Del. Jon Cardin & Bill Frick) are sponsoring the Lockheed Welfare bill in the House. It seems clear that passage of the Lockheed Martin handout could become a serious political liability for candidates running for office in 2014. Notably, Lockheed's private hotel is located in Bethesda, Maryland, but the Bethesda Now website is running a poll on the topic, and it appears that the vast majority of readers view the welfare proposal negatively (see screenshot at right).


FOUR STEPS TO DEFEAT LOCKHEED'S CORPORATE WELFARE PLAN - If activists want to kill this bill for good, now is the time to act. The State Senate is due to vote on the measure again tomorrow (Wednesday), and if the bill is not killed, it will next head to the House of Delegates Ways & Means Committee. Advocates are planning a four-step process to kill this legislation:

• STEP 1:  Fight Lockheed on the Senate Floor [Contact Your Senators]
• STEP 2:  Fight Lockheed in House Ways & Means [Contact Committee Chair Sheila Hixson]
• STEP 3:  Fight Lockheed on the House Floor [Contact Your Delegates]
• STEP 4:  Urge Gov. Martin O'Malley to VETO Lockheed Welfare [Contact Gov. O'Malley]

NATIONAL MEDIA OUTLETS COVERING THE LOCKHEED WELFARE SCANDAL - Interest in Lockheed Martin's corporate welfare proposal has attracted interest from the national news media, including a pair of articles in The Huffington Post. The outlet's corporate welfare reporter Paul Blumenthal provided a quick snapshot of the rapidly escalating opposition to the Lockheed bill (excerpt below):

HUFFINGTON POST: In an age of budget cuts and hard choices, state lawmakers in Annapolis, Md., are pushing a benefit for the world's largest defense manufacturer that would lead to lower funding for other programs in one Maryland county....

On Monday, the Montgomery County Council voted to oppose the legislation. Lockheed Martin had previously tried and failed to push the tax exemption through the council: Once it was included in County Executive Ike Leggett's budget, and another time Leggett (D) attempted to use state grant money to reimburse the company for past paid taxes....

"There's simply no reason why everybody else who comes to Montgomery County for a conference or a training and stays overnight should pay the lodging tax, but not people who are staying at their conference and training center," state Sen. Jamie Raskin (D), who represents parts of Montgomery County, told HuffPost.

If the legislation is enacted, the county will need to find savings in its budget immediately, according to [Montgomery County Councilmember George] Leventhal. "It would be $1.8 or $1.4 million [in a onetime payment] and $450,000 every year that would not go to fund Head Start, day care, police, fire and all the other functions of government," Leventhal said....

Over the past year, Lockheed Martin has doled out $30,000 in campaign contributions to Maryland state political candidates and entities, including $1,000 to state Sen. Mike Miller and $500 each to state Sen. Robert Garagiola and Del. Bill Frick, all Democratic sponsors of the legislation. The largest contribution was a $25,000 donation to the Democratic State Central Committee of Maryland....

Huffington Post columnist Lawrence Wittner provided additional details on the Lockheed corporate welfare proposal (excerpt below):

HUFFINGTON POST: At this time of severe cutbacks in government funding for food stamps, early childhood education, and meals on wheels, some Maryland legislators are hard at work looking out for the welfare of one of the world's wealthiest corporations....

It should be noted that, when Lockheed Martin's employees stay at the hotel, the company can usually pass on the costs to the appropriate federal contract. Thus, in most cases, the federal government already compensates Lockheed Martin for any hotel tax it pays.

In 2012, Ike Leggett, the County Executive, spearheaded a new effort to subsidize Lockheed Martin by proposing that the corporation be given a no-strings "grant" of $900,000 to compensate it for the hotel taxes it paid in 2011 and 2012.... Ultimately, the County Council refused to allocate the grant to Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed Martin maintains that its conference hotel is a "private" facility, solely devoted to training its employees, and for this reason its guests should not have to pay the tax. And it is true that Lockheed Martin decides who can reside there.

