www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-voter-id-20110214,0,2854887.story
The Baltimore Sun editorial board does a great job detailing the myth of voter fraud in Maryland and points out that it is about voter suppression, not voter fraud.
www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-voter-id-20110214,0,2854887.story
The Baltimore Sun editorial board does a great job detailing the myth of voter fraud in Maryland and points out that it is about voter suppression, not voter fraud.
www.hometownannapolis.com/news/top/2011/02/10-46/Maryland-schools-lead-nation-in-AP-scores.html
Maryland ranked top in the nation for student performance on Advanced Placement (AP) Tests for the third year in a row, according to the College Board. 26.4% of Maryland graduates receive a 3 or higher on AP tests.
This new ranking follows the annual Education Week assessment of public school system’s around the country, which also ranked Maryland schools #1 for the third year in a row.
Maryland also led the nation in African-American student performance on AP tests. 9.9% of all successful AP graduates are African-American, a 3.4% increase over last year.
The State has doubled the amount of investment in the State’s K-12 education system since the passage of Bridge to Excellence in 2003, bringing education spending to a total of $5.7 billion proposed for FY12.
Governor Martin O'Malley gets a great review on his Legislative Agenda from Allan Lichtman at The Gazette.
http://www.gazette.net/stories/01282011/policol183540_32541.php
Bad for business?
Our view: Maryland gets criticized for its taxes and regulations, but it nonetheless led the nation in job gains last month
Marylanders would have every right to be confused by the most recent figures from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. For years they've been hearing from business groups and conservatives that the Old Line State seems hell bent on killing jobs. If it's not a complaint about environmental or labor regulations, it's a cry that excessive taxes of one kind or another would drive all businesses across the border to Virginia. The governor's feud with Constellation Energy would scare off businesses from relocating here; corporate taxes and millionaires taxes would send existing companies packing; and cigarette taxes would ensure that we have no convenience stores within an hour's drive of the state line. Maryland, naysayers are quick to note, comes in at 45th in the Tax Foundation's most recent rankings of business friendliness.
How, then, do you explain a gain of 38,000 jobs in one month? That marked the largest job gain of any state in the U.S., one-fifth of the national total, and the second largest one-month gain in the 70-year history of state employment statistics.
Clearly, there must be a catch. Some have suggested that we didn't really gain all those jobs, it's just that the snowstorms in February made it look like we had lost more jobs than we did, and this just amounted to an evening-out. Maybe, but we lost fewer than 13,000 jobs in February. Even if we assume all of that was "Snowmageddon"-related, Maryland would still have had the biggest jobs gain in the nation this month. The same cannot be said of Nos. 2 and 3 on the job gain list, Virginia and Pennsylvania. Our neighbors to the north lost 15,200 jobs in February and gained 22,600 in March, for a net gain of just 6,600 jobs on an employment base that's more than twice as large as Maryland's. Virginia lost 31,400 jobs in February but only gained back 24,500 in March.
Maybe it was all government sector hiring? Nope. Maryland gained fewer than 5,000 government jobs in March. Virginia, for those keeping score at home, grew its government sector by about the same amount. And even if some of it was government sector hiring, so what? Those who criticize Maryland's business climate like to pooh-pooh government sector jobs, as if they don't count because we get them simply by virtue of our proximity to Washington. By this same logic, perhaps we should discount all the jobs related to Hawaii's tourism industry because of its proximity to gorgeous views of the Pacific, or Florida's agriculture industry because of its proximity to the sun. Texas has oil, and Maryland has the federal government; either of us would be fools not to take advantage of it.
And Maryland has. Successful efforts to steer the federal base realignment process will bring thousands of new military jobs to the state — and many times that in related industries and support services. The first jobs from BRAC, as the realignment is known, aren't due to arrive in Maryland until the fall, but their effect is already being felt. Robert O.C. "Rocky" Worcester, the president emeritus of Maryland Business for Responsive Government and a longtime critic of Maryland's business climate, admits to catching a bit of the BRAC fever himself. "I went to Harford County for a meeting with businesses, and I've never seen 250 people drooling all at the same time," he says. "They are definitely standing at the ready for the largesse to hit."
Kathleen T. Snyder, the president of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, says she was taken aback by the size of Maryland's job gain in March but not by the fact that things are looking up. She says small businesses in particular see a light at the end of the recession tunnel and are looking to start hiring again in the coming months. "In going around the state and talking to small businesses, there has been a different sense of some optimism," she says. "I hear my businesspeople saying Maryland is going to come out of the recession faster than others."
If you look at the world through the eyes of the Tax Foundation, that would be hard to believe. But if all it took to generate jobs was a lower tax rate, it would be hard to explain why Maryland has, throughout this recession, lost a smaller percentage of its job base than the nation as a whole or even than Virginia, the state to which we are most often unfavorably compared. If all that mattered was that Maryland's corporate tax rate is 8.25 percent and Virginia's is 6 percent, it would be hard to explain why Maryland is still in the running for the headquarters of Northrop Grumman, the aerospace firm that's looking to relocate to this region.
