On Wednesday of this week I went to Annapolis to testify in support of Maryland House of Delegates Bill HB509, the Maryland False Claims Act of 2013. I was joined by a couple of the top qui tam lawyers from the great state of Maryland, Vince McKnight and Brian Markovitz.
Our testimony seemed to be well-received for the most part — and, unlike in 2010, there were very few anti-FCA lobbyists present, in fact I saw only one. The poor fellow had an uphill battle — Del. Arora (who is the chief patron of HB509 — delivered, shall we say, a rather rigorous cross examination.
The media didn’t seem to take much interest this time around. I assume that is because in 2010 the bill was at the very top of Gov. O’Malley’s legislative agenda. That could also be because this year we weren’t taking on the health care lobby directly, and historically the health care folks have been one of the most powerful lobbies in Maryland.
All three of us submitted written testimony in advance — for my testimony click here , for Brian’s testimony click here and for Vince’s testimony click here.
Assuming we get a favorable report from the House Judiciary Committee, the battle will move over to the Senate where we are already busy lining up sponsors…stay tuned folks…
