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Task Force To Coordinate Environmental Programs
Isiah Leggett called legislation that will require residents who employ nannies, housekeepers and cooks for at least 20 hours a week to offer their workers a written contract "an important step."
(By Kevin Clark -- The Washington Post)
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Leggett's signature Tuesday was a victory for a coalition of labor, religious and student groups led by the immigrant advocacy group CASA of Maryland. It was particularly sweet for the women who had met weekly in a support group that inspired the political effort.
"Many people thought it would be impossible," Herminia Licona, president of the CASA-based Committee of Women Seeking Justice, said in Spanish through a translator. "Thanks to our work, domestic workers will have their rights respected."
Veterans Commission Approved
County Council members unanimously backed County Executive Isiah Leggett's plan this week to create a commission dedicated to Montgomery's veterans. The Commission on Veterans Affairs is meant to help veterans find programs that meet their needs and to serve as an advisory board to Leggett and the council on the quality of services for veterans at the state and local level.
Leggett, a Vietnam War veteran, said in a memo that commissioners could plan events to promote opportunities for the county's estimated 60,000 veterans. The relocation of Walter Reed Army Medical Center to Bethesda also could increase the number of veterans and their families living in the county, and Health and Human Services Director Uma Ahluwalia said in her testimony to the council that the commission could help "ease the return home" from Iraq and Afghanistan for veterans.
The 11 panel members will serve three-year terms and join the more than 1,000 commissioners who are appointed by the executive to the county's 87 boards and commissions.
Before the vote Tuesday, council members had discussed in committee whether the government should "take on another mission" during tough budget times when the state and federal governments are the main providers of veterans' services.
Although Leggett's budget officials said they expect the measure will not affect the county's bottom line, council staff "assume that the executive intends this to be more than a token or 'feel good exercise' " that will require staff and "cost some money," according to senior legislative attorney Michael Faden's memo on the bill.
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