Maryland Investigators and Security Association Inc. » Legislative News

2010 Maryland Legislative Session

Kathy — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:52:51 +0000

The Maryland Legislative Session is in full swing. It is still early but at this time, the following bills may be of interest:
1. HB 331 – Family Law – Final Protective Order – Global Positioning Monitoring System. Hearing 2/11 Judiciary. Authorizing a judge to order a respondent to wear or carry a global positioning monitoring system device as part of a final protective order if the judge finds by clear and convincing evidence that the respondent presents a risk of abuse to the petitioner; requiring the Department of State Police to monitor a respondent ordered to wear or carry a global positioning monitoring system device under the Act; requiring a judge to describe specifically the locations that the respondent has been ordered to remain away from; etc.
2. HB 336 – Family Law – Grounds for Divorce. Hearing 2/11 Judiciary. This bill will remove the requirement to live separate and apart and only require “no sexual relations”.
3. HB 3 – Business Regulation – Employees Who Carry Firearms – Protective Body Armor. Hearing 2/3 Economic Matters. Requiring an employer to provide protective body armor to an employee who is required to carry a firearm loaded with live rounds; and defining terms.
For more details on any of the above bills, please see the Maryland General Assembly.

A Political Action Committee Created For P.I.’s and Security

Kathy — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 04:03:20 +0000

Today the Senate returned from its spring break recess and tomorrow the House returns. Still, there is good news on the federal lobbying front that I’m pleased to share with you.

I have been retained as director of government affairs for a new national professional association which will be providing legislative and regulatory assistance at the federal level to both state and national professional associations. Many of you in the past you have assisted me, in one capacity or another, in protecting the interests of this profession in Washington. I hope to continue to work with and for you in a similar capacity.

This newly formed organization is Investigative and Security Professionals for Legislative Action (ISPLA). I will be working with a number of well-known professional association leaders in the investigative and security fields, each of whom are committed to ensuring that our profession’s interests are protected from ill-conceived legislation and burdensome regulations.

ISPLA will be fulfilling a need at the federal level that has not been effectively addressed until now by any national association to protect the interests of private investigators and contract security companies. It is forming a non-partisan political action committee, thus creating a mechanism for other national organizations, as well as state associations where there are mutual interests, to participate in lobbying and financially supporting qualified political candidates for office.

The leadership of a number of national and state organizations is deeply committed to providing legislative expertise and financial resources to accomplish this important mission. You are leaders in your respective state associations. Individual colleagues with whom I have worked shoulder to shoulder on legislative issues in the past have also joined this effort. I know you will give the same support and commitment to ISPLA.

With one party in control of not only the Presidency, but the Senate and House, the results are significant changes of leadership and policies in congressional committees and federal agencies. Such a situation offers the opportunity for more adverse legislation and restrictive regulation. ISPLA must be able to accurately assess all contingencies on the legislative and regulatory fronts and be prepared to act swiftly and with our best efforts from all our colleagues that risk being adversely affected by ill-conceived legislation and regulation.

ISLPA will be asking various government agencies and Congress to review existing law and take a cautious approach to restricting access and other measures that may have a significant impact on the judicial system, law enforcement and corporate America. We support the State licensing processes and encourage the enforcement of existing laws, regulations, standards and restrictions governing access to and distribution of personal identifying information.

Still, we expect bills to be offered by members of Congress who are supported by privacy advocates, the ACLU and labor, and bent on curtailing your access to database information under the guise of protecting consumers’ personal identifying information, shielding them from identity theft and Internet phishing, and preventing security breaches. Such legislation seeking to ban the dissemination of information containing the SSN, has already been offered in the 111^th Congress which would effectively shut down information data providers and eliminate credit headers.

Redaction of the SSN, as well as the DOB, on public records is another legislative goal of privacy advocates which would block access to critical information. And there are also bills to expunge criminal records.

For example, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) in March offered H.R. 1529, the “Second Chance for Ex-Offenders Act of 2009.” The bill calls for the expungement of criminal records for certain nonviolent offenders.

In January, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) introduced H.R. 414, the “Camera Phone Predator Act” It would require any mobile phone containing a digital camera to sound a tone whenever a photograph is taken with the camera’s phone. In a far fetched stretch, disabling or silencing the tone would purportedly violate a consumer product safety standard and require enforcement by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Legislative intent is thought by some as a measure to the recent trend of taking “up-skirting” photos with camera phones which would be thwarted by cell phones having to make a clicking sound when taking pictures.