But the 183-room hotel is not, in fact, limited to Lockheed Martin employees. It is available for contractors, vendors, and anyone else the company welcomes. For example, the business school of the University of Southern California held a conference there in October 2012, with attendees offered the option of staying at the hotel for $225 per night or finding their own accommodations. Benchmark Hospitality International, which manages the facility, advertises it online as "a private, full-service business-class lodging and conference center," with a sports bar, fitness facility, lounge, and other amenities....

LARGE COALITION OF ACTIVISTS MOBILIZING AGAINST LOCKHEED WELFARE PROPOSAL - Maryland's progressive activist community has sprung into action to try and stamp out the Lockheed Martin corporate welfare proposal. Last night, advocates fanned out and met with Maryland lawmakers urging them to kill the Lockheed handout, including members of Common Cause, Peace Action, SEIU, Progressive Maryland, Progressive Neighbors, the firefighters, teachers, police and more. Below you can see the flyer they were distributing in Annapolis:

FLYER: Coalition Forms to Oppose Lockheed Martin Corporate Welfare Plan

National activist groups are also beginning to weigh in on the Lockheed plan. The online civil liberties group RootsAction published an alert about the Maryland corporate welfare bill, noting Lockheed's recent and high-profile acts of corporate malfeasance (excerpt below):

ROOTSACTION: What's the world's biggest war profiteer to do if it already owns the federal government but is having trouble kicking around the local government of Montgomery County, Maryland, where it's headquartered?  Why, hire the state of Maryland to step in, of course....

The list of abuses by Lockheed Martin includes contract fraud, unfair business practices, kickbacks, mischarges, inflated costs, defective pricing, improper pricing, unlicensed exporting to foreign nations (Lockheed Martin sells weapons to governments of all sorts around the world), air and water pollution, fraud, bribery, federal election law violations, overbilling, radiation exposure, age discrimination, illegal transfer of information to China, falsification of testing records, embezzlement, racial discrimination, retaliation against whistleblowers, bid-rigging, and much more....

Lockheed not only funds Republicans and Democrats alike with over $3 million per election cycle, lobbies officials for another $30 million, hires former officials, and shapes corporate news, but Lockheed Martin also creates local panics by threatening to notify every one of its employees that they might be fired if U.S. war preparations spending doesn't continue to grow....

Lockheed Martin is based in suburban Washington, D.C., in Montgomery County, Md.  For years, Lockheed Martin and its friends at the Washington Post have been trying to get the local government to excuse the patrons of Lockheed Martin's luxury hotel from paying taxes.  Montgomery County is home to terrific peace activists who can, of course, get virtually nowhere with Congress, but who can make their voices heard locally.  This has frustrated Lockheed Martin no end.....

YOUR TAX DOLLARS USED TO BAIL OUT LOCKHEED MARTIN'S PENSION FUND - It is not surprising to Maryland Juice to see so many public employee unions opposing the Lockheed welfare plan. After all, many government employees have been facing pension cuts, stagnant pay and more, and lawmakers have been arguing this has been necessary to stave off budget problems. But Mother Jones noted that while public employees are losing their pensions, taxpayers continue to fund Lockheed Martin's pension shortfalls (excerpt below):

MOTHER JONES: Government contracts with megafirms like ... Lockheed Martin ... require Uncle Sam to reimburse the companies when their workers' pension funds take a hit in the market. Over the past five years, Lockheed has secured $3.1 billion in taxpayer dollars for pension reimbursements; that's a significant chunk of the $21.8 billion in operating profits they reported over that period.

These payments are all the more troubling since politicians from the left and the right (including President Obama) have targeted military veterans' retirement benefits in their cost-cutting zeal. But vets make a whole lot less than contractors.... Morgenson reports that the current value of the top five Lockheed Martin executives' benefits is around $40 million....

