QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I’m fine with kids making brachahs over their lunch as individuals. … Just don't force me or my kid to pray when we don’t want to.”
- Baltimore Jewish Times Publisher Andrew Buerger
Friday Footnote #15 … February 11, 2005
A
publication of The Baltimore Jewish Council.
5750 Park Heights Avenue. Baltimore MD 21215.
Phone:
(410) 542-4850.
Visit
our website: www.baltjc.org.
Contents
1. Legislative update
3. Worth a read
…And click here for our archive of
previous Friday Footnotes.
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elcome, friends, to another edition of the Friday Footnote,
a weekly letter about Maryland politics and the Jewish community.
In Annapolis, the flood of new bills has slowed to a
trickle, and the real work of bill hearings, negotiations and budget
deliberations has moved into high gear.
We at the Maryland Jewish Alliance are pursuing our varied agenda of
support for vulnerable individuals and families – and those who serve them -
and civil liberties and other traditional Jewish issues.
We are receiving more and more RSVPs from legislators and
community members for our Maryland Jewish Alliance Advocacy Day reception on
Monday March 7 at 6:30 p.m. in Annapolis.
I hope you’ll join us, too. Click here
for more information.
And as always, I hope you and your family have a pleasant
and peaceful Shabbat.
- David
Legislative update
This
week saw bill hearings on a few items on the Maryland Jewish Alliance’s agenda,
including:
SB 282 - Senior Prescription Drug Program - Sunset Extension and HB 324 - Senior Prescription Drug Program – Modifications. Both are efforts to take a very successful two-year-old effort to help low-income seniors afford their prescription drugs, and adapt the program to help seniors who will struggle to pay for some of the out-of-pocket costs that are part of the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, otherwise known as Medicare Part D. In our testimony in support of these measures we wrote, in part:
“Even after Medicare Part D is fully in effect, many Marylanders who are currently covered by the Senior Prescription Drug Program will end up worse off, with substantial out of pocket expenses they do not incur now. That is because while Part D provides comprehensive coverage for the lowest-income Medicare beneficiaries, there are significant gaps in coverage and costly co-pays for those higher up the income scale.”
We also weighed in on a bill to give legal status, for the first time in Maryland law, to fetuses by creating a new crime of ending a pregnancy through a violent act. In opposition to HB 398 - Homicide - Victim - Viable Fetus we wrote: “The Jewish community is deeply concerned about violence against women. Jewish federations in Baltimore and Rockville run programs that provide guidance, counseling and protection to women who have suffered domestic abuse. We are deeply disturbed by news that as many as one in three women in America report being assaulted while they are pregnant. …
“The Supreme Court has held that
fetuses are not persons within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment that
guarantees equal protection to persons.
House Bill 398, for the first time in Maryland law, would grant personhood
to the fetus, an obvious first step toward full legal rights.”
And we offered our support for SB 106 - Family Law - Child Abuse or Neglect - Failure to Report – Penalty. Currently, Maryland requires various professionals who come in contact with children, such as teachers, doctors, social workers, and law enforcement officers, to report suspected child abuse or neglect to specific authorities in a timely manner in a specific way. But there’s no penalty in law if they fail to report, making Maryland one of only four states without such a penalty. This bill would create a misdemeanor penalty with a fine of up to $1,000 for a failure to report by these professionals.
On the budget front, two sets of hearings last week addressed aging issues and the Medicaid budget. In each area we’re very concerned about actual and potential funding reductions that could eliminate access to important health, housing and nutrition programs for children, the aged and those with disabilities.
And for those following the Stem Cell Research Act, bill hearings have been scheduled: Senate Bill 751 will be heard Wednesday March 2 in the Senate Education, Health & Environmental Affairs Committee (with a joint referral to the Budget & Taxation Committee). HB 1183 will be heard Thursday March 3 in the House Health & Government Operations Committee.
We’ll send out action alerts soon on these and other matters, and I hope you’ll respond in full force.
I hope you’ll take action on the Freedom to Travel legislation being sponsored by Del. Adrienne Mandel and Sen. Lisa Gladden:
Action Alert - Life
Insurance Freedom To Travel Act
Our legislation related to life insurance for those who have traveled abroad has been assigned two hearing dates: Tuesday March 1 (House of Delegates), and Friday March 11 (Senate).
As a reminder, the legislation is intended to address a problem many in our community have had lately: when applying for a new life insurance policy, or an increase in coverage, many companies now ask whether you have traveled to a foreign country recently. For some companies, your answer may mean the difference between getting coverage or not, or in paying an affordable rate or not.
House Bill 617 and Senate Bill 507 - Life Insurance Freedom To Travel Act - would prohibit life insurers from refusing to cover or charging different rates solely because of an applicant's lawful past travel experiences. Under this bill - as in similar laws passed in New York and Illinois recently - no longer would the mere fact that you traveled to, say, Israel recently affect your ability to provide for your loved ones.
