General Assembly

Set aside the extended legislative wrangling over taxes and budgeting, and there's not much left to write about the 1992 Maryland General Assembly session that is scheduled for adjournment tomorrow night. In fact, the tax-and-spending question has been so dominant that little else actually got accomplished.In the early weeks, considerable time was lost bickering over legislative redistricting. It sapped the energy of a great many delegates and senators. And it proved totally futile. In the end, Gov. William Donald Schaefer got his way on the new legislative boundary lines.

Democratic and Republican nominees for General Assembly seats in Districts 13 and 13B stated their positions on issues ranging from gun control to a proposed Redskins stadium at a candidates forum last night in North Laurel.During the forum, the candidates may have set the tone for the campaign as they laced their comments with attacks on their opponents.About 30 people attended the forum at Laurel Woods Elementary School.In written questions read by a moderator, those in attendance asked the four candidates where they stood on the stadium issue; if they have received contributions from lobbyists who represent the Redskins; and if they voted for the state's health care reform package.

ANNAPOLIS -- Afraid to raise taxes, afraid to cut the budget again, and afraid that whatever they do will offend an already unhappy electorate, the Maryland General Assembly reconvenes this Wednesday to face options that have only this in common: All are bad.Following a decade of booming revenues and a corresponding expansion of government, Maryland finds itself in the grip of enduring economic calamity that demands a wrenching self-examination, a return...

At midnight the 1994 session of the Maryland General Assembly will be history, and so will efforts to reform welfare, speed up death penalty appeals and raise cigarette taxes if lawmakers don't hurry.They must strike a compromise on those issues today or their work on them during the past 89 days will amount to nothing.The only certainty on the final day of a legislative session is uncertainty. Any bill awaiting action is vulnerable to a last-minute power play, a Senate filibuster, pressure from lobbyists or just plain lack of time.

The General Assembly approved $300,000 yesterday for a community center to be built by the First Baptist Church of Guilford, a key step in the church's plans for a major and contentious expansion of its 95-year-old facilities.In March, the Howard County Planning Board voted, 4-1, to recommend approval of the expansion plan, which includes the center, a new 2,000-seat sanctuary and a 636-space parking lot.The Rev. John L. Wright, pastor of the church, thanked members of the Howard County delegation for pushing the legislation through.

Facing strong opposition in the General Assembly, proponents of reforming or privatizing Maryland's embattled medevac system are hoping to delay the purchase of new helicopters that state police have been requesting for years. Senators are scheduled to debate today a bipartisan bill that would require the governor to consider allowing a private company to take over the police-run helicopter transport system, which has been under scrutiny since a fatal crash in September and a critical legislative audit last year.

State lawmakers today looked for ways to curtail their own spending, and they plan to brainstorm tonight about various ways to solve the state's overall budget crisis.Gov. William Donald Schaefer asked the General Assembly to cut $2.1 million from its $19.5 million allowance to help balance the overall state budget, which faces a $450 million deficit."There's no question we will do it," House Speaker R. Clayton Mitchell Jr. said today.Legislators also hope to reach an agreement by Wednesday on an alternative to Schaefer's budget cuts, which call for firing 1,766 government workers and slashing certain welfare, law enforcement, Medicaid, higher education, rape-crisis and drug-treatment programs next month.

A House of Delegates study panel is moving closer to calling for continued state police control over Maryland's medevac fleet, according to a draft report obtained yesterday by The Baltimore Sun. The draft report also endorses replacing the state's aging fleet with three new $20 million aircraft a year, starting next year. House Speaker Michael E. Busch called the draft report "absolutely" premature yesterday and said it was an early step in a broad assessment of the state's emergency medical services system.

Readers of The Baltimore Sun's Maryland Politics blog weighed in Monday on the final actions of the General Assembly, which adjourned at midnight. Blog commenter Mark Newgent said utility ratepayers were big losers in this year's session. "Forget the red herring of re-regulation. The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act will significantly increase our electric and energy rates. Despite its failure in Europe, cap and trade is on its way to Maryland. Expect higher rates and energy rationing all for no impact on the climate."

Neighbors of landfills, incinerators and other trash facilities want the General Assembly to give the state Department of the Environment more sweeping powers to deny new or expanded operating permits.Members of the Senate Economic and Environmental Affairs Committee were urged yesterday to vote for a bill giving the state secretary of the environment power to reject permits if the facility does not meet noise and odor standards and does not provide adequate buffers to the community."Right now, you could build a medical waste facility in the middle of a neighborhood," Doris McGuigan, a resident of heavily industrialized South Baltimore, said of the proposal to require buffers.