But federal pension payments to contractors are increasing at a furious clip. The reason: These companies made some really bad recession-era investments with their workers' retirement dollars, and a margin call is coming. The Times reports that Raytheon's pension fund was underfunded by $4 billion at the end of 2010. That's nothing compared with Lockheed, whose pension is a whopping $10.4 billion in the red, and "[a]s Lockheed contributes money to make up for this shortfall, the government will reimburse it..."

LOCKHEED'S PRIVATE HOTEL AND CONFERENCE CENTER IS OBVIOUSLY A "LODGING" FACILITY - So after all of the aforementioned arguments, the only claim that Lockheed has left in its arsenal is a very legalistic definition of whether their $100 million private hotel and conference center (built off the profits gleaned from taxpayers) qualifies as a hotel or lodging facility. The company claims that their Bethesda facility is not a hotel or lodging facility, but this argument doesn't pass the straight face test. Below, Maryland Juice provides a very humorous example of evidence that Hotel Lockheed is indeed a lodging facility in the plain English meaning of the term. Travel review website Tripadvisor.com rates the Lockheed hotel #11 out of 12 hotels in Bethesda, and former guests at Hotel Lockheed indicate that they have been forced to book their lodgings there, even when cheaper and more convenient hotels are available:

“Not bad for a prison.”

Reviewed December 18, 2010

24

people found this review helpful

Restricted web access, no facilities on the weekend (e.g. food, exercise, etc.). It's the greatest white-elephant Lockheed has thought up yet. Lucky LM employees who are forced to stay there even if other hotels are closer to their business needs, better, and a lot cheaper.

“Indoctrination into the cult of Lockheed Martin”

Reviewed May 8, 2011

28

people found this review helpful

I literally spit Coke on my keyboard when I read the "minimum security prison" review, and had to add my own thoughts. I was stuck at the CLE for 6 days of "indoctrination" and felt like I had just checked into a cult! If the prominent "architectural water feature" didn't give it away, the fact that you couldn't go 10 feet without seeing pictures of prisms and rainbows made it clear what I had gotten myself into.

The CLE is probably the most expensive hotel in the area. The food and staff are great, but I was itching to leave after 1 night. The internet is restricted so you can't upload iTunes or watch any type of streaming videos; the cable TV is company propaganda; hallways are video monitored for security (but don't even think about leaving your room unless you're in a collared shirt); the jogging trails close at 5pm and security will escort you back inside the building if you're out after dark; and there's absolutely no signs if civilization within this office park wasteland.

My advice: If you're stuck at the CLE, get takeout meals from the cafeteria and eat them in your room so you don't get sucked into socializing with the corporate drones. Use the quiet time after classes to update your resume so you can make your escape!

Room Tip: Do not show up unshaven!

These humorous entries are just the tip-of-the-iceberg when it comes to evidence that Lockheed's building in Bethesda is a "lodging" facility. Maryland Juice will be happy to debate Lockheed on this point anytime, anywhere.


MORE ON THE LOCKHEED WELFARE SCANDAL SOON!

Maryland Senate Approves Assault Weapons Ban & Other Gun Laws // ROLL CALL: See How Your State Senator Voted

GUN REGULATIONS PASS 28-19 // SEVEN DEMOCRATIC SENATORS JOINED GOP: Governor Martin O'Malley's assault weapons ban and stricter gun licensing requirements passed the Maryland Senate today. The Capital Gazette reported on the development (excerpt below):

CAPITAL GAZETTE: The Maryland Senate passed Gov. Martin O'Malley's comprehensive gun control plan on Thursday. After more than four hours of debate this morning, the Senate voted 28-19 to pass Senate Bill 281, the Firearm Safety Act of 2013. If it passes the House, the bill would ban the sale of most assault weapons, require gun buyers to provide fingerprints and make it harder for people with mental illnesses to buy guns.

Thousands are expected to come to Annapolis when the House Judiciary and Health and Government Operations committees are scheduled to hear the legislation at 1 p.m. Friday. The bill has 38 sponsors in the House.

