Congressman Roscoe Bartlett?s bill keeping condominium and neighborhood associations from banning displays of the flag is expected to come to a vote Tuesday after more than a year of waiting in committee.
Bartlett?s bill, the “Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005,” was introduced as a way to prevent condominium associations, neighborhood committees or similar civic associations from creating aesthetic standards banning flags.
“There have been over 100 instances where homeowners? associations or condominium associations have prohibited displays of the flag,” Bartlett said. “We think this is related to freedom of speech.”
The bill, while keeping private citizens and associations from banning the flag outright, still allows for “reasonable restrictions” on size and placement, Bartlett said.
“We understand that [people] shouldn?t be able to drape the front of their condo with a flag 40 feet by 50 feet in size,” he said.
While attending a national conference of flag dealers in Florida, Frederick-based merchant Hugh Warner heard the plight of one veteran who had gone all the way to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to fight his homeowner?s association, and he vowed to bring it to his congressperson?s attention.
“Thisis the home and the burial place of Francis Scott Key. ? Everything?s wrapped around the flag here,” Warner said.
His wife had once been part of a homeowner?s association that only permitted flags to be flown in backyards, Wagner said, and he had heard complaints that the Frederick Historical Society had tried to prevent flags from being flown outside historical properties.
After bipartisan negotiations, the bill will finally pass out of the Housing and Community Opportunity subcommittee of the House Committee on Financial Services and be scheduled for debate Tuesday afternoon, said Lisa Wright, a spokeswoman for Bartlett. The bill will be put on the “suspension calendar,” a fast-track option for passing bills that few people are likely to object to.
