Good morning. Thank you for joining me as we prepare for the 2007 General Assembly Session. When the session begins next week, Baltimore County will be welcoming back many members of the delegation who have accomplished so much on the County’s behalf these past four years, as well as will welcome several new members to our delegation and a new Governor to Annapolis.
Our new legislators are fortunate to be joining an experienced team of Senators and Delegates with a history of commitment to a collaboration of people, businesses, and government that has resulted in a better Baltimore County for everyone. Working together as a team during the last four years, we have secured nearly eighty-five million dollars in school renovation and construction funding, as well as funding for new Baltimore County community centers and parks.
In 2003, our delegation brought urgent and much needed relief to our waterfront communities with the Hurricane Isabel Disaster Relief Act, and secured passage of legislation to revise Maryland’s procurement process for juvenile group homes during the 2006 legislative session.
Our County delegation’s work has resulted in many significant achievements for our County in the past four years—accomplishments that have helped all our citizens—accomplishments that have fueled Baltimore County’s renaissance and touched the spirit and soul of every neighborhood.
From the waterfront of Essex, to the bustling marketplaces of Liberty Road, to East Drive in Arbutus, to the new birth of the Hunt Valley Town Center, our renaissance has fostered a renewed spirit of opportunity in Baltimore County. As a result, a new generation of homeowners is establishing roots in our historic neighborhoods and we have seen new businesses light up once vacant shopping centers and commercial street corners. Our renaissance has also reassured long-time residents and business-owners of Baltimore County’s ongoing vitality.
This past November 7, the people of Baltimore County renewed their commitment to the principles of our renaissance, and now, as we begin a new legislative term, we must recommit ourselves to the values and strategies that have made our renaissance and neighborhoods thrive. We must recommit to the necessity of working together in partnership. We must recommit to the understanding that our differences are less important than our shared goals of continued prosperity for Baltimore County. And we must recommit to the belief that governing through consensus and collaboration will always accomplish more than the politics of partisanship and division.
The upcoming legislative session is the beginning of a new era of government for the people of Maryland. The commitment to collaboration and consensus that has been so successful in Baltimore County is a model that can serve our entire State as well. We must work with our colleagues in other jurisdictions throughout the State, and we must work together with our new Governor to create a better Maryland for everyone. But we must remember that our new Governor and our colleagues across the State will come to this session with their own priorities. It is important that we encourage them to also focus on the very real needs of Baltimore County.
Baltimore County is fortunate to have outstanding leaders in both houses of the General Assembly. This includes our Senate delegation chair Norman Stone, as well as Delegate Sonny Minnick, who I would like to thank for his years of service as Chair of the Baltimore County House Delegation. While Sonny has decided to step down from his official leadership post, I know that we can still count on him as the County moves forward during this session. I know that you join me in thanking Sonny for his 10 years of service as chair.
Although we will all miss the contributions of our friend Delegate John Arnick, Baltimore County’s leadership in the General Assembly runs deep. We will still be able to rely on Speaker Pro Tem, Delegate Adrienne Jones, who also chairs the House Capital Budget Sub-Committee, and Senator Ed Kasemeyer, the new Senate Majority Leader and member of the Senate Capital Budget Sub-Committee. They will continue to be vocal advocates for the people of Baltimore County. We are also fortunate to have Delegate Jimmy Malone serving as Vice-Chair of the House Environmental Matters Committee.
For the past four years, Baltimore County has established itself as the leader in fighting for legislation and resources that our schools need to be successful. During the 2007 session, providing our children with the highest quality education possible will remain our number one priority. We are committed to ensuring that every student is able to learn in a well designed, high performing, well maintained school facility. When our facilities fail to meet the needs of our children and teachers, we limit the effectiveness of our academic programs and jeopardize our efforts to revitalize neighborhoods and communities, as well as jeopardize the future of our students themselves.
Earlier this year, Baltimore County again took the lead and requested that the State make a funding commitment of $400 million to its Public School Construction Program. Governor-Elect Martin O’Malley has committed to supporting this proposal and we look forward to working with him to secure the resources our County school system needs.
This year, Baltimore County Public Schools have requested $95 million in State funds for construction and renovation costs. We are prepared to put this money to use immediately, giving our students the best facilities possible as soon as possible. Some of what we can accomplish includes the continuation of our systemic renovation program at our older schools, such as Deep Creek, Lansdowne, and Hereford middle schools. We are also prepared to replace boilers at Catonsville high school and Charlesmont elementary school, and put new windows in Stemmers Run middle and Southwest Academy. We want to install new roofs at Maiden Choice School and Parkville middle and replace fire alarms at Milford Mill Academy. Not all of these projects are glamorous, but they are all necessary to provide our students with an environment in which they cannot only learn, but in which they can excel.
