Baltimore County residents will have at least two chances to give their opinion on all legislation prior to a County Council vote, according to new rules proposed to improve public participation and transparency.
Led by Democratic Councilman Pat Young, a group of council members on Tuesday reiterated their support for a resolution that would amend the council’s rules of procedure.
The rule changes, if approved by the council, would not create any new meetings. Instead, they would formalize and change the procedure for when the council can vote on a bill and when amendments to a bill must be introduced.
Under the proposed changes, the public must have the opportunity to comment on legislation twice before it is voted on. Mechanically, that means a bill introduced during one legislative session cannot be voted on until it’s been discussed and considered at two council work sessions.
Young said the changes would allow the current council and future councils to better engage with the public and operate with more transparency.
“The transformative power of technology and communication [and] embracing modern tools allows us to better fulfill our duty and keep the public informed in real-time,” Young said.
Read More
Young first introduced the rule changes Feb. 5. In the spirit of those proposed rules, Young said the council would not vote on the resolution approving the rules until March 5. The new rules would take effect in April, if approved.
A council resolution like this one does not need to be signed by the county executive.
Council Chairman Izzy Patoka, a Democrat, said this resolution showed transparency as an action, not just as words.
“It really is a good piece of work,” he said.
The proposed rule changes also restrict how council members can introduce amendments to bills. Under the new rules, an amendment could not be introduced during a council meeting, except in extraordinary circumstances or for technical, nonsubstantive changes.
Instead, a council member would have to share amendments with the other members and post them to the council’s website by 8 a.m. the day of the meeting where the legislation was scheduled to be considered.
That process would be in sharp contrast to a December controversy, when then-Chairman Julian Jones circulated draft amendments last minute to water down legislation that strengthened the powers the Baltimore County Office of the Inspector General. The bill became law and Jones’ amendments were never introduced.
During the press conference, Jones, a Democrat, said the council had made “leaps and bounds” of improvements when it comes to engaging the public in the legislative process.
“This is yet another step moving forward to open up our processes to the community,” Jones said.
:format(jpg)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/baltimorebanner/YVHK7LTW7ZF5JALRMPF2TJ53WE.jpg)
The rule changes would also require meeting agendas and related documents are available to the council members and the public at least five days before regular meetings.
Council members Todd Crandell, a Dundalk Republican, and Mike Ertel, a Towson Democrat, said the resolution would make their jobs easier, too. In the past, the timing of amendments has led to confusion, they said.
“Sometimes we feel we don’t have the time to understand the sometimes unintended consequences of a bill that we’re about to vote on,” Crandell said.
Ertel said the resolution makes the legislative process better for the council, too, and allows them to have more robust debate.
And if adopted, the resolution would replace gendered language like “councilman,” “chairman,” and “Mr.” with gender-neutral language like “councilmember” and “chair.”
Young said they added those changes because a previous piece of legislation had already replaced gendered terms with gender-neutral terms in the county code — but these council guidelines were overlooked, so the body decided to take care of that issue with this resolution.
Plus, Young said, the council has had women serve as chair before, and “It [the appendix] was referring to speakers in front of the council as ‘he’ and that’s clearly not the case [all the time].”
Republican Councilman David Marks, the council’s longest-serving member, said the body had steadily moved toward greater transparency and openness.
“Now we are taking a step forward that I think is greatly important,” said Marks, a Perry Hall Republican.
Councilman Wade Kach, the council’s third Republican, was not able to attend the Tuesday press conference but is supportive of the resolution, Young said.
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/baltimorebanner/8ea0251c-96ca-40cb-bed2-1ff6b06ff7ea.png)
Cody Boteler is a reporter on The Banner’s Express Desk, reporting on breaking news, trending stories and interesting things in and around Baltimore. His work has appeared in The Baltimore Sun, USA TODAY, Baltimore magazine and others.
:format(jpg)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/baltimorebanner/TBZL5637TBERBJ7OFK4HA554UI.png)
:format(jpg)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/baltimorebanner/GTCCVJZJVNETVJQAABDIYOSCW4.JPG)
:format(jpg)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/baltimorebanner/C5RNK4UYEZHJ5KRAE5TAXBVZEM.jpg)
:format(jpg)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/baltimorebanner/SAIF3W6YERGZFPARMH64PQNMEM.jpg)