Below, Maryland Juice provides the roll call vote in the Maryland Senate. We highlight in "blue" the seven Democratic Senators who joined the GOP in opposing the gun laws:

VOTED FOR ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN & GUN LICENSING REQUIREMENTS

1. Joanne Benson
2. Jim Brochin
3. Joan Carter Conway
4. Ulysses Currie
5. Bill Ferguson
6. Jennie Forehand
7. Brian Frosh
8. Rob Garagiola
9. Lisa Gladden
10. Verna Jones-Rodwell
11. Ed Kasemeyer
12. Delores Kelley
13. Nancy King
14. Rich Madaleno
15. Roger Manno
16. Nate McFadden
17. Mike Miller
18. Karen Montgomery 
19. Anthony Muse
20. Douglas J.J. Peters
21. Paul Pinsky
22. Catherine Pugh
23. Victor Ramirez
24. Jamie Raskin
25. Jim Robey
26. Jim Rosapepe
27. Ron Young
28. Bobby Zirkin

VOTED AGAINST ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN & GUN LICENSING REQUIREMENTS

1. John Astle (D)
2. David Brinkley 
3. Richard Colburn 
4. Ed Degrange (D)
5. Roy Dyson (D)
6. George Edwards
7. Joseph Getty
8. Barry Glassman
9. Nancy Jacobs
10. J.B. Jennings
11. Allan Kittleman
12. Katherine Klausmeier (D)
13. Jim Mathias (D)
14. Mac Middleton (D)
15. E.J. Pipkin
16. Ed Reilly
17. Chris Shank
18. Bryan Simonaire
19. Norm Stone (D)

UPDATE: Maryland Death Penalty Repeal Faces Full Senate Vote Tuesday // Senate "Judiciary" Committee Approved Bill 6 to 5

UPDATE: The Maryland Senate's Judicial Proceedings Committee did indeed approve death penalty repeal legislation last night, in a 6-5 vote. As predicted, Sen. Bobby Zirkin joined his Democratic colleagues Jennie Forehand, Brian Frosh, Lisa Gladden, Anthony Muse, and Jamie Raskin in supporting repeal.

Also as predicted, Democratic Senators Norm Stone and Jim Brochin joined the three Republican Senators in opposing death penalty repeal. According to Maryland Citizens Against State Executions (MD CASE), the measure now heads to the full Senate for a vote on Tuesday. Here are a couple Tweets reporting on the big news:

STEP TWO: Let's gear up to pass death penalty repeal on the Senate Floor without amendments:

[ CONTACT YOUR STATE SENATORS ]

ROLL CALL: Maryland Senate Approves Gambling Referendum 28-14 // PLUS: Full Scan of Gay & Lesbian Anti-Gambling Mailer

JUICE #1 - SENATE APPROVES GAMBLING WITH 28-14 VOTE: Early last night, Maryland Juice received word (from Twitter) that a majority of the State Senate voted to approve a November referendum on gambling:

ROLL CALL DETAILS: The measure will head to the House of Delegates next week, where the outcome is far less certain than in the upper chamber, where Senate President Mike Miller has made gaming a legislative priority. The Washington Post's John Wagner published the roll call for how Maryland Senators voted. Though the vote was by no means a party-line battle, most of the "yes" votes came from Democrats. We highlight the "no" votes below, but check out The Washington Post article to see the full roster.

DEMOCRATIC VOTES AGAINST GAMBLING

1. Jim Brochin
2. Ed DeGrange
3. Roy Dyson
4. Brian Frosh
5. Karen Montgomery
6. Anthony Muse
7. Paul Pinsky
8. Jamie Raskin

REPUBLICAN VOTES AGAINST GAMBLING

1. Barry Glassman
2. Nancy Jacobs
3. Allan Kittleman
4. E.J. Pipkin
5. Ed Reilly
6. Bryan Simonaire

OTHER (ie: NO VOTE RECORDED)

