Testimony – Legislative Priorities Hearing

Montgomery County Delegation to the General Assembly

November 20, 2006

 

Good Evening, I’m Diane Hibino, First Vice President of the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County.  Thank you for the opportunity to share the League’s priorities for the 2007 session.  These were adopted by our Board of Directors and forwarded to the League of Women Voters of Maryland along with the priorities of local Leagues from around the state.  Included with my testimony is a listing of the issues adopted by our state League.  As always, we will be mobilizing our members state-wide to work with their legislators to promote these policies.

 

Tonight, in order to save time, I’ll summarize the priorities that our Montgomery County Board adopted.  Please take the time to read the complete testimony.

 

In 2005, The League of Women Voters of Maryland published a fact sheet on capital punishment.  As a result of discussions among League members throughout Maryland we adopted a position to support the abolition of the death penalty in Maryland.  In the summer of 2006 this position was expanded at our national convention to support the repeal of the death penalty nation-wide.

 

Although we strongly support repeal, we also adopted the following positions:

For so long as Maryland has a death penalty, the League supports the following reforms for its equitable and consistent application:

• Uniform, statewide, criteria for death penalty prosecutions.
• Changing the standard of proof in weighing of aggravating and mitigating factors in sentencing from “preponderance of the evidence” to “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
• Requiring prosecutors to provide open file discovery and all favorable evidence to the defense, and to establish uniform internal guidelines for cases that are particularly subject to human error, such as those relying on eyewitnesses, co-defendants or jailhouse informants.
• Having mechanisms for preserving evidence such as DNA and for introducing newly discovered evidence.
• Requiring judges to explain to jurors life without parole as a sentencing option and to charge the jury to weigh mitigating factors.
• Effective defense including methods to screen, appoint and supervise lawyers representing defendants charged with capital crimes, adequate compensation for public defense counsel and sufficient funding to mount an effective defense.

 

There is a growing movement in Maryland to end the practice of state executions.  You will be hearing from a number of groups during the upcoming session about the importance of acting on this now.

 

As you are aware, a keen interest of the League’s is fair and accurate elections that promote maximum voter participation.  We support the following election reforms: Early Voting, Redistricting Reform, and Public Campaign Finance.

 

In 2001, we adopted a position in support of Early Voting.  We were disappointed when the Court of Appeals declared Early Voting unconstitutional and urge you to enact a constitutional amendment so that we can implement the practice before the next gubernatorial election.

 

In our testimony last year we told you that the League would be working to assure a state redistricting process and standards that promote fair and effective representation in the General Assembly and House of Representatives.  This will continue be a focus of ours.  We support an independent commission as the preferred redistricting body.

 

The membership of the redistricting commission should:

• be appointed by the Governor, the General Assembly and the Court of Appeals;
• be bipartisan, geographically representative and not include any current state elected official.

Standards on which the redistricting plan is based should include:

• geographic contiguity
• geographic compactness

 

We also support final approval by the General Assembly for the legislative and Congressional redistricting plans. An amendment to the Maryland Constitution affirming that the redistricting process for the House of Representatives should occur only once each ten years after the census.

 

The League has been working with Common Cause and other advocates to promote legislation that will provide public financing for legislative campaigns.  We believe that this will limit the amount of time that candidates will have to spend on fundraising, limit the influence of campaign contributions, and open the political process to a wider variety of candidates.  A quick review of candidate responses in our on-line statewide Voters Guide revealed the following.  Of the 141 winning candidates for the House, 69 stated strong support for publicly funded campaigns, 7 supported it with reservations, and the rest either didn’t respond to our questionnaire or were opposed.  In the Senate, 19 strongly supported, 5 supported with reservations and the rest were opposed or didn’t respond.  With the passage of HB 1054, which several of you co-sponsored, an important step forward was made.  We urge you to continue the work begun on this issue in the next session.

 

The League is also in favor of public policy that increases access to affordable housing. According to data reported in the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development monthly reports, from 2000 to 2004 the median price of a home in Maryland increased by 68.2%, the median rent increased 24.8%, and the median income actually decreased by 4.9%.  Nationwide, less than 25% of income qualified low, very low or extremely low households receive any type of housing assistance.  In addition to federal pass through funds, the state authorized about $30 million for various programs that help low-income persons with housing in FY06.  Some reform in the loss of rental housing to condo conversion was achieved last session as well.  We hope that you will build on these initiatives. 

 

Awareness of the threat of global warming is growing worldwide.  However, awareness must lead to action.  Measures to protect valuable ecosystems such as the Chesapeake Bay, old growth forest in western Maryland, and the remaining green infrastructure in the state must be taken.  Progress in reducing toxic emissions into the air was made last session.  Increasing transit options to reduce dependence on cars, is another important measure we should be taking.   However there is much more that can be done and we urge you to be proactive in this area.

 

And finally, you all know about the many issues related to lack of affordable health care for so many Maryland residents.  This is a crisis that must be dealt with, not only for those that are uninsured or underinsured, but for the employers who are seeing the cost of providing insurance for their employees skyrocket.  In our Voters Guide we asked questions about the Massachusetts and plan and nearly all legislators indicated an interest in learning what aspects of that plan would be feasible to implement in Maryland.  You have a newly elected governor who has said that health care reform is a top priority.  This session may provide opportunities for reform that have not been presented previously.  The League urges you to continue to seek solutions to this problem.

 

Once again, thank you for your service to the residents of the county, and for listening tonight.