You now have a watchdog organization prepared to protect your interests in your state and nation’s capitols. When you receive ISPLA’s call for action and support, I hope you will respond. In the meantime, our members are meeting with organizations in Washington, and with members of Congress to apprise them of the concerns of investigators and security professionals.

Bruce H. Hulme, CFE

ISPLA, Director of Government Affairs

P.O. Box 17128

Arlington, VA 17128

Tel: (212) 962 4054

Email: brucehulme@yahoo.com

NCISS, Past President Board member

ALDONYS, Legislative Director, Past President Board member

Intellenet, Legislative Liaison Board member

Society of Professional Investigators, Legislative Liaison Board member

New York Chapter of ACFE, Legislative Liaison Board member

International Association of Security & Investigative Regulators, Investigative Industry Board member

MD General Assembly Updates

Kathy — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 04:02:32 +0000

Things are moving even more quickly as a few important dates are approaching for the 2009 Legislative Session. The first one is March 9th which is the final date for introduction of bills without the suspension of Rules. The next date is March 30th and is known as the Opposite Chamber Crossover date. This means each Chamber (the House and the Senate) must send to the opposite Chamber those bills that it intends to pass favorably. If the bill doesn’t make it to the opposite Chamber by March 30th, it is usually considered to be dead. Although opposite Chamber bills can crossover after that date, they are subject to referral to the Rules Committee. At that point, it’s up to the Rules Committee as to whether they will allow the bill to crossover. While MISA is currently monitoring about 68 bills, that number could jump dramatically in the next week. Some of the bills of most concern today are:HB 344 – Consumer Protection – Sale or Distribution of Personal Information – Limitations. The language of this bill is so restrictive that it would close many businesses. After some detailed communications with Delegate Carolyn Howard, she stated she would withdraw the bill. See HB 344

HB 1120 – Social Security Numbers – Prohibited Uses. Linda Mack, Vice President of Investigators and Kathy Morris, Legislative Chair of MISA met with Andrew Isaac, Legislative Director for Delegate Susan Lee, sponsor of this bill, on February 23, 2009. After much discussion (and previous contacts by telephone and emails), Mr. Isaac stated that Delegate Lee would be working on amendments to HB 1120. Isaac was clear that the intent was not to harm the business community. Ms. Mack and Ms. Morris will be providing pertinent information as a follow-up. Mr. Isaac said they would welcome assistance with language that will accomplish their goal of trying to reduce methods that criminals use for identity theft and still protect the legitimate and lawful use of the SSN by businesses. The Hearing is set on March 4th. See HB 1120

Stay tuned for more as things develop. MISA members, please continue to check your emails daily for the next few weeks.

Legislative Report

Magnum — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:01:26 +0000

The 425^th Session of the Maryland General Assembly began today and will adjourn on April 7, 2008. There are 79 pre-filed House bills and 37 pre-filed Senate bills. The last date for Senate bills to be introduced (without going to Rules Committee) is February 1^st. The last day for House bills to be introduced (without going to House Rules Committee) is February 8^th. The legislators will produce and review more than 2300 new bills.

One of the issues facing the General Assembly is a repeal of the computer services sales tax. The lobbyist hired by a computer services group will receive $25,000 a month toward that goal. Since the tax does not take affect until June of 2008, the computer services group feels they stand a chance at getting the repeal.

Some of the pre-filed bills are as follows:

HB 2 – Public Safety-Handgun Permits-Repeal of Finding Requirement
HB 6 – Criminal Procedure-Custodial Interrogation-Electronic Recordation
HB 10 – Unattended Child Protection Act of 2008
HB 13 – Landlord and Tenant –Commercial Retail Property-Common Area Maintenance Records
HB 18 – Sex Offender Registry-Former Names, Nicknames, and Electronic Communication Identifiers
SB 2 – Vehicle Laws-Use of Wireless Communication Devices While Driving-Prohibitions
SB 30 – Motor Vehicle Accident Reports-Access-Members of the General Assembly ***Gives legislators an exemption to the 60 day rule.

Many of the pre-filed bills have hearings set on January 14^th. Please check your emails frequently for legislative alerts and respond when asked quickly.

On opening day of the General Assembly, some of the talk was about bills that would help Maryland comply with the Real I.D. Act. This may be an issue for us to watch closely. It was a general feeling that this is going to be a difficult year in Annapolis.

Sergeant Jimmy Russell has replaced retired TFC Childress as the auditor for MSP.

Respectfully Submitted By,

Kathy Morris

And they’re off!

Magnum — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:19:23 +0000

The 2008 Legislative Session of the Maryland General Assembly has begun.

For general information on the session, process and players, check out the General Assembly web site.

Stay tuned here for specific information on developing legislation which affects MISA members.