1. John Astle
2. Lisa Gladden
3. Delores Kelley
4. Victor Ramirez
5. Chris Shank

JUICE #2 - FULL SCAN OF LGBT ANTI-GAMBLING MAILER: Meanwhile, yesterday Maryland Juice published news of a direct mail piece opposing the gambling effort, that was being mailed by the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Action Fund. We only had a partial scan of the piece to look at, but it turns out Maryland Juice received a copy of the mail piece at our new Silver Spring/Takoma Park war room. Maryland Juice also receives word that the piece was mailed as far as the Eastern Shore. We provide a full scan of the anti-gambling mail piece below, along with the following intriguing commentary from BuzzFeed, the blog that broke the story (excerpt below):

BUZZFEED: The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force structured an anti-gambling campaign in Maryland so it wouldn't have to disclose which donors are underwriting the effort.

The group established an independent expenditure committee this week, rather than a standard political action committee, to fund its mailer opposing an effort to put a measure for expanded gambling on the ballot this fall....

See a full scan of the direct mail piece below:

National Gay & Lesbian Task Force's Maryland Anti-Gambling Mailer

ROLL CALL: Maryland Senators & Delegates Vote on Income Tax Hike & More // Increase on Top 16% To Avoid Doomsday Budget

UPDATE: We added some House roll call information below.


BACKGROUND: On Monday, Maryland Juice appeared on News Channel 8 with former Sen. David Harrington to discuss this week's special legislative session in Annapolis. We noted that House and Senate leaders had secured the votes to pass a budget and revenue package, and that they had done so prior to Monday's start of the session. As a result, we expected to see legislators avoid the "Doomsday Budget" and approve a 0.25% income tax increase on the top 16% of earners (ie: individuals making over $100,000 and couples making over $150,000).

Yesterday, a majority of Maryland lawmakers made this prediction a reality. Below we print information on how legislators voted on the three pieces of legislation discussed in the special session: 1. budget (SB 1301/HB 1801), 2. tax & revenue (SB 1302/HB 1802), 3. school bonds (SB 1303/HB 1803). We start with a quick video message from Governor Martin O'Malley regarding the income tax hike. The video below is from WBAL:

CHAOS: Maryland Budget Stalemate Unfolds on Twitter // Doomsday Cuts Unless O'Malley Intervenes to Extend Session

UPDATE: According to remarks that appeared in The Baltimore Sun, Governor O'Malley plans on calling a special session -- but not before House and Senate leaders have come to an actual agreement.

Chaos unfolded as we crossed past midnight last night, on what was supposed to be the last day of Maryland's 2012 legislative session. Below we highlight comments from various politicos on Twitter that were made as the drama unfolded.

Notably, the Maryland General Assembly adjourned without a complete budget package. Most observers could not remember the last time this had happened. As a result of the budget stalemate, Maryland will lapse into a "doomsday budget" with massive education cuts, unless Governor Martin O'Malley intervenes and calls for a special legislative session. Below we highlight a few points of conflict between the House and Senate, and we flag a few interesting subplots and moments from yesterday's contentious legislative session. We kick off the post with a brief summary of what went down from an article today at Maryland Reporter (excepts below):

MARYLAND REPORTER: The members of the General Assembly passed a $35.6 billion balanced budget as they were required to do by midnight Monday. But without the income tax hike they failed to enact, it is the doomsday budget that contains $512 million in additional cuts, much of it to education.

A clearly angry Gov. Martin O’Malley told reporters the General Assembly failed to protect the priorities that state voters expected them to do. But in a brief press conference, he did not announce he would call a special session, as the Senate and House leaders expect him to do.

“There was 90 days to work all this out,” O’Malley said as he walked away....

The cuts include over $200 million to K-12 education and $63 million to colleges and universities. State employees would not get a 2% cost of living increase ($33 million) and agency operating expenses would be cut 8%.

The article at Maryland Reporter also highlights some of the key points of contention between the House and the Senate:

O’Malley and House Speaker Michael Busch both blamed Senate President Mike Miller’s insistence on a gaming measure for Prince George’s County for holding up action. But others, including delegates and senators on the conference committee, said the hard philosophical positions on both sides played a role....

