Hixson

A bill to permit slot machines in Maryland is all but dead in the General Assembly, and sponsors predict its demise will erode racetracks' ability to compete with tracks in states where slots are allowed. The House Ways and Means Committee almost certainly won't take up the measure -- effectively killing it -- before the legislative session ends April 9. "You never say never, but this is as much never as I could say," said Del. Sheila E. Hixson, the committee's chairwoman. Slot machines are permitted at tracks in Delaware and West Virginia.

A bill to permit slot machines in Maryland is all but dead in the General Assembly, and sponsors predict its demise will erode racetracks' ability to compete with tracks in other states where slots are allowed. The House Ways and Means Committee almost certainly won't take up the measure - effectively killing it - before the legislative session ends April 9. "You never say never, but this is as much never as I could say," said Del. Sheila E. Hixson, the committee's chairwoman. Slot machines are permitted at tracks in Delaware and West Virginia.

Lawmakers have not decided whether to legalize slot machine gambling in Maryland, as Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. wants, but his administration is already taking steps to prepare for the arrival of the electronic gambling devices. The Maryland State Lottery began advertising yesterday for a consultant to draft bid specifications for a central computer system to monitor slots play. The firm also would help evaluate bids from suppliers if a slots bill is approved. And it would prepare other, technical bid specifications to ensure that any slot machines that are leased or purchased are properly wired into the lottery agency's central computer system.

THEY SAY nothing succeeds like success. But that hasn't held true for Maryland's obscure historic tax credit program. Right now, it's under attack in Annapolis because it has done so well that some politicians think it's costing too much money. It would be a shame if short-sighted legislative thinking were to hobble the program, which has become a godsend for developers who need upfront cash for difficult rehabilitation projects. In places like Baltimore, tax credits literally have made the redevelopment of several neighborhoods a possibility.

Marsha Lapin testified in favor of the governor's proposed tobacco tax increase yesterday, but not in her own voice.The Ellicott City woman's words were read to the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee in the gravelly Boston accent of her widower, Joel Lapin. Marsha Lapin died Sept. 7 of lung cancer at age 49.Joel Lapin was one of almost two dozen anti-tobacco activists who went to Annapolis to square off against opponents of Gov. Parris N. Glendening's plan to raise cigarette taxes by $1 a pack.

Compared to keno, this might seem pretty tame.But Maryland port officials want to make sure that passengers can continue gambling in cruise ship casinos while sailing the Chesapeake Bay.Maryland law currently prohibits such gaming in state waters. That forces cruise ships to shut down their slot machines and blackjack tables for the half-day or so that it takes to sail up the bay to Baltimore -- a journey that already hampers the city in attracting cruise ships that can sail far more quickly into most other ports.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and top administration officials told a key House committee yesterday that they are willing to bend on virtually every aspect of their gambling plan except the one that might be most crucial to House Democratic leaders: increasing taxes. Pressed by the committee - which killed the administration's slots plan last year - the governor and Budget Secretary James C. "Chip" DiPaula Jr. said they're open to a new "super-track" for horse racing in downtown Baltimore.

ANNAPOLIS -- Members of Western Maryland's gay community urged lawmakers last week to support a measure that would protect them from discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations.Delegates and senators tended to oppose the bill, stating that they were sure their constituents would oppose it as well."I would have a hard time voting for a bill that gives gays the same rights as, say, minorities," said Del. D. Bruce Poole, a Washington County Democrat. "I think they are two separate categories."

The Ehrlich administration rolled out the big guns yesterday to defend a tax credit that rewards owners and developers for rehabilitating historic properties, and to criticize a proposal to convert it to a grant program. Three Cabinet secretaries joined Comptroller William Donald Schaefer and prominent developers to urge a House committee to pass Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s bill (HB 289) to extend the Heritage Structure Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program through 2010. The program has been praised for spurring investment in Baltimore and criticized because the bulk of its benefits have flowed to the city, but yesterday's hearing showed the tax credit has fans across the state.

In Annapolis, there are bills meant to become law and then there are bills intended to send a message. Legislation offered this session by two powerful chairwomen, Maggie L. McIntosh of the House Environmental Matters Committee and Sheila E. Hixson of Ways and Means, is the latter type, and this is its message: Counties with caps on property taxes ought to rethink that strategy. It's difficult to see their bill - which would give county councils the right to roll back voter-approved tax caps with a two-thirds vote - as anything else.