Whoever said that the 2021 Session of the Maryland General Assembly would be narrowly focused on a few issues because of the COVID pandemic could not have been more wrong. Legislators considered 2,359 bills and resolutions, compared with 2,497 bills and resolutions during the 2020 Session. They remained in Session for the full 90 days, unlike 2020 when their work was cut short due to the onset of the pandemic. The annual meeting began at noon on Wednesday, January 10th and concluded at midnight on Monday, April 12th.
The Maryland Convention of States Action (COSA) resolution was filed and the Maryland COSA team was engaged. During the course of the session, the team held events and organized targeted campaigns.
Our objective: influencing the legislature to support adding Maryland to the growing list of states (currently 15) calling for an Article V Convention of States to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution that will 1) impose fiscal restraints upon; 2) limit the power and jurisdiction of, and 3) limit the terms of office for officials of the federal government and the members of Congress.
Citizen Action Day
Citizen Action Day is an annual event typically held in the Delegate Office Building in Annapolis. The team invites every General Assembly member to come and hear about COSA from local and national team leaders. In addition to the legislators, all COSA supporters from the entire state are invited to attend and engage directly with their state representatives.
Because of the restrictions imposed on gatherings, the COSA Maryland team employed some technology (and creativity) to ensure our Citizen Action Day event would occur. A handful of local and national COSA team members hosted an on-site event with limited in-person attendance at Harry Brown’s in Annapolis. The COSA technology team set up a Zoom-format meeting for supporters and legislators to view and listen-in on the day’s presentations. Legislators (both in-person and via Zoom) had the opportunity to hear from their constituents and interact as well. Though not ideal, the event was a success and saw about 100 supporters able to interact and express their support for our resolution.
COSA Information Delivered
Part of a typical Citizen Action Day event is the info-pack delivery to all General Assembly members. Every state senator and delegate is presented a personalized packet of information about COSA, including our resolution and specific information about the number of supporters in their district. Typically, these packets are hand-delivered to the office of each legislator by supporters from their district after the presentations of Citizen Action Day. Because of the restrictions on visitors in the Delegate and Senate office buildings, this could not be done in the 2021 session. However, members of the COSA Maryland team spent a Saturday afternoon making sure each personalized packet was addressed and ready to mail to all 188 members of the General Assembly.
Joint Resolution 6
COSA Maryland lead-sponsor, Delegate Mark Fisher (Dist. 27C), filed our resolution (HJ6) and it was assigned to the Rules and Executive Nominations Committee. This committee will then determine whether the resolution is worthy of a debate and vote by the entire House of Delegates. This process includes a committee hearing where testimony by those in favor of, and opposed to, the resolution is heard.
The COSA Maryland team had 16 local volunteers and a COSA National representative testify in favor of the resolution. The testimonies of the Maryland volunteers were impactful. They were informative, impassioned, and professional. There was no opposition testimony at the hearing.
Supporters Becoming Activists
The COSA Maryland team employed many resources made available from the COSA National team. One such tool is the COS Action App. The app is a way to stay informed with national and local COSA news. However, it is also a very powerful tool to influence legislators. The TelePatriot function of the app turns any willing COSA Maryland supporter into a citizen activist. Our TelePatriot volunteers are able to accept a ‘mission’ and then simply open it in the app (who to call and a phone script simply pops up right on your device).
In addition to phone calls, the team prides itself on the effect of hand-written letters. Though email can be an effective communication tool, a hand-written letter from a constituent to a legislator has an incalculable affect beyond the typical email message.
Some Stats
The leaders, volunteers and supporters of COSA Maryland engaged in numerous messaging campaigns during the 2021 legislative session.
Over 400 hand-written letters were sent reaching all 188 members of the general assembly.
In a session-long campaign asking all COSA Maryland supporters to message their representatives in Annapolis: 1,422 messages were sent by 428 constituents to 169 delegates.
In a campaign specific to the members of the Rules and Executive Nominations Committee: 149 messages were sent by 117 constituents to 20 delegates.
The Results
Unfortunately, the Rules and Executive Nominations Committee never voted on whether our resolution (HJ6) was worthy to move forward and receive more discussion and a floor vote. That is not to say there were not victories for the COSA Maryland team this session.
The team has grown the number of Maryland supporters to over 23,000. The local leadership is now over a dozen volunteers. There are almost 100 TelePatriot and at-need volunteers.
So, what will it take to continue to move forward? How do we get our resolution out of committee and to the floor for a vote? How do we engage and influence more legislators? How do we spread the word about COSA here in Maryland?
You. All this team is missing… is you!
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