The gaming bill, which passed the House Ways and Means Committee Monday afternoon, never came to the House floor.

The House never brought up the tax hike that the House and Senate negotiators agreed to around 8 p.m. An unhappy group of senators had given into adamant delegates over the form of income tax hikes.

The House version raised less money than the Senate, increasing rates by .25% on individuals making more than $100,000 and lowering their exemptions....

“We did the best we could,” Miller said. He admitted that there would be many constituents that would be happy about the drastic budget cuts.

FINGER-POINTING: Throughout yesterday, Maryland Juice was hearing rumblings from folks in Annapolis about the House and Senate spats. Each side was pointing fingers at the other, and at times things got heated. Take a look at the following photo posted on Twitter by The Washington Post's Aaron Davis yesterday. The image shows members of the Maryland House testily waiting for negotiators from the Senate to resume negotiations:

The Washington Times earlier in the day had coverage that highlighted sources of friction between the House and the Senate. They confirm some of the points in the Maryland Reporter coverage and also provide specificity about some budget items:

WASHINGTON TIMES: The House and Senate are locked in a standoff on the final scheduled day of the 2012 General Assembly, as leaders of both chambers have yet to compromise on a set of tax increases as part of the state’s budget....

The chambers have agreed to raise income-tax rates and lower the value of personal exemptions on single residents making more than $100,000 and couples making more than $150,000 but are divided on whether to also lower exemption values for residents who earn below those thresholds.

The Senate wants to lower the value of personal exemptions from $3,200 to $3,000 for earners below the mark, but the House is intent on making sure that no tax increases affect residents making less than six figures a year....

Either chamber’s proposal would produce a balanced budget, but Senate members argued larger revenue increases are needed to prevent further tax hikes in the near future....

Negotiators have resolved most other aspects of the state budget package, but talks took a more adversarial tone Monday as Senate leaders argued they have made all the compromises thus far and that the House refuses to reciprocate.

House leaders accused the Senate of intentionally holding up the budget to pressure the House into passing a gambling bill that could bring table games to the state and a casino to Prince George’s County.

THREE O'MALLEY PRESS CONFERENCES: You can see Governor O'Malley's displeasure with this situation as it grows throughout the day, by looking at three back-to-back press conferences he held. Maryland Reporter posted a video of the Governor speaking after the close of the legislative session, while the Patch published two video of Mr. O'Malley speaking to the press before the close of session. See the three videos below. We start with Governor O'Malley's comments made after the meltdown emerged. In blistering comments (see the first video), he stated:

GOVERNOR O'MALLEY: I have to tell you that sadly we did not protect the priorities of public education this session, like we should have, like we could have -- as we had the ability to do -- and we didn't protect affordable college. I'm going to talk to the Speaker, and I'm going to talk to the Senate President. There was 90 days to work all of this out. 

O'MALLEY AFTER CLOSE OF SESSION (MD Reporter)

O'MALLEY ONE HOUR BEFORE CLOSE OF SESSION (Patch)

O'MALLEY ELEVEN HOURS BEFORE CLOSE OF SESSION (Patch)



TWITTER DRAMA: Much of the drama could be seen unfolding throughout the day on Twitter. Below, Maryland Juice provides screencaps of an array of tweets that were sent by politicos during the budget battle. Our panel of conscripted Tweeters includes Washington Post reporter Aaron Davis, Examiner reporter Ben Giles, the Real Prince George's blog, Democratic Delegates Jill Carter and Ariana Kelly, Republican Delegate Justin Ready, Democratic Senator Rich Madaleno, and Governor Martin O'Malley. View a snapshot of the craziness below:

PRINCE GEORGE'S GAMBLING TAKES SPOTLIGHT

MID-AFTERNOON HOUSE AND SENATE STANDOFF

A FAILED ATTEMPT TO EXTEND THE LEGISLATIVE SESSION

SESSION ENDS & DOOMSDAY BUDGET KICKS IN