Hidden beneath the crush of gas tax, gun bills and death penalty repeal that the Maryland General Assembly is wrestling with this year are smaller ones that don’t get much notice. And as time grows short, many of them die. WYPR’s Mary Rose Madden explores what happened to one of those bills, The Home Act.
The measure, which would have forbidden landlords to discriminate against tenants based on their source of income, had occupied hours of the Senate’s time when Senator James Rosapepe, a College Park Democrat, moved to send it back to the committee where it originated, essentially killing the bill.
Rosapepe said he supported the measure, but it had “mechanical problems.” Senators were offering repeated amendments and the debate on the floor was not slowing down.
“It’s hard to amend bills in a careful way on the floor. It’s better to do that in committee. That’s what committees are for. That’s why I thought having the committee take a look at it again and try to fix some of the problems and bring it out – I think there will be strong support.”
The Home Act has been a source of contention for years. Some say five years, some say 20. This year, it went farther than ever; it made it out of a Senate committee.
Jamie Raskin, a Montgomery County Democrat, was the Senate sponsor. He said the law would have protected social security beneficiaries, mothers with child support checks, veterans and people with Section 8 vouchers, a federal housing subsidy program.
“It was quickly made just about Section 8. And I don’t run away from the fact that there are a lot of working poor people on Section 8 who need this program in order to get housing. We shouldn’t demonize them, stereotype them, vilify them. These are our people.”
Raskin said he and other supporters were fighting myths and stereotypes.
“There was a huge amount of mythology and disinformation on the Senate floor when we were debating this.”
There were claims that the federal agency that runs the Section 8 program owed some Baltimore and Anne Arundel County landlords tens of thousands of dollars. Raskin said they weren’t true.
“On the contrary, when they looked at the books they found there was actually money owed to the housing authority.”
Some supporters were surprised by the move to kill the bill. But opponents said it was the right thing to do this late in the session.
Senate President Mike Miller said if local jurisdictions like Baltimore City and Prince Georges County wanted this legislation, they could pass it themselves, like Montgomery, Howard, Frederick counties have. And, he said, the bill got as far as it did this year because Catholic Charities lobbied for it. But it wasn’t enough.
“It’s a week and half left in the session and the bill was on the senate floor all week long. I mean it got debated vigorously. Everybody had some knowledge about it. Some people said it was a civil rights bill and others said it wasn’t. They wanted to talk and talk and talk. We don’t have time to deal with this this late in the session.”
Miller blamed Delegate Maggie Macintosh, chair of the House Environmental Matters committee, who didn’t schedule a hearing on the House version of the bill.
"“How come you didn’t take it up? Where are the votes in your committee?” The reason is- she doesn’t take it up is because she didn’t have the votes in her committee.”
MacIntosh said she does have the votes. She was just waiting for the Senate to act. But she hasn’t given up.
“I’m going to reach out to both sides and see if they can work out some sort of solution over the summer so we can come back next year to pass it quickly on both sides.”
Supporters say they were not disappointed; there’s always fierce resistance to fair housing laws and the conversation went farther than it ever had before.
I’m Mary Rose Madden reporting in Annapolis for 88-1, WYPR.