Len Lazarick
The petition drive to overturn a new law granting discounted in-state college tuition to Maryland high school graduates living in the United States illegally will test the passion of those inflamed by illegal immigration. It will also test whether the Internet can help overcome the high barriers in Maryland law to putting a law passed by the General Assembly on a referendum for voters to decide.
Opponents of illegal immigration are inflamed by the inaction of the federal government to come up with a solution that can pass Congress. The new law granting in-state tuition to illegal immigrants allows these opponents to vent their anger and take action.
By mid-June we should know whether the leaders of the petition drive — mostly Republican lawmakers and Tea Party members along with a smattering of Democrats — had been able to come up with the 18,500 valid signatures of registered voters by May 31. They submitted more than 40,000 signatures, so if local election officials throw almost half out, they will still have enough to meet the legal standards.
Strict Standards for Signatures
Maryland law requires that the petitions be signed exactly as the voter has registered and a lot of signatures simply don’t comply. This high hurdle has hampered signature drives on petition drives to overcome zoning laws in Howard County in the past. The legislature shows no willingness to ease the standards that would make it easier for average citizens to second-guess its decisions.
Del. Neil Parrott, a new Republican lawmaker from Washington County, has set up a web site that seeks to overcome the barriers by directly connecting to a database of registered voters. On www.MdPetitions.com, you fill out your name, birth date and ZIP (plus your phone number and e-mail as well), and it automatically generates a PDF of a petition already filled out for you.
There’s no need to remember exactly how you’re registered, and it includes detailed instructions for filling out the rest of the form. It even generates a sheet that serves as an envelope to mail the form to Parrott.
But despite all the detailed instructions, Parrott and his volunteers have had to send back thousands of the forms because they contain some type of error. Ultimately, the petitioners must collect 55,736 valid signatures by June 30 to stop implementation of the law and place it on the November 2012 ballot. That odd number represents 3% of the number of people who voted for governor last year.
In reality, opponents of the in-state tuition need more than 100,000 people to sign the petition to be on the safe side. And they have just to the end of June to do it.
During the last quarter century, only two laws passed by the General Assembly were put on the ballot. One was a 1988 ban on Saturday night specials and the other was a relatively permissive 1992 law on abortions. In both cases, Maryland voters supported the action of the legislatures, so the referendums failed.
You have to go back to the early 1970s to find laws that voters overturned, in these cases aid to students at nonpublic schools.
Fairness Is the Argument on Both Sides
Both supporters and opponents of the bill say their positions are based on fairness.
Supporters say it is only fair to treat Maryland high school graduates as if they were permanent residents who spent most of their lives here. (Many undocumented aliens came here legally, but stayed beyond their visas.)
The new law also requires them to show that they, their parents or guardians have filed Maryland income taxes and plan on seeking citizenship. The graduates will have to attend community colleges for 60 credits before they can get resident tuition at a four-year school.
“What part of illegal don’t you understand?” ask opponents of the tuition break. They say the illegal immigrants will displace American citizens from slots at the schools, and the program will cost the state millions more than the $3.5 million legislative analysts said it will cost in a few years. That initial estimate was likely a low-ball figure, since only Montgomery College would own up to granting resident tuition rates to all local high school graduates, regardless of their immigration status.
The cost of the new benefit at a time of severe budget cuts was one of the reasons even a few liberal delegates, like Dan Morhaim and his colleagues from Owings Mills, voted against the measure.
The votes in the House were fairly close — 74–66 and 74–65, with 71 votes needed for passage. All Republicans voted against the bill, as did the Democrats from more conservative swing districts such as Dels. Steve DeBoy and James Malone, who represent Elkridge and southwest Baltimore County. In Anne Arundel County, Democratic Dels. Pam Beidle and Ted Sophocleus voted against the measure, as did Sen. Ed DeGrange from their district.
Whatever the outcome of the signature, opponents of in-state tuition for illegal immigrants have vowed to file suit, as citizens from other states have done.
Talk of Gas Tax Hike Evaporates
The talk of passing a gasoline tax hike in the fall special session of the legislature has died down as gas prices at the pump have risen. That’s according to Senate President Mike Miller, who has long supported a gas tax increase for transportation projects. That doesn’t mean the state doesn’t need the money; it just means there’s no political will to raise taxes when people are spending $50-plus to fill up their Honda Accords and Toyota Camrys, not to mention their SUVs.
And don’t expect any help from the feds, who are having their own budget battles. Gus Bauman, the chairman of Maryland Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation Funding, told his group last month that “Congress will basically ignore the transportation bill.
“It’s not going to happen,” Bauman said. “It means each state is going to be left to its own devices.”
As has often been noted, the only tax hike uniformly supported by the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, Greater Baltimore Committee and other business groups is the gasoline tax or some other form of vehicle levy to pay for highway and transit improvements. And as Gov. Martin O’Malley told the blue ribbon commission at a meeting in Columbia last month, it is “one tax that the public unanimously opposes” and state legislators refuse to support.
Contrasting Speakers for Dems, GOP
It was hard to miss the contrast in speakers between the Democratic Jefferson-Jackson Dinner May 26 and the Howard County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner a week later.
The Democrats had House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, the majority leader until last fall’s Republican sweep. Hoyer reminisced a bit about his election to the state Senate in 1966 at the age of 27. Aside from a two-and-a-half-year break after he ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 1978, Hoyer has been in elected office for almost 45 years, just like another state legislator elected in 1966 — Ben Cardin, now the junior U.S. senator. Cardin was a mere 23 and fresh out of law school.
Howard County Republicans, on the other hand, hosted Herman Cain, 66, a Tea Party favorite who made his name as a fast food executive and has never held elected office anywhere.
Howard County Executive Ken Ulman is a Democrat in the tradition of Hoyer and Cardin. He got elected to the county council at 28, and like the other two, he was ambitious — but also accomplished — at a young age and didn’t wait to pay his dues to move up. His name is now routinely mentioned as a possible candidate for governor or some other higher office as he continues to raise money, despite the term limits in his current post.
Ulman has a strong ally in the O’Malley-Brown administration, which chooses to spotlight him at public events, like last month’s rollout of the Health Benefits Exchange, a key component of federal health care reform. Howard County General Hospital’s Wellness Center was chosen for the announcement, ostensibly because Ulman and the county have worked aggressively to drive down the number of uninsured people here. But Howard County residents have high incomes and a comparatively low unemployment rate, and in the current system, that means a lot more residents are covered with health insurance.
Hoyer and Cardin, skilled spokespersons of the Democratic agenda, are reminders that even if you start out young, if you perform, and your elders recognize your talents, you can go from the young whippersnapper to the older whipsnapper.
Len Lazarick is editor and publisher of MarylandReporter.com, your one-stop shop of news about state government and politics. He can be reached at Len@MarylandReporter.com. Sign up for Maryland Reporter’s daily newsletter of original stories and links to other articles about state government and politics from more than 40 different sites.
