2010 Maryland Legislative Session

Gov. O’Malley introduces emergency bill to protect Maryland families from foreclosures

Earlier today, Governor O'Malley sent an email about the national foreclosure crisis and what we're doing in Maryland to end it.

Take a minute to read the email and then send a letter to your state legislator asking them to support Governor O'Malley's emergency bill to protect our families and communities from foreclosures:

Imagine having to look your children in the eyes and tell them you'll have to leave your home, maybe your whole community, for good.

Over the course of the national foreclosure crisis, thousands of Marylanders haven't had to imagine this ordeal. They've lived it. And every uprooted family, every boarded-up house, affects all of us -- our neighborhoods, our towns and cities, our state.

We can help more families stay in their homes -- by forcing mortgage companies to give homeowners facing foreclosure a chance to negotiate better terms on their loans. Yesterday, Rep. Elijah Cummings and I urged the General Assembly to pass an emergency bill to do just that.

Join us in taking action today. Urge your state legislators to support the bill, and help protect our families and communities from foreclosures:

http://www.martinomalley.com/SavingHomes

Since 2007, we've helped thousands of families hold onto their homes through programs like the Homeowners Preserving Equity (HOPE) initiative.

But thousands more could be saved if we act together to stop huge, faceless mortgage companies from crushing homeowners under their heel because they're more concerned with profits than with helping families stay in their homes.

Writing your legislators will only take a few minutes, and your support of this emergency bill could have an immediate impact.

The emergency bill just needs three-fifths of the votes in the General Assembly to pass and be enacted immediately.

Help make today the beginning of the end of the foreclosure crisis in Maryland. Write your state legislators now:

http://www.martinomalley.com/SavingHomes

Thank you,

Gov. Martin O'Malley

Governor O’Malley Introduces Education Reform Legislation

On the heels of the College Board’s release of its annual report ranking Maryland #1 in the nation for Advance Placement scores for a second straight year and Education Week Magazine’s second straight #1 ranking for Maryland public schools, Governor Martin O’Malley today introduced legislation to further reform Maryland schools as State education leaders prepare to apply for federal “Race to the Top” funding. 

The Governor’s Education Reform Act of 2010 includes reforms in the following major categories:

Teacher Tenure

Currently, a teacher is eligible for tenure after a two-year probationary period. If the teacher does not meet the requirements for tenure after two years, he or she is assigned a mentor during a third year of teaching and re-evaluated for tenure after that year.

This bill extends the period before a teacher is eligible for tenure from two years to three years. This is the same length of time required by at least 33 other states. To promote teacher effectiveness, the bill also provides for additional mentoring and professional development for non-tenured teachers who need additional support.

Student Growth in Evaluations

As set forth in the federal Race to the Top guidelines, the Education Reform Act of 2010 requires that student growth data be a significant factor in the evaluations of teachers and principals.  However, because of the complex factors that affect student performance, the bill also requires that other factors be considered as well. The State Board of Education will establish a framework to help guide the implementation of these requirements at the local level.   Schools systems that participate in the State’s Race to the Top application may be subject to additional requirements regarding student growth data.

Differentiated Pay

State law already authorizes differentiated pay programs to attract highly effective teachers and principals to low-performing schools or hard to staff subjects.  Under the Education Reform Act of 2010, the State would provide additional stipends to teachers and principals in the lowest achieving five percent of Title I schools in improvement, corrective action, or restructuring.  Implementation of this stipend program is contingent upon Maryland’s receipt of Race to the Top funds.

Each school system that participates in the State’s Race to the Top application will be required to develop a plan that includes strategies to promote the equitable distribution of teachers and or principals across their districts, including their high-poverty and/or high-minority schools as well as hard to staff subjects and specialty areas.

State of the State 2010

Earlier today, Governor O'Malley delivered the 2010 State of the State Address to the Maryland General Assembly.

Read the speech here.

Text of Governor O’Malley’s State of the State Address

Governor O'Malley just delivered the 2010 State of the State address to the Maryland General Assembly, urging legislators to take action on an agenda focused intently on creating jobs here in Maryland. We've posted the text of the speech as prepared here.

Live-Tweeting the State of the State

We'll be live-tweeting during Governor O'Malley's State of the State address today at noon on the campaign's Twitter account, @governoromalley. Follow along and join the conversation!

Gov. O’Malley introduces legislation to protect Marylanders from sexual predators

Today, Governor O’Malley announced a series of legislative initiatives targeted at protecting Maryland families from sexual predators and strict enforcement of sex offender laws, including lifetime supervision for certain sex offenses.

The Governor also announced legislation to reconstitute the Sexual Offender Advisory Board, and has asked former Maryland Attorney General Joseph Curran to serve as Chair. 

Legislative initiatives aimed at protecting Maryland families:

Sexual Offenders – Lifetime Supervision

The bill requires that courts sentence certain serious sex offenders (convicted of first degree rape/attempt; second degree rape/attempt; first degree sexual offense/attempt; certain second and third degree sexual offenses; certain sexual abuse of a minor) and sexual offenders with multiple offenses to mandatory lifetime supervision.  This lifetime supervision must be consecutive to any sentence or probationary term imposed for the underlying offense.  The sentencing court must order a presentence investigation prior to imposing the conditions of this lifetime supervision, which may include GPS monitoring.  The bill also provides for criminal penalties for violations and provides that any sentence imposed for a violation of lifetime supervision is not subject to dimunition credits.

