Gov. Martin O'Malley signed several of the state's most contentious new laws Thursday, including legislation that will eventually deny driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and limit the application of the death penalty.
A measure affecting all drivers also became law - beginning in October, it will be illegal to write or send text messages while on the road. In addition, the governor signed a raft of labor and environmental legislation, such as a commitment to reduce greenhouse gases 25 percent by 2020, and a bill to make Maryland the first state to extend hate-crimes protection to homeless people.
The governor's efforts to repeal the death penalty and comply with the federal Real ID Act had sparked some of the most intense floor fights in the General Assembly this year. In the end, O'Malley fell short of outlawing capital punishment and also accepted a compromise that strips illegal immigrants of driver's licenses by 2015. Also, starting in June, the state will not accept applications from people who cannot prove they are in the country legally.
O'Malley, a Democrat, called the death penalty statute "one of the most narrowly crafted" in the nation that will "help us prevent the possibility of ever putting an innocent person to death." And he promoted the environmental legislation, which includes a requirement that thousands of homes install nitrogen-removing septic systems to keep the pollutant out of rivers and the Chesapeake Bay.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, recalling the last-minute scramble to get the votes for the driver's license bill, said "nobody was really happy with it" and called it "a very tough compromise." But, he said, it was necessary to ensure that Marylanders will be able to use their licenses to enter federal buildings and board airplanes.
Miller also predicted that the death penalty debate would continue next year to clarify the law that passed. Under the bill, prosecutors can seek the death penalty only when they have DNA or biological evidence, a videotape of the crime or a video-recorded confession by the killer. Some lawmakers want to ensure fingerprints would qualify as acceptable evidence and that the new law does not apply to existing cases.
The text-messaging bill emerged after lawmakers failed in previous years to outright ban the use of cell phones and other wireless communication devices while driving. Safety advocates have said that texting while driving is a particularly dangerous practice. Violators could be fined up to $500.
Another bill gives labor unions permission to collect fees from state workers who don't pay dues as part of contracts voted on by all employees, an issue that's expected to come up in negotiations.
The hate-crimes bill adds homelessness as well as gender to the protected categories under Maryland law, allowing prosecutors to seek penalties for those who target people on that basis. Existing categories included race and sexual orientation.