Now is your opportunity to make a difference if this problem has affected you. The hearing dates have been scheduled for the two bills, and we need people to come to Annapolis and testify briefly about how this problem has affected them.
The dates are:
House Bill 617 : House Health & Government Operations Committee,
Tuesday March 1, sometime after 1:00 p.m.*
Senate Bill 507 : Senate Finance Committee,
Friday March 11, about 1:00 p.m.
If you are willing and able to come, please contact me. I will get you more information about the legislation, brief you on the process of testifying, get you directions and parking suggestions and make sure you are signed up as a witness.
This is your
chance to make a difference for your community, and for Israel. I hope
you will be able to come to Annapolis and testify.
(* Unfortunately, we cannot predict exactly
when this bill will be heard by the committee - only sometime after 1:00.
Anyone who comes to testify should block out the afternoon, just in case
we have to wait a while. On Friday March 11, I believe the committee chairman
will honor our request to hear our bill first, so people can get home in time
for Shabbos.)
Protestant divestment update
This comes from our colleagues at the Jewish Council for
Public Affairs:
Presbyterian Poll Finds Most PC
(USA) Members Unaware of GA Divestment Action. A recent poll taken by the Presbyterian Research Service
office has found that, despite media attention, most Presbyterian laity are not
aware of the resolution passed at this summer’s Presbyterian Church (USA)
General Assembly calling for the beginning of a process of phased, selective
divestment of certain companies doing business in Israel.
Of those laity aware of the resolution, the poll found that more oppose the
resolution than support it. In contrast, 65% of Presbyterian Ministers
are aware of the Church resolution, and a majority support it by a margin of
48% - 43%. Through the UJC/JCPA Israel Advocacy Initiative, the JCPA has
been working to counter Presbyterian Church (USA) divestment overtures both on
the national level and by mobilizing local federations and CRCs. More
than 60 JCRCs are involved in ongoing conversations with local Protestant
leadership about Israel. The complete results of the poll, which also
included questions about the 3 other Jewish-related resolutions passed at the
PC (USA) GA, can be found on the web at: http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2005/05085.htm.
That’s
the good news, such as it is. Here’s
the bad news, from reporter Jim Besser, writing in the New York Jewish Week:
“Protestant Church Mulling Boycott … Document shows United Church of Christ may be on road to divestment.”
Worth a read
“Momentum for slots surges in House,” according to the Montgomery Gazette. The paper notes that “House Speaker Michael E. Busch and Sheila Ellis Hixson, chairwoman of the Ways and Means Committee, are crafting a bill that Hixson believes will pass in the committee within a week.
The story notes that the House bill will exclude locations in Baltimore City because of “hardening local opposition.” The Mount Washington Improvement Association was among those testifying against slot machines at Pimlico in Wednesday’s hearing before the House Ways & Means Committee.
You’ve read a good bit about the Naturally
Occurring Retirement Community (NORC) project run by CHAI and other Associated
agencies. Here’s a story in the
Washington Jewish Week about a counterpart, run by agencies of the Jewish
Federation of Greater Washington: “What's
a NORC? Jewish community out front in social experiment to keep elderly in own
homes.”
In the Baltimore Jewish Times, Publisher Andy Buerger writes
about his struggles with the nation’s growing case of “Values Overload”: “I'm
fine with kids making brachahs over their lunch as individuals. … ” he
writes. “Just don't force me or my kid to pray when we don't want to.”
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nd finally, for those
with an interest in immigration issues, this is from our friend Beery Adams, Immigrant Support & Outreach
Coordinator in the Mayor's Office of Community Investment:
Global
Immigration Film Series
This spring, Goucher’s Department of Modern Languages and
Literatures will screen 13 films that illustrate the personal struggles and
political issues surrounding global immigration. Supported by a Goucher
Innovation Grant, the film series is designed to raise awareness about issues
related to immigration, and provide contemporary and cross-cultural views of
what it means to be a “global citizen.”
All films will be shown in Kelley Lecture Hall at 7 p.m.,
unless otherwise noted. Each screening will be followed by a brief audience discussion. The
entire film series is free and open to the public. The series schedule is as
follows:
·
Wednesday,
February 23 5 p.m. Window to Paris
·
Tuesday,
March 1 Le Pain and The Eternal Dance
·
Wednesday,
March 9 Kurz and Schmerzlos
·
Wednesday,
March 30 Tales from Arab Detroit
·
Thursday,
April 7 Bread and Roses
·
Tuesday,
April 12 Waiting for the Messiah
·
Wednesday,
April 27 Nowhere in Africa
For more information click here: http://www.goucher.edu/news/news_press_release_template.cfm?press_ID=839