| Brian E. Frosh | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Maryland Senate from the 16th district |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 11, 1995 |
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| Member of the Maryland House of Delegates from the 16th district |
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| In office January 1987 – January 11, 1995 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | October 8, 1946 Washington, DC, United States |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Children | Alexandra Frosh, Elena Frosh |
| Residence | Bethesda, Maryland |
| Occupation | attorney: business and commercial litigation, real estate law[1] |
Brian E. Frosh is an American politician from Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party. He is currently serving in his 5th term in the Maryland State Senate, representing Maryland's District 16 in Montgomery County. Prior to serving in the Senate, Frosh also represented District 16 in the Maryland House of Delegates, serving two four-year terms. Frosh won his previous two elections by a wide margin, receiving more than 75 percent of the vote in 2006,[2] and 70 percent of the vote in 2010.[3]
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Born on October 8, 1946, Senator Brian Frosh grew up in Montgomery County attending Bradley Elementary, North Bethesda Junior High School, and Walter Johnson High School. He received a bachelor's degree from Wesleyan University and a law degree from the Columbia University School of Law. After joining the Maryland Bar in 1972, he worked in private practice, which he continues to maintain in downtown Bethesda. He and his wife have two daughters. As both a delegate and senator, Brian Frosh has represented Maryland's District 16,[4] which includes parts of Chevy Chase, Bethesda, and Potomac.[5]
Senator Frosh was re-elected by a wide margin in the previous two elections, winning more than 75 percent of the vote in 2006,[11] and 70 percent of the vote in 2010.[12]
As senator, Brian Frosh currently serves as chair of the Judicial Proceedings Committee, and vice-chair of the Rules Committee. He is also presently a member of the Executive Nominations Committee, Legislative Policy Committee, Special Committee on State Employee Rights and Protections, and Joint Oversight Committee on the Department of Juvenile Services. Frosh has also been a member of a number of other committees since he began serving in the Senate in January 1995. Over the past 16 years in the Senate, he has gained a reputation for championing progressive causes while maintaining good relations with moderate Democrats.
Prior to serving in the Senate, Frosh represented Montgomery County in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1987 to 1995. In this role, he was a member of the Environmental Matters Committee, Tort and Insurance Reform Oversight Committee, and Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics.[13]
A Montgomery County native, Senator Frosh brought state funding into the district to build the Capital Crescent Trail, build sound barriers, and fund programs like those at the National Center for Children and Families, the Ivymount School, Imagination Stage, Adventure Theatre and Glen Echo Park.[14]
As a key environmentalist in the General Assembly for nearly 20 years, Senator Frosh has supported policies protecting the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, preserving open space, and cleaning up air pollution in Maryland. Frosh was chairman of the Senate's Environmental Subcommittee from 1995 to 2003. He continues to serve on the Joint Committee on Chesapeake Bay Critical Areas and on the multi-state Chesapeake Bay Commission, which he chaired in 2001. Senator Frosh authored measures banning oil drilling in the Chesapeake, establishing statewide recycling programs, promoting cleanup of contaminated industrial sites, and a constitutional amendment requiring that the legislature approve the sale of any state land.[15]
In recognition of his environmental work, Senator Frosh has been named "Public Official of the Year" by the Audubon Naturalist Society and "Conservationist of the Year" by the Sierra Club, and has been awarded the prestigious "John V. Kabler Memorial Award" by the Maryland League of Conservation Voters.[16]
Senator Frosh seeks to enact legislation that provides adequate protection and support to minors, foster care children, youth involved in the juvenile justice system and adults threatened by domestic violence disputes. In 2009, for instance, Senator Frosh proposed changing the laws on protective orders to better protect domestic abuse victims against gun violence,[17][18] and in 2011, sought to provide temporary lodging for domestic violence victims.[19]
Senator Frosh has also sponsored legislation modernizing the child support guidelines that courts use to set child support payments, which hadn’t been revised since 1989.[20] For his effort, Frosh received the “Champion of Children” award from the Maryland Department of Human Resources and the Family and Juvenile Law Section of the Maryland Bar Association.[21][22]
In 2010, Frosh supported a tougher version of the 2007 bill Jessica's Law, written in response to the murder of Jessica Lunsford, a Florida girl who was raped and murdered in February 2005 by John Couey, a previously convicted sex offender.[23] Senator Frosh also supported Governor O'Malley’s sex offender bill that put the most violent and repeat sex offenders on "lifetime supervision" when they are released from prison.