The bill further provides that, following the original sentence and an additional three years of lifetime supervision, a person may petition the sentencing court for discharge from this supervision.  In order to file a petition, a person must have a recommendation from their supervising agent and a risk assessment conducted by a sexual offender treatment provider.  A sentencing court may not discharge a person from lifetime supervision unless there is a finding that the person no longer poses an unacceptable risk to community safety. 

Sexual Offender Advisory Board

This bill reconstitutes the Sexual Offender Advisory Board to be compromised of persons with specialized knowledge of sex offenders so that the Board can effectively make policy recommendations on how to best manage sex offenders and protect the public.  The bill also alters the charge of the Board, directing the Board to: review the laws and practices in Maryland, including our registration requirements; work with the Judiciary to develop risk-assessment criteria for the lifetime supervision offenders; make recommendations for the treatment and management of sex offenders; develop standards for a statewide certification process for sexual offender treatment providers; and make recommendations regarding the training of sexual offender management teams. 

Criminal Procedure - Sex Offenders - Notification and Registration

This proposal would bring the State into compliance with the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) (also known as the Adam Walsh Act), which creates minimum standards for sex offender registration.  States have been given until July 2010 to come into “substantial” compliance or risk the loss of Byrne grant funds.  The most significant changes include: making the registration requirements retroactive; re-classifying the sex offense categories; and requiring juvenile offenders to register publicly if convicted in adult court or if adjudicated delinquent for serious sexual offenses and at least 14 years of age.

Sexual Offender Registration – Indecent Exposure and Possession of Child Pornography

This bill would allow a judge to order a person convicted of (1) possession of child pornography; or (2) indecent exposure in the presence of a minor to register as a sexual offender. Currently, these crimes are not included on the Maryland registry and judges have no authority to order an offender to register for these offenses. 

Registration of Sexual Offenders – Continuing Course of Conduct

This bill adds the crime of Continuing Course of Conduct with Child to the category of offenses for which a sexual offender, under certain circumstances, must register for life.  The elements of  the crime of “Continuing Course of Conduct” are: the commission of one or more of the following crimes at least three times over the course of 90 days to a child under the age of 14: first degree Rape; second degree Rape; first degree Sex Offense; second degree Sex Offense; third degree Sex Offense.  Under current law, a conviction for any of the offenses, against a child under the age of 15, requires lifetime registration as a Child Sexual Offender.  However, a conviction for Continuing Course of Conduct (three of these acts) gives a judge the discretion to order registration, but only 10 years as an Offender.  This bill would remedy the inconsistency in the law and require similar registration guidelines for individuals who commit equally violent sex offenses.

Criminal Background Investigations – Employees of Facilities and Other Individuals that Care for or Supervise Children

This bill expands the categories of individuals who will be required to have a State and Federal background check.  It requires background checks for employees of private entities running recreation centers as well as for employees of home health or residential service agencies licensed to provide home or community based health services for minors. 

First look at our 2011 budget

Later today, I'll formally introduce our administration's fiscal year 2011 budget – but I wanted to share some important details about it with you before I do.

As with previous budgets, we kept two fundamental goals in mind when formulating this year's proposal.

First, we knew we had to maintain our commitment to fiscal responsibility, which has put Maryland in a position to emerge from the recession faster than most other states. By restoring fiscal responsibility, we are creating an environment to generate jobs and foster economic growth in our state. Our unemployment rate remains 25% lower than the national average, and we beat out all but two other states in job growth last year.

Balanced books have put us on the path back to economic recovery, and I'm proposing $1 billion in additional cuts today that are a tough – but critical – part of continuing to grow Maryland's economy.

Second, it's crucial that we continue to protect our core priorities amid these necessary cuts.

Despite the challenges our state has faced during this recession, we've managed to make important progress in job creation, public education, public safety, and environmental protection.

We can and must continue that progress. It's important for the quality of life of all Marylanders today, and for ensuring our state's prosperity in the years to come.

Our budget proposal will:

• Continue to invest in our public schools, which Education Week recently ranked the best in the nation for the second year running.
• Dedicate $20 million to the Job Creation and Recovery Tax Credit, encouraging businesses to hire Marylanders this year.
• Support more than 20,000 construction jobs over the next fiscal year through capital budget funding.
• Build on the progress we have made rebuilding our communities with the Sustainable Communities Tax Credit and support an additional 15,000 Maryland jobs.
• Double our investment in the 2010 Bay Trust Fund over fiscal year 2010 to continue restoring our Bay.
• Continue funding health care coverage for low-income children and adults. Since Lt. Gov. Brown and I took office, our administration has expanded health care coverage to include 200,000 more Marylanders.

To read more about our budget proposal, click here:

http://www.martinomalley.com/budgetproposal