As many of you know, Baltimore County is home to the second oldest school stock in the State of Maryland, and there is another important program that can be utilized in our effort to improve the quality of our schools: the Aging Schools Program. Baltimore County is home to 12 high schools built before 1960, some dating to 1948, and 25 of our 27 high schools are more than 30 years old. These buildings have educated tens of thousands of students, including many of our elected leaders here today. But for these facilities to continue to educate future generations, they require proper and timely maintenance. The Aging Schools Program provides for school repairs, such as asbestos and lead paint abatement, painting, heating, and wiring for technology, not generally covered by the State Public School Construction Program but which are necessary to maintain public schools that are 15 years or older.
The Aging Schools Program has been a valuable resource in maintaining and operating our older schools, but the State’s funding of this critical program has been stagnant for years, remaining at $10.4 million since fiscal year 1998. As you know, last year, with your help, legislation passed to include an annual Consumer Price Index adjustment to the current funding formula. However, this is simply not enough. This year, we are urging the State to double the funding for this program to $20.8 million, beginning in fiscal year 2008, to bring the Aging Schools Program more in line with the needs not just in Baltimore County, but throughout Maryland.
In Baltimore County, we are dedicated to ensuring that all children receive the best education possible regardless of their circumstances. Since 1980, the Maryland Infant and Toddler Program has ensured that all children with disabilities, birth through age three, have access to early intervention services at no cost to their family. Between fiscal years 2003 and 2006, the number of eligible infants and toddlers for this statewide program has grown by 39 percent, serving over 12,000 infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities and delays. During that same period of time, local government contributions have increased by nearly $10 million, but the State’s contribution has only been increased one time and that was last year and the State increase was only $600,000.
Last year, Baltimore County joined six other jurisdictions in urging Governor Ehrlich to fully fund $11.9 million, the State’s 20 percent share of this program. This did not happen. Baltimore County has renewed this request to Governor-Elect O’Malley and we ask our County delegation to support the State fully funding their share of this important program next year.
The world around us is changing every day. As identity theft crimes grow more sophisticated every year, our citizens find themselves in greater and greater danger for even more significant losses. As the stakes are raised for us, they should also be raised for the criminals who would prey upon us. Baltimore County will again support legislation to make proceeds traceable to identity theft subject to forfeiture, just as are the profits of drug crimes. We ask your help in making this happen.
Our brave firefighters, police officers, and hospital workers are exposed to many dangers in the course of their jobs, including exposure to blood and other bodily fluids. All of these workers receive legal protection that allows the testing of those from whom these bodily fluids come. Forensic workers, such as crime scene personnel and lab workers, face the same danger from contact with bodily fluids, but are not eligible for the legal protection of testing. Baltimore County is supporting legislation to provide this same legal protection to forensic workers. These forensic personnel put themselves in harm’s way to help keep our county safe and deserve the level of protection afforded to police officers, hospital workers, and firefighters.
Throughout the country we have seen the problems that can result from gangs. The Maryland Attorney General is preparing legislation to give his office greater authority and resources to help communities throughout the State fight gang activity. Baltimore County is committed to supporting legislation that will give our new Attorney General the authority and resources his office needs to help communities throughout the State fight gang activity wherever it occurs.
Over the past four years, by working together, our State Delegation has successfully supported Baltimore County by bringing back critical financial support for projects that have helped drive our renaissance. State bond bills and funds from the capital budget play a crucial role in our ability to meet the needs of our communities in a timely and effective manner. During the 2007 legislative session, we are asking the State to help fund important projects that will improve neighborhoods across Baltimore County.
We are asking for State bond support to install artificial safety turf at the Northwest and Meadowood Regional Parks and at the Essex Campus of the Community College of Baltimore County, to renovate athletic field lighting at County Home Park in Cockeysville, General Stricker Middle School Recreation Center in Dundalk and Shelbourne Park in Arbutus, to complete the Heritage Trail and improvements to St. Helena Park in Dundalk, and to develop plans for an Eastern Regional Greenway. We need State help to complete the first phase of construction for Gough Park in Perry Hall, to build a skate park in the Northeast, and to install stadium seating at the Randallstown and Millford Mill high schools. We are also requesting funding for the beautification and streetscape improvements suggested by the Essex/Middle River Urban Design Assistance Team for Eastern Boulevard and to support construction of the Baltimore County Agricultural Center, a facility that will serve as a regional educational resource center, a field destination site for school children and adults, and promotion of our $62 million agricultural industry in Baltimore County. Our bond bill requests, which will enable us to move forward with these projects, totals $9.75 million.
For the past four years, we have worked together with communities across Baltimore County to create an exciting renaissance, but we are only at the beginning. We have more to do. We must continue to work together to provide greater opportunity for Baltimore County’s families and communities. We must work together to maintain the momentum of our renaissance and to secure a future of prosperity, progress, and pride for all the families who call Baltimore County home now and who will do so in the years to come.
Thank you for being here this morning. I look forward to a collaborative and very successful 2007 General Assembly session.
Courthouse 