Prior to 2010, Senator Frosh fought to enact legislation that would give the court the ability to put serious juvenile sex offenders on a registry, even if the offender was a minor when the crime was committed.[24]
Senator Frosh has worked to improve education, one of his key priorities, and to reduce tuition costs at Maryland's public colleges and universities. He drafted the law that provides a waiver of tuition and fees to state universities for children in foster care.[25] Additionally, Senator Frosh has worked to restore adequate funding for higher education and to make tuition affordable for students and their families. This year, for instance, Senator Frosh was one of six senators to introduce a plan to generate new revenues from a tax increase on alcohol and cigarettes in order to prevent proposed budget cuts to public education. As a result, the state budget preserved funding for state colleges and universities while actually increasing aid to public schools.[26]
Senator Frosh believes that conserving energy and investing in alternative energy sources are vital to maintaining control of the energy crisis looming over our nation. Senator Frosh has worked on a number of bills promoting energy efficiency, holding down energy costs and reducing the environmental impacts of energy production and use.[27]
In recent years, Senator Frosh has been a vocal advocate for establishing service standards and imposing penalties if electric utilities like Pepco failed to provide reliable service.[28][29] In 2010, Frosh called on the Public Service Commission to investigate Pepco, and in 2011 introduced legislation calling for regulations and stiff penalties.[30] Although Senator Frosh’s original legislation passed the Senate,[31] ultimately, the House would only enact penalties that were more lenient than Frosh’s proposal.[32]
Privacy and consumer law are two vital issues that will continue to affect the lives of Maryland residents. As Chair of the Judicial Proceedings Committee, Senator Frosh has responsibility for legislation in the Senate dealing with these important subjects. He has sponsored bills protecting the privacy of citizens’ personal information in Motor Vehicle Administration files and authorizing Maryland’s Attorney General to prosecute violators of Federal anti-telemarketing regulations.[33] The Judicial Proceedings Committee approved legislation establishing a task force to recommend identity theft remedies, beefing up the original bill at Senator Frosh’s recommendation to pay specific attention to protecting social security numbers.[34] Senator Frosh has also sponsored bills banning minimum price fixing and creating new tools to crack down on people who defraud the State’s Medicare program.[35]
Brian Frosh joined the Maryland Bar in 1971 and the District of Columbia Bar in 1972. He is a partner at at the law offices of Karp, Frosh, Lapidus, Wigodsky, & Norwood, P.A working in business litigation, commercial litigation, and real estate law.[36]
In 2004 The Washington Post reported that an ethics complaint had been filed by Audrey P. Corsonag, M.D., against Senator Frosh for helping to kill a bill that would have limited medical malpractice payouts. The complaint alleged that Senator Frosh had a conflict of interest because of his partnership in a law firm of which certain members handled medical malpractice cases, though Senator Frosh does not handle those kinds of cases.[43]
In response, according to the Washington Post, "Frosh said his partnership arrangement with the firm does not let him share in earnings from cases in which he was not personally involved. And to his recollection, he said, he has handled only one Maryland malpractice case in recent years."[44] Frosh also stated that prior to his vote on the bill he had consulted with the General Assembly's ethics adviser, William G. Somerville, who stated that Senator Frosh had no conflict of interest, was "on solid ground," and under the law, could vote on the bill.[45] "We've got lawyers, doctors and insurance agents in the legislature," Frosh said, "and, to some extent, all of us have an indirect financial interest in this legislation."[46]
The Washington Post noted, "Many lawmakers wind up voting on bills that could have a direct effect on their professions. Typically, legislators are asked to recuse themselves from debate only if a measure would enrich them personally, rather than simply benefit their profession."[47] In light of the facts, Senator Frosh was not required to recuse himself and nothing came of the complaint.