Tick-tock in the House, ticked off in the Senate and reading between the lines, in political notes

House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George and Anne Arundel) is warning of longer days and weekend sessions so the House can continue its work. (File photo Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters)

Longer debates on bills in the House could cast a shadow over delegates’ after-hours and weekend plans.

The job is backing up. House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk told the chamber she is prepared to do whatever it takes to ensure the legislation moves forward.

“We have 60-something days left, so I want you to plan ahead with your calendars,” Peña-Melnyk told the House of Representatives at the end of Friday’s session.

Earlier this week, the Parliament deliberated for four hours. House Bill 488Congressional redistricting bill. There have also been long, sometimes heated debates over legislation banning police from wearing masks, banning 287(g) agreements and limiting compensation for utility executives. That’s a tactic, Peña-Melnyk said, not to mention procedural delays imposed by Republicans that could lead to rule changes.

“We are going to be really busy in the coming weeks,” Peña-Melnyk said. “So for planning purposes, don’t be surprised if we’re here late at night. Don’t be surprised if we have to come in on Saturday. Don’t be surprised if we have to come in Monday morning because we won’t be behind on work.”

Senate subtext

According to one version of a quote attributed to Woody Allen, eighty percent of life is just emerging.

Those percentages are rising dramatically in the Maryland Senate after a protest from Sen. Arthur Ellis (D-Charles), who shows up and what it means. Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) appeared to address the issue by calling for an eventual majority vote during Friday’s pro forma session.

Need to get in touch?

Have a news tip?

CONTACT US

“The Maryland Senate will remain in session with three members physically present in pro forma session,” Ferguson said.

For those not fluent in the Senate subtext, the message of senators being “physically present” was this: Being in the chamber is what matters. One senator whose target audience wasn’t there Friday might be Ellis.

Ellis walked out of the Senate chamber Thursday after demanding a vote on House Bill 488, a congressional redistricting bill that has been bloated in committee. Although the precise nature of Ellis’s protest later in life is less clear, it appears to include his decision not to register his presence during quorum meetings. At least 24 senators must be present in regular meetings for the chamber to do business.

Thus, the value of Ellis’s decision not to register his presence during the quorum call may have been all but eliminated by Senate rules, which state that the presence of a sufficient number of senators to constitute a quorum is sufficient, whether they attend or not.

According to Senate Rules, the important thing is to be there.

One man’s protest goes national

Ellis made his one-senator protest nationally on Thursday night’s Roland Martin Unfiltered show, with a nearly 13-minute appearance just a few hours after his chamber protest.

Ellis, who wanted Ferguson to bring up a redistricting bill to congresses for a vote, did not back down, saying leadership objected to “the lack of discussion on this issue, even in the back rooms.”

“We hear about back room politics, I am in back rooms and even the discussion in the back room was silence,” he said.
Since arriving in the House of Representatives earlier this week, the redistricting bill has been met in the Senate Rules Committee, where Ellis is vice chairman.

Ellis said he felt compelled to speak out.

“And so I had to do a really deep dive into history, our ancestors, how they stood up and how they were able and willing to put themselves out there, to be ostracized, to be beaten down. I mean, it’s amazing how John Lewis and all these ladies who really pioneered it – Pauli Murray and Fannie Lou Hamer – how they stepped up, left their comfort zones to make a statement that needed to be made at that time,” he said. “And I believe that my protest in the Senate today was the statement I needed to make at this very, very important time in American history.”

Ferguson remains a staunch opponent of the redistricting effort.

“I can’t understand why the Senate president did what he did,” Ellis told Martin. “But the thing is, the Senate president is not my boss. Other senators may call him boss, that’s what they say, but he’s not my boss. He didn’t hire me, and he can’t fire me for this powerful position.”

“I will never, ever be hired by a white man, and I’m 64 years old, fighting for a promotion in the Air Force, fighting discrimination, working for a civilian agency and the federal government. I’m being harassed in every way, hindering my advancement. And many of my constituents have the same experience, whether they work for a private company or the federal government or the state government. So I was sent here to be the independent voice that says I have zero bosses in the capital, the state capital, Annapolis.

So far, Ferguson appears to have majority support on the 34-member board, excluding Ellis.

“I guess for me it’s all about having the courage and voting. If you don’t want to do it, have courage,” Ellis said. “Debate. Vote, yea or nay, and listen; if it fails in Maryland, as it did in Indiana, so be it. But if it gets to the Senate, it won’t fail in Maryland. It’s guaranteed not to fail.”

So far, Ellis is the only Democratic senator to speak openly on the floor in support of the bill. He told reporters Thursday he wasn’t the only one but declined to name names. He repeated the claim on Martin’s show, saying others had “said that in private.”

“So far today, I’m the only person who has stood up and said, ‘No, we won’t be oppressed,'” Ellis said. “We will not remain silent. We will not roll around in central Maryland and play dead. We will use every tool at our disposal to bring this issue to the fore and cause this level of disruption.”

Being there, part 2

Sen. William C. Smith Jr. during Thursday’s Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee meeting. (D-Montgomery) paused to make an unusual apology to lobbyists, community leaders and others who showed up to testify or simply attend the hearing.

SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR BUSINESS POSSIBLE

That’s because about five of the 11 committee members were absent after the panel discussed several bills in just over three hours. The entire meeting lasted almost 4.5 hours.

“As the chair of this committee, I would like to apologize on behalf of the committee for the inability of some of our members to attend.” Smith in question. “We’re all running for office. We wanted this job. You’re all coming here from all over the state to demand change in government.”

He continued: “Part of our primary responsibility is to be here to hear your testimony. I know some members have medical emergencies, they’re dealing with family issues. Some members go to committees just to testify on other bills. Obviously that’s part of our responsibility, but we owe it to you to be here as much as possible when we’re not participating in our other official duties during the session. We’re going to try to do better. That’s my promise.”

A few seconds later, a woman walked up to the podium and said, “Thank you for saying that.”