Our highly educated work force, generally good public schools, research universities, well-planned communities, open spaces and functional transportation network count for something, too. The Tax Foundation says we're 45th, but Forbes, which considers factors beyond tax rates, ranks our business climate 12th, ahead of Delaware and Pennsylvania (but, admittedly, behind Virginia, which comes in at No. 1).
March's stellar job figures certainly aren't enough to declare the recession in Maryland over; after all, one month a trend does not make. But the idea that Maryland could lead the nation in employment gains shouldn't be a shock, either. The gains posted last month across a wide variety of industries suggest that as the economy turns around, Maryland businesses are fully prepared to take advantage of it.
Six companies apply for new Maryland job creation tax credit
Baltimore Business Journal - by Gary Haber Staff
Gov. Martin O'Malley visited Web security firm Cyber Point on Friday.
View Larger Gov. Martin O’Malley visited the Inner Harbor offices of a fast-growing cybersecurity firm Friday to urge companies to apply for the state’s new job-creation tax credit.
As of Friday, six companies, looking to add 30 new workers to their payrolls, have applied for the credit since the program went into effect March 25, state officials said. That was the day O’Malley signed legislation creating the $5,000-per-employee Job Creation and Recovery tax credit for companies that hire unemployed Marylanders.
The legislation sets aside $20 million in state funding for the program at a time when Maryland’s unemployment rate has been rising. It reached 7.7 percent in February.
“It’s our hope that the credit will accelerate the hiring of 4,000 people in our state off the unemployment rolls,” O’Malley said during his visit to CyberPoint International. O’Malley was joined on his tour of the company by Alexander M. Sanchez, secretary of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, and Christian S. Johansson, secretary of the Department of Business and Economic Development.
“We want to encourage companies on the verge of hiring someone to take that step now,” Johansson said of the tax credit program.
CyberPoint is an example of the kind of fast-growing employer state officials hope to be able to convince to add more workers through the jobs-creation tax credit. The company helps other firms protect their information technology and data.
CEO Karl Gumtow, said he started the company with three workers, including himself and his wife, in October, working out of his Baltimore condominium. Since then, the company has grown to 21 employees and moved to an office building overlooking the Inner Harbor, where it occupies an entire floor. Gumtow said he expects CyberPoint to grow to 100 employees within two years. A tax credit for creating new jobs could help in the company’s expansion, he said.
O’Malley also addressed briefly the status of the Maryland’s effort to attract the corporate headquarters of Northrop Grumman. The governor, in response to a reporter’s question, said the aerospace and defense contractor has narrowed its search to two sites, one in Maryland and one in Virginia. O’Malley declined to identify the sites although he described the Maryland location as a "nice campus site."
Maryland has been putting on a full-court press in its effort to lure Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC) and its 300 headquarters employees from Los Angeles. That effort has included enlisting Constellation Energy Group Inc. CEO Mayo A. Shattuck III and other prominent members of Maryland’s business community to contact Northrop Grumman officials to pitch the state.
Our View: Stronger laws to protect kids
Momentum building as Senate considers sex
offender bills
March 26, 2010
Maryland's House of Delegates did good work this past week in passing no fewer than eight pieces of
legislation that are designed to protect children from convicted sexual offenders. The bills now before the state Senate include measures that more clearly define offenses that present a danger to the community as well as more stringent sentencing guidelines or mandates. The need for better state laws that deal with child sex offenders was made abundantly clear during the Christmas holiday, when 11-year-old Sarah Foxwell was abducted from her bedroom and murdered by a convicted sexual offender who was not at the time incarcerated.
It is now up to the Maryland Senate to approve these measures. They need to be enacted as a passage -- although certainly not without discussion, debate and full understanding on the part of lawmakers --because provisions in some bills may be significantly weakened if certain companion bills are also enacted.
One of the bills, House Bill 1046, sponsored by Delegate Norm Conway, D-38B, Wicomico, would require a judge, not a District Court commissioner, be responsible for authorizing or denying pretrial release of a registered sex offender. But without companion legislation to make pertinent information about the defendant available, some offenders who pose a threat to the community could be erroneously released pending trial. Therefore, under this bill, someone accused --but not convicted -- of sexually assaulting a minor child could be held until trial if deemed by a judge to pose a threat to the community.
Eight bills have moved from House to Senate; they include provisions to disallow time off for "good behavior" on the part of inmates convicted of specific sexual crimes against children. Thus, someone convicted of molesting children under a certain age would no longer be able to earn an early release. Other provisions provide a longer period of monitoring for certain offenders, as well as adding restrictions on where they may work, live or loiter.
Provisions of the various bills include more clearly defining criminal acts that indicate a true threat, as opposed to offenses that, while clearly in violation of the law, do not necessarily pose a threat to innocent children (such as consensual acts between teenagers of certain ages).
We hope the Senate will continue the good work started by the House of Delegates, with a goal of better protecting our children.
HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE PASSES
PACKAGE OF TOUGHER SEX OFFENDER LAWS
ANNAPOLIS, MD – The House Judiciary Committee passed bills incorporating over a dozen pieces of legislation to strengthen Maryland laws against sex offenders today. With each bill receiving unanimous, bipartisan approval from the Committee, seven sex offender bills will now go to the floor of the House of Delegates for approval.
