Program Would Memorialize Delegate
Loan Group Plans To Honor Lawton
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Thursday, March 6, 2008
To memorialize their former colleague, Montgomery County delegates are pushing legislation to establish the Jane E. Lawton Conservation Loan Program, which would help fund energy conservation and efficiency projects.
The program would be administered by the Maryland Energy Administration and provide low-interest loans to nonprofit organizations, local governments and eligible businesses for projects that promote energy conservation, reduced consumption of fossil fuels and enhanced efficiencies.
Lawton, a former Chevy Chase mayor and Democratic state delegate, died in November. She served on the House Environmental Matters Committee, and her colleagues regarded her as a steward of the environment and champion of energy efficiency.
"She left a profound, lasting mark on public policy in Maryland," Del. Maggie L. McIntosh (D-Baltimore), chairman of the Environmental Matters Committee, said in a tribute to Lawton on the House floor last month.
The Jane E. Lawton Conservation Loan Program would consolidate two existing programs: the Community Energy Loan Program and the Energy Efficiency and Economic Development Loan Program.
The energy loan program was established by the General Assembly in 1989 and has lent more than $14 million to more than 53 programs, according to legislative analysts. The Energy Efficiency and Economic Development Loan Program was established by the General Assembly in 1995 but has received only $500,000 in appropriations, analysts said.
The bill to establish the Lawton program was introduced in the House by Del. C. William Frick (D-Montgomery) and has 36 co-sponsors, including most members of the Montgomery delegation. The same bill was cross-filed in the upper chamber by Lawton's former district-mate, Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (D-Montgomery), and has five co-sponsors.
Madaleno spoke passionately about Lawton during last month's tribute.
"She defied the expectations of the world she was born into, a small town in Oklahoma, and in doing so she changed the world," Madaleno said.
