FAIR, Inc. works year-round to educate Maryland’s lawmakers about the wide range of people on the public registry, and how damaging it is to innocent family members. FAIR is especially busy during Maryland’s legislative session, from mid-January through early April. In past years we’ve worked to stop ever-harsher laws from being passed. We hope soon to present legislation that will make some improvements.
FAIR, Inc. also works to monitor and encourage legal challenges to the unconstitutional aspects of public registration laws. We are also fund-raising to assure we have enough money in reserve for any legal injunction we might need to file, should our legislative efforts fail.
Get Involved!
The biggest need in FAIR is funding. Legal and legislative work does not come cheap, and to be effective we need professional support: whether that is from an attorney for a legal challenge or a professional person fighting for us in Annapolis. We welcome all contributions, from $5/month and up, to support these efforts.
We encourage FAIR members to get out and VOTE, and to get to know their elected officials PERSONALLY. (Yes, felons can vote once off supervision.) Many of our lawmakers are completely clueless about the expanse of the registry, and the incredible pain it causes to many innocent people. Giving the “bogey man” a human face is one of the most important things that our registered members and their families can do to affect positive change in their lives. If your elected official doesn’t know the “system” is broken, why should he or she try to fix it?
From time to time, especially during General Assembly, we will ask members to contact their elected officials, or members of a particular comittee, and express their support or opposition to a proposed law. The more members participate, the more good we can do!
Finally, we are currently seeking board members. We are especially interested in folks in the counseling, legal, and law enforcement professions, and others who are not registrants but who support our cause. If you know any of those folks, or have a network to any of those folks, please pursue and let us know.