July 22, 2009
Commissioner seeks broad changes in state legislation
It's not too early for Frederick County Commissioner John L. Thompson Jr. to start thinking about January.
Thompson has been sending out ideas for consideration in the county's 2010 legislative package. The package will be passed along to state lawmakers for them to introduce in the Maryland General Assembly session that begins in January.
He released four of those proposals Monday morning.
They included topics on everything from welfare reform to boosting recycling rates.
His keystone proposal, released earlier this month, calls for a truce to stop local governments from bidding for new businesses through economic development programs such as cash grants for businesses that are relocating or expanding.
That proposal is nicknamed Westphalia after the treaty that ended the Thirty Years' War in 1648. It was in response to a cash grant that the county and state gave to Life Technologies Corp. to help with its expansion in Frederick County.
If the county commissioners agree to move his proposals forward, they will be considered by Frederick County's delegation of state lawmakers.
The county traditionally starts discussing the package in August, culminating with presenting them to the delegation during a legislative breakfast later in the year.
So far, county attorney John Mathias said he has received proposals only from Thompson. In August, he will ask the commissioners, county departments and the public to submit their ideas.
Thompson has said he plans to submit more ideas this year than previous ones. That is saying quite a bit for the county official who always introduces more than other commissioners.
His reason for introducing this year is because he said this may be his last chance. The commissioners' terms are up in 2010, and he is not sure what his future will hold.
Thompson is thinking broadly with the proposals.
For instance, his welfare reform proposal is based on an idea put forth by the Nixon administration in 1969.
Thompson is concerned that Frederick County spends millions of dollars on programs designed to provide nonmedical services to low-income families.
"While the programs are well-intentioned, I do not believe they are efficient," Thompson said. "Most of the money we spend on those programs inures to the benefit of the bureaucracies who administer them, rather than the intended beneficiaries."
Instead, he is proposing that the government provide work-related cash incentives like a negative income tax.
His legislative proposal calls for Frederick County to host a pilot program that would change the way the county spends federal, state and local money on poor people. The total amount of dollars would remain the same.
Another proposal would establish a mandatory beverage container return system in Frederick County, similar to programs in other states including Connecticut and Vermont.
If that were enacted, consumers would pay a deposit, often a nickel, as they bought a beverage, and get that money back when they returned the bottle.
Thompson thinks this would increase recycling rates and help eliminate the need for an incinerator, which was recently approved by the commissioners.
He also proposed an amendment to the state constitution that would prohibit different treatment on the basis of race, including preferential programs like affirmative action.
That proposal was based on a 1996 referendum in California, Proposition 209.
Thompson is also pushing for a state constitutional amendment that would prevent state and local governments from taking land by eminent domain for private purposes such as redevelopment.
Similar proposals have been tried on a statewide basis in the past, but this proposal would be limited to Frederick County.
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=92903
