On The Inside Politics Ball Game On HB 235

I'm tired. I gave it my all. Even though I took public accommodations out, there were people in the transgender community who were upset that I took it out and wouldn't support it. Can you imagine, I would have never been able to get it out with public accommodations. You see how the bill is treated. I hope that now they respect the process and understand what it took and how difficult it is to prepare and argue for a bill like this, because the support is not there.

~Del. Joseline A. Pena-Melnyk in Metro Weekly's March 30, 2011 article Maryland Gender Identity Bill Sponsor Says of Senate President: "He Refused to See Me"

Sen. Jamie Raskin, who sits on Judicial Proceedings and supports the bill, offered a theory on what's happening:

"I think the [Senate President Mike Miller] perceives the disappointment of the Senate in the House's failure to pass the marriage bill," the Montgomery County Democrat said. "There is lingering disappointment."

~Sen. Jamie Raskin, in the Baltimore Sun's March 31st article

Senators Kasemeyer (D-12), Klausmeier (D-8), McFadden (D-45), Middleton (D-28), Robey (D-13) and Zirkin (D-11) were expected to support ending discrimination based on gender identity in housing, employment, and credit, but voted instead to recommit the anti-discrimination bill.

So what happened?

From Transgender protection bill faces steep climb in Md. Senate:

Miller agreed to move [HB 235, Sen. Brian Frosh] said, after hearing from his House colleagues, but added, "At this late date, I don't anticipate any progress on this bill."

Miller said he would not support the measure if it comes to the floor. "I don't like discrimination of any kind, shape or form, but I think we have other bills that need to move forward."

Senate President Miller thought there was enough time for all of the bills that came from the House of Delegates this year. From Gazette's Down to the wire:

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach said he is not worried about the volume of work facing his chamber, which has moved at a faster clip than the House of Delegates for the past three months.

Sen. Zirkin put this out on Facebook as justification for changing his vote from the Judicial Proceedings Committee to Senate floor:

The bill didn't have the votes to win on the Senate floor. Not even close. And there was going to be a filibuster that would have ended up killing a lot of important bills. It would have been unfair to tie everything up for a bill that would have been killed.

Well, that isn't exactly true. That's what you tell constituents and activists that that you can't tell the actual truth.

One would think that Sen. Miller, as a Democrat, would take civil rights for action. But for those who don't know, he's essentially a Blue Dog Democrat.

But Sen. Miller did make promises.

[More below the fold.]
Dana Beyer in Metro Weekly's Maryland Senate Prez Tells Advocates He Will Expedite Gender Identity Bill If It Passes Committee:

"Senator Thomas Miller (D-Calvert and Prince George's Counties) told us that if Equality Maryland could show him the votes on the Senate floor, if we get out of this committee, he will expedite our Senate vote," Beyer said.

The activists for HB 235 did show him the votes, and there were even enough votes for cloture of a filibuster.

Hints are found in various articles.

From the Washington Blade's Trans rights bill likely dead in MD:

According to Madaleno, Miller's explanation to him on why he diverted the gender identity bill was similar to Miller's explanation to the Baltimore Sun on Tuesday.

The Sun reported that Miller expressed concern that the Senate had attempted to advance the gender identity bill several times in the past four years and it has died due to lack of support in that chamber.

"There are not the votes to move it in committee," he told the Sun, referring to the Judicial Proceedings Committee. "At this point in time I'd say the chances of passage of that bill are next to none," the Sun quoted him as saying.

But there was the votes to take the bill out of committee.

From the Baltimore Sun's Transgender discrimination bill subject to discrimination, some say that may best explain what happened:

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller offered his take yesterday: "At this point in time I'd say the chances of passage of that bill are next to none." He added that his chamber "spent a lot of time" on "important social issues" only to see them die in the House, an apparent reference to the same-sex marriage legislation.

..."It's all up to the president," said Sen. Kathy Klausmeier, the Baltimore County Democrat who chairs Rules.

..."I'm trying to work with the president to get it out," she said. If Rules does vote out the bill, it would move to the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, which could hold a hearing on it, vote and send it to the full chamber.

Sen. Jamie Raskin, who sits on Judicial Proceedings and supports the bill, offered a theory on what's happening:

"I think the president perceives the disappointment of the Senate in the House's failure to pass the marriage bill," the Montgomery County Democrat said. "There is lingering disappointment."

He added: "We shouldn't express our disappointment in the failure of one major civil rights bill by killing another one."

There is this from Sen. Miller, on his website's Mike's Record webpage, states:

Senator Miller believes protecting our children from predators should be a top priority for Maryland's law enforcement community.

