Thank you all for coming this morning. I especially want to thank our Baltimore County Senators and Delegates who have joined us today; many of your colleagues are out of town, and I know you have just finished a grueling 90-day session, and I appreciate your taking the time to come.
We have a special guest this morning: one of the two longest-serving Senate Presidents in the United States, Mike Miller. I want to thank President Miller for his support of Baltimore County this session. Many of the successful initiatives that we will celebrate this morning, would not have been achieved without his help and support. Hurricane Isabel relief, funding for Maryland schools, protecting our utility tax grants, supporting our bond bills, President Miller was a strong ally for Baltimore County. I thank him for his leadership and support. In a few minutes, I'm going to ask him to say a few words, and we have a couple of little surprises for him.
Although House Speaker Mike Busch couldn't be here this morning, I would like to thank him as well. He made obtaining state help for our Hurricane Isabel victims part of the House Leadership legislative package this year, and the enactment of House Bill Three is providing some badly needed financial assistance for many families. Like President Miller, the Speaker also provided me with counsel and assistance this session, and on behalf of all the citizens of Baltimore County, I thank him.
The leaders and members of the Baltimore County delegation did a great job this session. We are privileged to have the House Speaker Pro Tem, Adrienne Jones, in our County delegation. In her leadership position and her new position as chair of the Capital Budget Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, she played a key role in helping us all achieve many goals in Annapolis. We are also privileged to have in our County delegation, the Chair of the Capital Budget Subcommittee in the Senate, Ed Kasemeyer. Senator Kasemeyer assisted us with a number of challenging budget issues and we are grateful for his counsel and his hard work. Senator Paula Hollinger chairs one of the four standing committees in the Senate, and we have all benefited from her strong leadership. Finally, our County Delegation chairs, Senator Norman Stone and Delegate Sonny Minnick, have helped our delegation work through a challenging and often contentious session to keep Baltimore County moving forward.
We began this General Assembly session in January knowing that the state faced daunting budget issues, but also knowing that the citizens of Baltimore County were counting on us to meet the needs of our communities without increasing the burden on our taxpayers. Baltimore County does face some challenges because of cuts in State funding, but the General Assembly restored some budget cuts that were originally proposed by the Governor, and our delegation helped us protect some of our highest priorities.
One of our most important goals this year was to secure more state funding for our public schools. I am pleased that the Governor provided full Thornton funding for public schools in his proposed budget, and that the General Assembly approved that funding allocation.
At the Board of Public Works hearing in February, Superintendent Joe Hairston and I were joined and supported by our delegation as we sought much needed funding for important school construction projects. I am pleased to report that we have been awarded $5 million so far, including funds to construct a new Woodholme Elementary School in Pikesville, and $450,000 towards the renovation of Sudbrook Middle School. When the remaining funds are allocated later this spring, I am hopeful that Baltimore County will receive substantial additional funding for our much-needed middle school renovations.
I am also pleased that the final version of the State Capital Budget includes a provision authorizing additional funding for Fiscal Year 2006 for Baltimore County under the Aging Schools Program, reversing in large part the cut in funding that was proposed in the original version of the bill. These funds are vitally important to helping us continue to maintain and repair our oldest school buildings so they will remain quality learning environments. Cutting our funding from the Aging Schools Program punishes Baltimore County for investing in our ongoing systematic renovation program, which has allowed us to use scarce funding wisely and ensure quality school buildings for our children.
Baltimore County will benefit this year from substantial state funding for important capital projects. In addition to another $10 million installment for the construction of our expanded Detention Center, we have been awarded over $5 million in matching funds for local projects, including these County-sponsored projects:
$800,000 towards renovations of eight outdoor athletic field complexes serving thousands of children and adults in public recreational programs around the County,
$700,000 toward construction of the new Inverness Community Center,
$250,000 toward construction a greenway and trail network in Chase,
$250,000 to help with a new Community Center in Arbutus, and
$232,000 to help build a new Senior Center in Woodlawn.
Baltimore County citizens will benefit from many other allocations in the State capital budget, including:
$3 million for construction projects at the Community College of Baltimore County,
Over $2 million for a new public building at the Hammerman beach area of Gunpowder Falls State Park, and
$2 million in Program Open Space grants.
For many Baltimore County communities, the regulation of state-licensed group homes is a significant concern. This session, Baltimore County Senators and Delegates introduced several bills that were designed to improve the oversight and operation of group homes. The Senators and Delegates from the Tenth and Eleventh District have been leaders in these efforts. I am pleased that several of these bills have passed the General Assembly, including:
Bills introduced by Senator Kelley and Delegate Jones to improve the quality and management of group homes, by increasing the qualifications required for group home administrators, and requiring State agencies to develop a system of outcomes evaluation for group homes, and
A bill introduced by Delegate Zirkin that will require state agencies to place priority on keeping children in their home area, and to consider the availability of services for each child and the impact on the local school system.
In addition, the entire Baltimore County House delegation has joined me in sending a letter to the Governor asking him to direct State agencies who license and utilize these group homes:
To place children in their home communities if possible, in the best interest of each child;
To take steps to increase the number of available beds in under-served areas of Maryland; and
To determine, before making placements, that each child can receive adequate care and services.
I hope that during the coming months, we can work with the state agencies who license group homes and place children in group homes to make progress in this area.
We worked together this session on several important measures to support Baltimore County businesses and jobs. I am very pleased that the General Assembly approved three liquor license bills that will help encourage restaurant expansions in Baltimore County. National chain restaurants who already are using three liquor licenses elsewhere in Baltimore County will be able to obtain a fourth license in order to open a new establishment along the Liberty Road corridor. More and more businesses are beginning to realize the great, untapped potential of the neighborhoods around Liberty Road, and this bill will help the renaissance of this area progress. The second bill will also help encourage additional national restaurant investment by removing license restrictions. Finally, two additional licenses will be available to support exciting business development in the newly renaissanced Hunt Valley Towne Centre.
