MoCo Delegation Hearing on Local Bills

Last night the MoCo Delegation (8 State Senators and 24 State Delegates, most of whom were present) held a hearing on bills that have been introduced for the coming Maryland General Assembly session in Annapolis that only relate to Montgomery County.

I testified in support of Delegate Al Carr's bill to provide for elections in case of vacancies in the office of members of the MoCo Board of Education when the remaining term is 3 years or more. I pointed out the the MoCo Charter Review Commission is working on a similar amendment for vacancies in the office of MoCo County Executive.

The major issue of the evening, taking many hours, was discussion of two issues concerning liquor sales in MoCo. The first was whether MoCo liquor special orders should be allowed without going through the DLC (Department of Liquor Control). MoCo is the only county in the U.S. (out of about 3,000) that by law requires all liquor sales to go through a government agency.

The second, and more controversial, was a bill by Delegates Bill Frick, Kirill Reznik, and others, to hold a referendum on the MoCo ballot in November 2016 on whether the voters want to continue the MoCo government liquor monopoly or not. Some feel that our county government should not be in this business, as we are the only such county, and that consumers would benefit if liquor sales in our county were made by private companies, as in most other parts of the country.

Opponents, including County Executive Ike Leggett, feel that it would be too much of a financial burden for MoCo to lose the income from the DLC, estimated at different amounts by different people but generally referred to as about $30 million. Others who opposed this bill forcefully included Mcgeo, the union that represents the employees of the DLC. They were in the county council hearing room in force and engaged in demonstrations to support their position.

What happens now? Both bills will probably be introduced in Annapolis, the one to revise DLC to allow private parties to engages in sales of special wines and beer, and the one to have a referendum on whether or not to allow all liquor to be sold in MoCo by private companies in addition to DLC. There will be more hearings in Annapolis, probably in February and/or March 2016, and then the Maryland State Senate and House of Delegates will vote on these bills and if they pass they will go to the Governor for signature or veto.

Based on the discussion last night, there is no doubt that these will be very contentious issues.