Why Tomorrow?
Tomorrow morning the Anne Arundel County Delegation meets at 9am in Room 124 of the Lowe House Office Building. They are scheduled to vote on whether to support HB 0197, the bill that authorizes DNR to allow hunting on private lands every Sunday from early October into January.
Delegation Chairman Schuh, a candidate for county executive, did not allow opponents of the bill to speak when the bill's sponsor, Delegate Costa, presented the merits last Friday. We and some members of the delegation are frustrated that a vote will be taken based on testimony from only one side. Delegate Schuh rightly points out that we had an opportunity to speak at the committee hearing yesterday, and speak we did (see below), but only a handful of the fifteen delegates from our county sit on that committee. This is considered a "county bill" and its future depends on the vote of the county delegation tomorrow.
So feed your horses early, drive to Annapolis, park in the Gott Parking Garage, and walk across the street to the Lowe House Office Buillding and head to the Anne Arundel Delegation Room 124. We will be present when OUR delegates vote on this bill, whether they let us speak or not. The delegation meeting is quick. They serve coffee and donuts. Let's get this done.
For Emails and Calls to County Delegation click on
For the Delegation Meeting Friday at 9am in Room 124
How The Bill Got Wounded
You called, you wrote, and you showed up. Our shots echoed through the halls of the House and Senate offices. Ears are still ringing. Is our bill dead? No, it is wounded. Like a responsible hunter our job is now urgent. We must deliver that final bullet.
Maryland Horse Council's decision to hire Frank Boston as a lobbyist for all of our issues was a wise one. He has ushered Christy Clagett, JoAnne Stone, Wanda Melton, and myself in and out of the offices of the key players like a field master on a great day of fox chasing. The mix of Boston's knowledge of the inside game and our ability to mobilize as a community has amazed the legislators who assumed a week ago that this was a bill that had legs.
We are told that it is bad form to broadcast the comments our legislators make to us in private meetings. All I can say is that the signs are good. Sometimes legislators make promises to colleagues that they must keep, and sometimes they do things behind the scenes to help their constituents.
The big news is that the Senate Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee removed the Sunday Hunting bill from the schedule Tuesday. It was a decision made by members of the Anne Arundel County delegation who had heard from constituents. In the words of one senator, "we wanted to avoid the nuclear blow-up that was coming." In other words the senate is waiting to see what the House does.
The other big news is that the hearing yesterday in the House Environmental Matters hearing couldn't have gone much better. We had three panels of three speakers organized by Christy Clagett in consultation with Frank Boston. It included farm owners, a boy scout leader, a pony clobber, a hiker, a retired DNR employee who represents outdoor recreation interests, and fox hunters. We had been warned that the committee might not show much interest because it is a county rather than statewide bill. That was not the case, and it might have had something to do with the fact that we started by having twenty-five people (more than for any other bill that day) stand in opposition. Lots of questions were asked of our panels by delegates who were very engaged and clearly fascinated to learn just how important it is to the community to preserve Safe Sundays.
On Friday morning at 9am the Anne Arundel County Delegation to the House will vote on whether they support this bill. Most of the members of the delegation were NOT present for the committee hearing yesterday and therefore have heard ONLY from the bill's sponsor on its merits. Delegate Schuh, the chair of the delegation and a candidate for county executive, has repeatedly denied our request to speak briefly in opposition to the bill at the delegation meeting. He says that our opportunity to speak is at the committee hearing, which is true, but the county's position on a county bill is what usually determines whether the committee supports it. The people making the decision are the county delegation, and the only way to address them is at the delegation meeting.
Be sure to buy a copy of the Capital newspaper on Friday, or look for it online. Reporter Pat Fergurson is working on a story.
If you want to be notified of updates on Anne Arundel County horse issues, put your email address into the Follow By Email box in the right column! We only post important stuff.
