On these two days, Governor O’Malley, Lt. Governor Brown, Senate President Mike Miller and House Speaker Mike Busch signed into law almost 500 enactments of the Assembly, ending the journey of each from idea, to bill, to law. Supporters of the approved legislation attend the signing ceremony, receiving a pen and a photograph to commemorate its passage. (See MAIF’s photo!) Sometimes, there are no public victors available to celebrate a legislative success, and sadly, the bill becomes an “orphan”.
Bill signing day is a marvel of government efficiency. Yes, really. Over 200 bills are signed in a formal ceremony that usually involves the sponsor and citizens who worked to secure its passage. For some signings, the crowd is large. For instance, the so-called Dream Act, which allows undocumented Marylanders to receive in-state tuition rates at the state’s community colleges, involved dozens of activists. The bill was “signed” four times to accommodate the over 100 supporters that wanted to be a part of the picture.
Bill signing ceremonies are highly choreographed. The day before the event, a list of legislation to be signed is posted by the Governor’s office. The next day, those supporters interested in the photo op assemble on the first floor of the State House while the elected officials are corralled in the Governor’s ceremonial office on the second floor.
How can we know all of this inside information? It just so happens that the Session Scoop team was in the trenches. Armed with a list of bills, the team helped direct each elected official into the correct photo. This is way harder than it sounds. First, you have to recognize the official (they hate not being recognized). Second, you have to determine which bill the official wants to be photographed in. This is a big challenge.
Why? Three reasons. First, the intel is lacking. The powers that be provide a list of bill numbers, in the order they will be signed. However, if a bill was cross-filed (introduced in the House and Senate) and both bills passed, they are signed simultaneously. This means that when someone comes for the photo of a House bill, you have to figure out the Senate bill number so they can get in the right picture. But it gets far more confusing.
Another problem that plagues this process can only be described as the brain drain that follows the end of session. Many of the officials have forgotten (or possibly never knew) the bill numbers of legislation they worked on over the past six months. One official told Session Scoop he was there for the “phosphates” bill, but didn’t know the bill number. In fact, there wasn’t even a bill throughout the entire 2011 session with the word “phosphates” in the title. Pretty frustrating, right?
And still, chaos continues its manic reign right through the minutes leading up to the big photo. Bill signings start at 10:00 a.m. Between 9:50 a.m. - 10:05 a.m. hoards of politicians sashay into the room prepping for their “close up”. This creates a perfect storm of confusion: lots of people looking for direction and only a few brave souls providing some.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people wait on the first floor, listening for their bill to be called. A bill number is called out to the crowd; interested supporters surge forward and follow a red-jacketed youth volunteer up to the second floor. As they enter the ceremonial office, they are coupled with the appropriate politician. Eventually, supporters stand proudly behind the signers, for the official photo. This process is repeated hundreds of times each day.
As each group entered, our team checked bill numbers and alerted the appropriate elected officials. During this time, many of the elected officials grow impatient waiting for their bill to be called. Many don’t understand why their bills can’t be called by sponsor, instead of by bill number, and everyone wants to know why it can’t all happen NOW! There is something funny and chaotic about dozens of adults all trying to go first, and charging that the system is unfair.
Not surprisingly, some of them learn how to “cheat.” They have their staff go downstairs and get their bills called out all in a row. This makes the Master bill list upstairs instantly outdated – leading to more confusion, or as the Session Scoop team thinks if it – “fun”. Fun because in the confusion, the politicians looked to our team for help. (This role reversal is sweet, because for 90 days we had to beg them for help.) Enjoying the power, we helped some, confused others, and asked for contributions (one of those clauses is false).
Somehow, despite the confusion, it all works. The elected officials are happy with assistance we’ve provided, some even hang out and talk with us as they await their next photo. We get a valuable opportunity to build relationships on behalf of MAIF.
If a bill is called on the first floor and no public supporters gather behind the red-jacketed volunteer, it is scratched from the photo list and stopped before it reaches the second floor. This complicates things upstairs. Even though there’s no interest on the first floor, an elected official might be waiting on the orphaned bill on the second floor. What a mess.
To get the “orphan bills” and the elected officials together in a photo, the team must revisit the bill number guessing game with the elected official, “I don’t know the number, but it involves school busses….” And so it continues. Once the orphans are identified, they are reunited with the elected official who gets a prime, solo spot in the picture.
Somehow it all works. Volunteering gave the Session Scoop team a headache, but built some wonderful connections with elected officials, their constituents, and family members.