If any belief of Sen. Miller's influenced him to twist arms against HB 235, it would likely not be his arguing that HB 235 wasn't a complete enough bill without public accommodation, but more likely that he personally buys into the "bathroom bill" meme -- the meme where trans people are described as predatory threats to women and children in public restrooms. But, none of those who I've talked to believe that is the case.

I've heard from inside sources on background that Sen. Miller had approached senators to vote against HB 235, but the senators he approached didn't want to kill the bill outright. Sen. Miller had sufficient power to have the senators he approached have HB 235 recommitted, and then have the bill passed to 2012 -- essentially, he engineered the clock running out on the bill for 2011.

There was no reason at all that even if the gender identity bill didn't have the votes to pass on the Senate floor that a vote could have been taken,  and then Sen. Miller point out that there really weren't the votes in the Senate for HB 235. If Sen. Miller was so motivated to push the bill through the Senate, he could have reigned in any attempt at filibuster in the same way he reigned in the filibuster attempt for the marriage equality bill. However, but Sen. Miller chose not to do that.

So, apparently neither the "bathroom bill" meme or the "transgender kindergartener teacher" meme had anything directly to do with the bill's failure -- although the "bathroom bill" meme did have something to do with why public accommodations were stripped from HB 235. Neither did the arguments from the transgender activists who argued against the bill, saying HB 235 should be killed because the bill didn't include public accommodation protections.

No, from what I've heard from insiders and read in various publications, the failure of HB 235 appears to be about power and the "inside politics" ball game. The exact reason Sen. Miller made effort for the bill not to pass the Senate isn't known, but most insiders I've talked to believe that the reason the bill was shelved until 2012 was over the Sen. Miller's frustration that the House of Delegates didn't go on the record and take a vote on the marriage equality bill. This opinion is also born out in statements from legislators and insiders in the publications I've read.

And it's apparent that at least one senator is "extremely disappointed" that the Senate didn't have an up or down vote on HB 235. Via Metro Weekly's Maryland Out Gay Sen. Madaleno "Extremely Disappointed" By Move Killing Gender Identity Bill, the statement by Sen. Madaleno on HB 235:

I am extremely disappointed by the Senate's action today to send HB 235 back to the Judicial Proceedings Committee. The twisted and unfair process HB 235 had to go through to even make it to the Senate floor mars the Senate's otherwise outstanding work this year. The Senate's treatment of this legislation will be remembered for a long time by the LGBT community and Marylanders who believe in equal rights for all.

After an overwhelming vote in favor of HB 235 by the House of Delegates, this bill was inappropriately referred to the Senate Rules Committee, which delayed action for nearly a week. After successful votes in the Rules Committee and Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, the full Senate never had an opportunity to debate this issue because of today's vote to recommit.

The Senate's action today means that transgender individuals in Maryland will continue to be denied housing on the basis of their gender identity. Every homeless transgender person that dies on the street will do so because of the Senate's failure to pass HB 235. Every transgender individual who cannot provide for themselves or their family because they are denied employment based on their gender identity will do so because of the Senate's failure to pass HB 235.

I remain firmly committed to seeing this landmark civil rights legislation pass the Maryland General Assembly. Before next session, I will pre-file a new version of the Gender Identity Antidiscrimination Act that includes provisions for housing and employment, as well as public accommodations in the hope it can receive a full debate and vote in the Senate before the last day of the session.

In the final analysis, one of the things that happened transgender community and their civil rights issues are much stronger than they were at the beginning of this legislative session. Lobbyists have noticed that one of the most marginalized communities -- the transgender community -- in Maryland had a bill for civil rights make it to the floors of both legislative bodies in Maryland when most communities and social issue lobbyists didn't get there communities' bills to the floors of both legislative bodies.

In other words, HB 235 went much further in Maryland's legislative bodies than was expected, and that indicates that trans community has more power than it was thought trans community had.

And too, transgender community members -- both for and against HB 235 -- are now awake, and with hard work and sacrifice that power provides real opportunity -- and real possibility -- that transgender people will have antidiscrimination protections for housing, employment, and public accommodations protections seriously considered in the relatively near future.

Sen. Miller knows this. So does Del Maldonado, who according to Dana Beyer, gave her a hug after the vote in the Senate. And, all the legislators and the myriad of lobbyists who had no dog in the gender identity bill fight who watched the drama on HB 235 unfold, know it too.

Dana Beyer on the political inside, and currently on the political outside, but with possibility of increased power on the inside, Jenna Fischetti and Dana LaRocca (and a number of their peers) all have gained powerful visibility in Maryland.

And in politics, the perception of having real power really matters.