Delegate Galen Clagett's Newsletter
 Putting Frederick First
Volume 4, Issue 2
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| What's Happening in Annapolis: March 2010 2010 General Assembly Session Update |
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Greetings!
Welcome to our 2010 General Assembly Session Update, and thank you for your continued interest in my activities in Annapolis as your State Delegate.
Despite the myriad challenges of the historic blizzard(s) of 2010 throughout our State, the General Assembly continued to convene in Annapolis to tackle important legislation. Some of the issues being dealt with include creating tougher laws to deal with child sex offenders, the Governor's P-20 Council, and other educational improvements for the State.
In this issue, we provide detail on these initiatives as well as additional topics. If you are interested in seeing how my sponsored bills are doing at present, please visit my web site www.galenclagett.com, or click here - and please don't forget that I'm also on Facebook and Twitter.
It continues to be a great honor for me to represent our community in the House of Delegates. I hope you will contact me with your thoughts at galen.clagett@house.state.md.us or (301) 663-4596. Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to represent and serve our neighborhoods.
Sincerely,
Delegate Galen Clagett, District 3A
Frederick County, Maryland
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2/22 - Meeting to discuss educational programs with Frederick County Educators.
2/24 - Meeting with faculty and students from the University of Maryland School of Nursing on the UMD Nursing Program.
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Sex Offender Legislation
 The tragic death of 11 year old Sarah Foxwell on the Eastern Shore highlighted the need for better coordination between law enforcement, the court system and other states when dealing with sex offenders. Despite passing tougher laws, we need to continue our vigilance and protect our children from sex offenders. During this term, the legislature has passed a series of tougher laws to crackdown on 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 first degree sex offenses against a minor (HB 2). In addition, the bill required courts to sentence certain sex offenders to  a term of extended parole supervision. The House passed almost identical legislation during the 2006 regular session but the conference committee report failed to pass on Sine Die. For the past two years, the House of Delegates has passed legislation to improve the extended parole supervision.
> In 2007, the legislature eliminated the possibility of parole for mandatory minimum sentences for first and second degree rape, and first and second degree sex offenses. That same year, the legislature passed a law requiring mental health assessments of sex offenders convicted of sexual abuse against a minor.
> In 2008, 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.
> The State's entire backlog of 24,000 DNA samples has been eliminated and over 100 sex offenders have been arrested based on DNA.
As we begin these deliberations, it is important to have a clear understanding of the State's current efforts to punish, deter and monitor offenders:
> Currently, there are over 4,000 registered child sex offenders in Maryland and a total of 6,438 registered sex offenders.
> Currently, there are 71 sex offender parole agents in Maryland. These agents monitor 2300 sex offenders - a ratio of approximately 30:1.
> In February 2009, the State started a Global Positioning System (GPS) program to monitor the most violent sex offenders. To date, 1300 offenders have been monitored using GPS. Over the last 18 months, less than one-third of 1% of sex offenders that are under active supervision have been charged with new sex offenses.
> The State also requires all sex offenders released on parole, regardless of severity of offense, to undergo an initial polygraph test within 30 days of release and another 2 polygraph tests in 6 month intervals.
> The State also installs software on the personal computers of certain sex offenders in order to monitor the content that sex offenders are viewing.
This session, there are a number of bills in to enact even stricter laws to punish sex offenders by Governor O'Malley and several lawmakers. We want to ensure that there are not any loopholes and that our directives to the courts are clear. Legislation this year includes:
> Requiring life time supervision for the most violent sex offenders, sex offenses against children and repeat offenders. Lifetime supervision could include GPS monitoring, requiring ongoing polygraphs, restricting an offender's movement to their place of work and home etc.
> Eliminating good time credits for the most violent sex offenders convicted under Jessica's Law.
> Requiring a judge (instead of a district court commissioner) to  determine whether a registered sex offender arrested for any crime should receive pre-trial release. This creates a rebuttable presumption that the registered sex offender poses a danger to the community and that must be taken into account for bail. A criminal rap sheet would have to include documentation that someone is a registered sex offender or if they have been sentenced to extended supervision.
> Extending the most severe penalties to those offenders that commit a sex offense against a child under 15, instead of under 13, which is the law now.
> Requiring local Department of Social Services to disclose to the Division of Parole & Probation evidence that a sex offender is living in a child's home or has contact with a child.
> Reconstituting the Sex Offender Advisory Board in order to make recommendations on how to best manage sex offenders and protect the public from them.
> Bringing Maryland in line with federal sex offender provisions, including creating minimum standards for registration on the sex offender registry and requiring juvenile sex offenders at least 14 years of age to register on the sex offender registry if convicted in adult court.
The House Judiciary Committee began hearing all of the sex offender bills on Tuesday, February 23, 2010. |
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In 2007, Governor O'Malley created the P-20 Leadership Council by  executive order to develop an integrated statewide system to better prepare Maryland students for the jobs of the 21st century while enhancing the State's economic competitiveness by creating a workforce with 21st century skills.
"P-20" refers to a system of education that encompasses preschool through the workplace. The Council was established by the Governor to focus on developing Maryland's workforce in an increasingly competitive global marketplace. The State has always focused on having a high quality workforce.  HB 466 is legislation that makes the P-20 Leadership Council permanent and adds two members of the House of Delegates and two members of the Senate of Maryland to the existing council. An annual report of the council's work and any recommendations is due by December 15 of each year to the Governor and the General Assembly.
These changes will strengthen its role in guiding State policy on education and workforce development and demonstrate Maryland's commitment to developing strong P-20 connections, which could help Maryland leverage federal and private funds for its P-20 efforts. The Ways & Means Committee heard this bill on Wednesday, February 24, 2010.
Longitudinal Data System (LDS)
Governor O'Malley has submitted legislation to create an LDS in Maryland. This system would enable teachers and agencies to track  student growth and achievement from kindergarten through college. This system is the recommendation of the Interagency Committee on Development of Maryland LDS and the Bohanan Commission. A statewide LDS will allow the Governor and General Assembly to make informed, data-driven decisions to improve the education system and the transition from high school to college. HB 467 is legislation that would create a comprehensive integrated LDS from elementary through higher education, instead of having separate systems for each level of school which is inefficient and cumbersome. The Maryland Longitudinal Data System would be a  statewide data system that contains individual-level student-specific data from all levels of education and the State's workforce. The legislation also establishes a Maryland Longitudinal Data System Center within State government. This would be a central repository for the data, to ensure compliance with federal privacy laws, to perform research on the data sets, and to fulfill education reporting requirements and approved public information requests. The governing board of the center must submit an annual report, including an update on the implementation of the data system and the center's activities during the preceding year, and any recommendations, by December 15 to the Governor and the General Assembly. The Ways & Means Committee heard this bill on Wednesday, February 24, 2010. |
Maryland Retains Triple-A Bond Rating
"The bond rating agencies reaffirmed confidence in Maryland's fiscal management by assigning the State a AAA bond rating. This year's AAA bond rating is particularly noteworthy given the current global recession and the financial problems of states around the country.
For over forty years, Maryland has retained this bond rating by marrying strong fiscal management, prudent accounting practices and funding of core priorities. We will continue to work together to make the difficult decisions to weather this financial storm, while funding important services for citizens across the State of Maryland"
- Speaker of the House Michael E. Busch |
| Send your feedback, input, and questions directly to Galen at Galen@GalenClagett.com or become a friend of Galen's on Facebook. | |
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2/9 - Meeting with members of the 