Senator Laurence Levitan Collection

The twenty four scrapbooks cover the political career of Senator Levitan from his first run for the House of Delegates in 1966 through his last year in office in 1994. Many of the articles includes in these scrapbooks cover legislation sponsored by Senator Levitan as well as various campaigns, including:

• reforming the State Treasurer's Office and sponsoring legislation resulting in the accumulation of millions of dollars of income through the investment of public funds and the creation of of the Joint Committee on the Management of Public Funds.
• revising the Maryland Mechanic Lien Laws to protect bona fide purchasers for value of residential real estate
• revising the interest and usury laws to permit home loans and at the same time require lenders to pay interest on escrow accounts
• enact the check off on State income tax returns to be used to protect the Chesapeake Bay and endangered species
• increase limits for a small estate
• provide that interest earned on trust accounts maintained by settlement attorneys and settlement companies be used to assist legal services for the poor and low income tenants
• engineer the State Tax Reform Act of 1987 returning about 90% of the windfall to the taxpayers of the state. This was a unique piece of legislation since the Governor never signed the bill and the only two signatures were those of the Chairmen of both fiscal committees
• tied funding for the arts to the growth in state revenue

• the weekly review of the legislature while in session as reported by Public Broadcasting on State Circle 1985, 1987, 1989-1994.
• Legislative Follies, between 1985-2007
• personal tapes of memorable moments during Senator Levitan's career, including key reports to the legislature and legislative committees, debates on the Senate floor, swearing in of Senators and Sine Die nights (see collection inventory for complete list)