“Our top priority in Annapolis is to protect Maryland children and families from predators,” said Speaker Michael E. Busch. “As a father of two daughters, I am pleased that the legislature continues to take a tough stance against child molesters and sex offenders. I applaud the Judiciary Committee for their substantive stand against these criminals.”
Over the past four years, the legislature has provided several new tools to help law enforcement prosecute violent sex offenders. During the 2006 special session, the legislature passed Jessica’s Law, which requires a 25 year mandatory minimum sentence for first degree rape and sex offenses. In 2007, the legislature eliminated the possibility of parole for Jessica’s Law offenders. That same year, the legislature passed a law requiring court-ordered mental health assessments of sex offenders convicted of sexual abuse against a minor. In 2008, Governor Martin O’Malley and the legislature followed implementation of Jessica’s Law with a bill requiring the collection of DNA on arrest for any crime of violence or felony burglary. Over 24,000 DNA samples have been eliminated from the State’s backlog and, as a result, over 100 sex offenders have been arrested.
“Over the past four years, this Committee has worked to strengthen laws to protect the most vulnerable Marylanders – our children,” said Judiciary Chairman Joseph F. Vallario, Jr. “Today’s work represents a strong bipartisan effort to crack down on people who prey on our children and hopefully avoid tragedies like that which occurred on the Eastern Shore last year.”
The House Judiciary Committee today approved:
• House Bill 936 (sponsored by the O’Malley Administration) brings Maryland into compliance with the federal Adam Walsh Act. The bill was amended to also requires homeless sex offenders, sex offenders convicted of indecent exposure and possessors of child pornography offenders who repeatedly abuse children under the age of 14 to register on the Maryland Sex Offender Registry. The bill expands information posted on the Maryland Sex Offender registry to include places of employment, other residences and a plain language description of the crime. The legislation now includes individual bills sponsored by Delegates Simmons, McConkey, Mathias, Conway, Frank and Hecht.
• House Bill 473 (sponsored by the O’Malley Administration) Requires lifetime supervision of serious and repeat sex offenders after completing their original sentence. Lifetime supervision could include GPS monitoring, requiring ongoing polygraphs, restricting an offender’s movement to their place of work and home etc. The bill was amended to also subject juvenile sexual offenders to extended supervision, a separate bill sponsored by Delegate Dumais.
• House Bill 931 (sponsored by the O’Malley Administration) reconstitutes the Sex Offender Advisory Board in order to make recommendations on how to best manage sex offenders and protect the public from them.
• House Bill 289 (sponsored by Delegate Smigiel) eliminates diminution credits for an offender convicted of first and second degree rape and first and second degree sex offense against a child under the age of consent (16 years old). HB 864, sponsored by Delegate McDonough, Jessica’s Law Part II – Truth In Sentencing, is included in this amended bill.
• House Bill 599 (sponsored by Delegate Olszewski) eliminates diminution credits for repeat third degree sex offenders, whose victims are children under the age of consent (16 years old).
• House Bill 1046 (sponsored by Delegate Conway) requires a judge, instead of a district court commissioner, to determine whether a registered sex offender arrested for any crime is entitled to pretrial release and creates a rebuttable presumption that the registered sex offender poses a danger to the community. The legislation also requires that a criminal rap sheet include documentation that someone is a registered sex offender or if they have had extended supervision.
• House Bill 1053 (sponsored by Delegates Simmons and Stifler) further strengthens the State’s prohibition against possessing or promoting child pornography.
The bills will be on the floor of the House of Delegates for debate Tuesday, March 16th and a final vote is expected on Thursday, March 18, 2010.
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The Baltimore Sun editorial page has offered a ringing endorsement of Speaker's Busch's Safe Schools Act of 2010 to prevent gang violence and recruitment in our schools.
The link above is to a Baltimore Sun article detailing the General Assembly's efforts to crack down on gangs in Maryland and provide intervention and assistance to kids who are at risk of joining a gang. Speaker Busch, along with prosecutors, educators and police from across the state of Maryland testified on the Speaker's Safe Schools Act of 2010 and other anti-gang legislation yesterday in the General Assembly.
There are 600 active gangs with about 11,400 members in Maryland and they have a presence in every county in the State.
The link above is to a Baltimore Sun article by Annie Linsky about the recent Republican proposed budget cuts.
The Maryland House Republican Caucus and two Maryland Republican Senators brought their plan for budget cuts to a joint hearing of the House Appropriations and Senate Budget and Taxation Committees. They were asked to bring the roughly $2.5 billion in cuts that they had so passionately advocated for at the Spending Affordability Commission in the fall.
The House Republicans came up with $829.6 million in cuts that included drastic reductions in education spending, a $100 million cut to Baltimore City's Highway User funds, the elimination of the Chesapeake Bay 2010 Fund and cutting 1500 more state jobs.
The House Appropriations Committee will continue to examine these cuts and others and will continue to work with the Republican Minority to again craft a balanced budget that protects our priorities.