Baltimore County is very pleased that the General Assembly has enacted new and improved "Brownfields" legislation. The existing Voluntary Cleanup Program has been instrumental in important redevelopment projects in the County, such as Allison Transmission and Radio Park. However, these new provisions opening up eligibility and streamlining the review process have the potential to clean up more industrial and commercial properties and return them to active use more quickly than under the current program. As a result, Baltimore County looks forward to even greater success in returning Brownfields properties to active use.
For many in Maryland, Hurricane Isabel was notable but brief. The rain, the wind, and the blackouts all ended in a few days, and life returned to normal. But on the shoreline of Baltimore County and in waterfront communities around the state, Isabel remains a daily fact of life. The residents of our waterfront communities have never asked for handouts. They have made the best of difficult circumstances, and now it is our job to help them in any way we can. Together, this session we worked on a number of bills to address difficult problems with insurance claims, rebuilding, and environmental damage.
One of the first elected officials to recognize the needs of our waterfront residents and offer his help was President Miller, and his help was instrumental as we fought for Isabel victims.
Of all the legislation we proposed and supported this session, none was more urgent than the Hurricane Isabel Disaster Relief Act. This legislation, which was part of the House leadership package, was co-sponsored by the entire Senate and supported by the Governor. By providing State funds for gap financing and by providing access to additional mortgage financing, it is providing important help to hundreds of families in Baltimore County and around the State.
President Miller proposed important legislation to create a People's Insurance Counsel, to advocate on behalf of insurance consumers. Having a People's Counsel would have been a great help to the Maryland Insurance Commissioner and to Hurricane Isabel victims who have had great difficulties dealing with their insurance claims for homeowners and flood insurance since last September. Unfortunately, while this bill passed the Senate, it was not approved by the House. I hope President Miller will bring this bill up next session. This is an important piece of legislation and I look forward to working for its passage in the next session.
Senator Stone introduced several bills to address insurance issues, including a bill I requested that would have clarified State law to specify that the Insurance Commissioner has authority to regulate the conduct of insurance companies and agents who sell federal flood insurance policies to Maryland residents. That bill was defeated, but it was a battle worth fighting, and we will fight it again next year.
We were successful with a bill introduced by Senator Stone and by Delegate Minnick, requiring that Marylanders who purchase homeowners insurance must also receive comprehensive written information about federal flood insurance so they will understand the limitations of their homeowners insurance and their options to obtain flood insurance.
Delegate Jon Cardin successfully introduced a bill that will prevent the State from increasing property tax assessments on natural disaster victims who rebuild their homes, by freezing property values until the next regular reassessment.
Our entire Isabel relief package didn't make it through the Assembly, but through the hard work of Steve Larsen and the advocacy of our delegation, the storm of reform has reached Washington. The reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program will include many of our recommendations, and we will continue to work for the victims of Isabel.
All of Baltimore County - all of Maryland - will benefit from a change in how we prosecute identity theft. Through my experience as an attorney and as a judge, I know the difficulty in prosecuting cases where the crimes spread across jurisdictions. Our police departments are already effectively investigating these difficult cases, and I am very pleased that the General Assembly has passed legislation that we requested to consolidate venue for identity theft prosecutions, and has also passed a bill sponsored by Senator Klausmeier to permit consolidation of charges relating to check fraud.
Every forged check and every act of credit card fraud connected to a single identity theft can now be tried in the jurisdiction where the identity theft victim lives, not in multiple trials in different counties.
Thanks to $1.3 million in continued funding, we will also be able to continue the Regional Auto Theft Task Force in 2005. This city/county partnership has increased auto theft arrests, and made for more successful prosecutions of car thieves.
Another important bill will ensure that our firefighters and police officers have advance information about biological hazards, like anthrax, that are present in laboratories located in their areas. Currently the State collects information about these hazardous materials, but cannot share that information with us. Baltimore County Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Richard Muth first raised this issue with Delegate Aumann, who spearheaded legislation requiring the State to provide us with this information. Now we can account for these hazards in our emergency planning and training in the same way that we account for nuclear and chemical hazards.
Over the course of this session, our legislators proposed, debated and voted on bills affecting many issues facing Baltimore County. On some, we had immediate agreement, on some there were wise and fair compromises, and for others we have work to do in future years.
Next year, we know the State will be facing an enormous budget deficit. If the State attempts to balance its budget by slashing funding for local governments, at the local level we will be unable to avoid painful cuts in programs and basic services that our citizens expect. I believe we have developed an excellent working relationship during the past two years, and I hope we can continue to build on that relationship during the coming months so we can work together to foster the continued renaissance of Baltimore County.
I also want to thank our legislative team who represented Baltimore County in Annapolis, and thank you for your courtesy to them during the session. Frank Principe, our new Director of Governmental Affairs; Meg Ferguson; Greg Rothwell; Amanda Conn; Megan Sheils; George Poff; and Sophia Silbergeld, who worked full-time in our legislative office as a volunteer intern.
Now, I would like to introduce Senate President Mike Miller. We have a couple of small gifts for you. In keeping with your experiences during this 90-day legislative session, they relate to a pitched battle.
The Battle of North Point started in Baltimore County, and during the last three months we have battled together on behalf of residents of North Point and other Marylanders who suffered from the flooding of Hurricane Isabel. This print shows the military installations in North Point in 1814, and chronicles the significant events of the battle. And this book, the History of Baltimore County, includes details about the battle.
Revised April 19, 2004
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