Sen. Ron Watson (D-Prince George's) in an October file photo. His bill, to ease restrictions on lawakers holding second jobs, got a boost Friday from the Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics. (File photo by Christine Condon/ Maryland Matters)
Sen. Ron Watson (D-Prince George’s) walked away from a job in the Prince George’s County school system in December due to potential ethical concerns, but he didn’t walk away from the issue.
Watson is the lead sponsor of Senate Bill 618, which would let a legislator work for a state, county or local government if that person had served one elected term in the General Assembly and met other standards, including having “objectively satisfied the minimum education, licensure and experience requirements” of the job.
The bill appeared to get a boost Friday when the Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics — whose leaders wrote the letter last fall that said Watson could not take the school system job and remain in the Senate — voted 10-2 to recommend that an amended version of the bill could pass ethical muster.
Besides the language requiring that the legislator be qualified for the government job they would be taking, the bill wouldn’t go into effect until Jan. 13, 2027, when the legislature’s next four-year term begins.
“Many of us had to forgo pension plans and take alternative small-time jobs in an effort to serve the public and to do the public’s work,” Watson said Friday. “There are many, many members in the General Assembly where this is their only job because they’re restricted from getting employment elsewhere. This is just an issue of fairness.”
Watson drafted the bill after the ethics committee determined in an October letter that state law prohibited Watson from holding the job. He eventually resigned in December as an interim senior adviser to the Prince George’s schools superintendent.
He said in an interview Friday that he’s confident the bill would pass in his chamber and in the House.
There are currently some exceptions that allow lawmakers to hold a government job, including lawmakers who held the government job before they were elected or appointed to office, those who work in a “human services” position, such as a social worker or nurse, and a position “that is subject to a merit system hiring process.”
The legislation entitled, “Public Ethics – Members of the General Assembly – State and Local Government Employment Exemption,” has a similar House version sponsored by Del. Andrea Fletcher Harrison (D-Prince George’s). Both were heard last month, before the Senate Education, Energy and the Environment and the House Government, Labor and Elections committees.
Neither committee has voted on their respective bills, with the legislature’s “crossover day” deadline on Monday, the day by which a bill has to move from one chamber to the other if it’s to be guaranteed a hearing in the second chamber. A bill has to be approved by both chambers before it can be signed into law.
One of the House co-sponsors on the ethics measure, Del. Mary Lehman (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel), concurred with Watson’s thoughts on challenges to work as a legislator that’s a part-time position, but working the equivalent of full-time hours. Legislators receive about $56,000 annually.
“I think anybody here would tell you finding secondary employment, with the unpredictable hours that occur between January and April, makes it super challenging to find something else,” said Lehman, who eventually landed a virtual job with a small nonprofit foundation based in Wisconsin.
‘It’s inevitable’
The ethics committee meetings are usually closed to the public, but Senate Minority Leader Stephen Hershey Jr. (R-Upper Shore) asked that Friday’s meeting remain open because “we’re specifically talking about legislation, I believe it should be the same as any other piece of legislation.”
Hershey’s colleagues agreed and the committee voted unanimously to keep the nearly one-hour meeting open.
Watson’s bill was brought to the ethics committee because the legislature’s presiding officers sought an opinion about the bill.
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The committee asked Deadra Daly, the legislature’s ethics counsel, to draft a letter to the presiding officers before the 90-day session ends April 13.
The committee also wants the General Assembly to include some “guardrails,” or additional information in the state’s ethics guide when it deals with employment by a government entity. For instance, ensuring a job has been posted for the general public as opposed to it being created or held for one person. Daly said that could be completed later this year.
Del. April Rose (R-Frederick and Carroll), who voted against recommending approval of the bill with Del. Nic Kipke (R-Anne Arundel), asked if the legislation could create legal issues.
Senate Majority Leader Nancy King (D-Montgomery) acknowledged, if the bill gets approved, “it’s going to make a lot more work for the ethics committee, but I think it’s inevitable.”
But King still recommended approval for the amended bill because it will make it easier “for legislators to be able to get a job legally. We don’t make enough money to live on in this job. It’s so very hard to get another job matching the ethics” requirements.
— Maryland Matters reporter Christine Condon contributed to this story.
Originally published at Marylandmatters.Org