House Of Delegates

A MONTH ago we discussed the sea changes in store for the 1994 Maryland Senate. The House of Delegates, too, is ready for a make-over the likes of which hasn't been seen in Annapolis in decades.A sampling of the House roster shows that reapportionment and retirement, as well as the primal urge to move up or out, could deplete the House leadership and remove a number of veterans from both parties. Just how deep the purge will reach depends on how unforgiving the electorate is next year.A major question is whether Speaker R. Clayton Mitchell Jr., D-Kent, will be returning.

The House of Delegates gave preliminary approval to its version of Gov. Martin O'Malley's gun control bill Tuesday night after defeating scores of amendments that attempted to weaken it. In a prolonged and heated debate, delegates ultimately preserved provisions to license handgun purchasers, ban the sale of assault-style weapons and limit magazines to 10 bullets. Though the House has modified some provisions of O'Malley's bill, the legislation would still represent the most sweeping change to Maryland gun laws in nearly two decades.

Elizabeth Catherine Sherwood, a House of Delegates legislative assistant who was known as a master of the malaprop, died Friday at North Arundel Hospital of injuries sustained after she was struck by a car while walking near her Severna Park home. She was 65. Mrs. Sherwood, known as Betty, had worked in the House of Delegates for 10 years, and had been a legislative assistant to Del. Jacob J. Mohorovic Jr., a Democrat from Dundalk, since 1994. Earlier, she had worked for several Annapolis yacht brokerages.

Maryland could become one of a handful of states that grant special driver's licenses to illegal immigrants under legislation garnering strong support in Annapolis. The bill, passed by the Senate on Monday, would expand and make permanent an existing two-tiered driver's license system to include more than 100,000 people whose immigration status currently prevents them from applying for a license. Gov. Martin O'Malley backs the plan, which now moves to the House of Delegates. "It's a safety issue," said Del. Jolene Ivey, a Prince George's County Democrat who introduced the House version.

Ann Remington Hull, a former House of Delegates leader, gubernatorial aide and University System of Maryland regent, died Thursday of complications from Parkinson's disease at Chester River Hospital Center in Chestertown, where she lived for the past six years. The former Takoma Park resident was 78. Born Ann Remington in Seattle, she earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. While studying for her master's degree in geography at Syracuse University, she met Gordon C. Hull.

Miriam Dixon, a homemaker and the wife of former Maryland House of Delegates member Isaiah "Ike" Dixon Jr., died of cancer Friday at her Roland Park home. She was 81. Born Miriam Sylvia Millard in Washington, D.C., she was a 1941 graduate of Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School and became an X-ray technician at the old Freedman's Hospital, now a part of Howard University Hospital, where she received her medical training. Shortly after World War II, she met her future husband in a crowd at Union Station.

ANNAPOLIS -- The chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee resigned yesterday, beginning what is expected to be a broad midterm shake-up of the House of Delegates that is likely to affect how Maryland's budget crisis is resolved.Charles J. "Buzz" Ryan Jr., 55, said he will leave the General Assembly Oct. 1 to take a newly created, $80,000-a-year job as a health policy adviser and lobbyist for the University of Maryland Medical System.The private, non-profit system, which runs the University of Maryland Medical Center and the state's Shock Trauma Center, receives a small annual subsidy from the state as well as substantial financial help for capital construction.

All three races for the House of Delegates in Carroll County have contested Republican primaries on Sept. 12. And all GOP victors will face at least one Democratic challenger in November's general election. Two incumbents, Republicans Del. Nancy R. Stocksdale and Del. Tanya T. Shewell, are trying to retain their seats in District 5A, a race crowded with seven Republican and two Democratic challengers. The two-member district includes Westminster, Finksburg, Hampstead and Manchester. Both Stocksdale and Shewell favor a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and are against stem cell research using cells harvested from human embryos.

THIRTY-SIX familiar faces will soon be gone. That's how many state delegates will be missing from the General Assembly when it opens its 1991 session in January. The total is nearly a quarter of the membership of the House of Delegates.The new body will have 10 more Republicans, which will still leave the Democrats with a comfortable 121 to 20 majority.By far the longest part of the casualty list is due to the voters. Nine delegates lost in the primary, eight lost in the general election and another five ran for other offices, from Congress and the state Senate down to the Montgomery County Council.

An Essex legislator caught in a speed trap and arrested by Baltimore County police on a charge of drunken driving flashed her House of Delegates identification instead of the requested driver's license and registration card after being stopped, police said.Del. Diane DeCarlo, 6th District Democrat, was reportedly in New Jersey yesterday, staying with a relative after her arrest early Wednesday on Belair Road at Joppa Road in Perry Hall.DeCarlo would not accept telephone calls yesterday, said Phyllis Brotman, whose Image Dynamics public relations firm issued a statement from the legislator Thursday afternoon before word of her arrest became public.

In a setback for environmentalists, a House committee killed a bill Saturday that would have enabled counties to impose a fee on disposable plastic and paper bags given out by stores to carry merchandise. The Economic Matters Committee voted 14-9 to disapprove the measure, sponsored by Del. Mary Washington, a Baltimore Democrat. The bill had earlier been passed by the Environmental Affairs Committee but required the approval of both panels. The legislation would have placed a 5-cent fee on bags – with exceptions for such items as carry-out food and dry-cleaning – and would have let the stores retain one cent of the fee to compensate for administrative costs.

In 2002, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo terrorized the Washington region for three weeks by firing bullets at innocent people in parking lots and at gas stations, ultimately killing 10 people and wounding three others. They used a Bushmaster XM-15 E2S rifle, one many variants of America's most popular assault weapon, the AR-15. In 2006, Kyle Aaron Huff used a Bushmaster when he opened fire at a post-rave party in Seattle, killing six before committing suicide. In 2007, Tyler Peterson used an AR-15 to kill six people at a homecoming party in Crandon, Wis. In 2012, a gunman opened fire at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., killing 12 people and injuring 58 others.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's bill to repeal the death penalty is one step closer to passage after a House committee voted Friday to approve it. The bill - already passed by the Senate - goes now to the full House of Delegates. The House Judiciary Committee's 14-8 vote to approve the bill came after Republicans offered more than a half-dozen amendments seeking to allow the death penalty for some crimes, including mass murder. One after another, they were voted down by the same margin as on the bill itself.

The Maryland Senate voted Wednesday to make Maryland the 18th state to abolish the death penalty, putting Gov. Martin O'Malley one step closer to a significant legislative victory. The 27-20 vote sent the bill to the House of Delegates, where repeal supporters believe they have enough backing to send the legislation to the governor. Two Republicans - Sens. Edward R. Reilly of Anne Arundel County and Allan H. Kittleman of Howard County - joined 25 Democrats in supporting repeal.

The state's House of Delegates recently passed by a 134-to-0 vote a bill that would make it easier for homeowners to refinance mortgages at today's low rates. The bill, modeled after a law Virginia adopted more than a decade ago, would allow homeowners to proceed with refinancing a first mortgage without permission from a second mortgagor. The process of seeking such approval can be costly, confusing and time-consuming, according to the bill's sponsors. “Too many homeowners struggle to make payments on more than one mortgage,” said Del. Sam Arora, a Montgomery County Democrat who co-sponsored the bill, HB 88. “We have a real opportunity to help them by removing an unnecessary barrier to locking in lower interest rates and stay in their homes.” For the law to apply, the principal of the second mortgage would have to be $150,000 or less.

US Lacrosse President and CEO Steve Stenersen today issued comments on proposed Maryland House of Delegates Bill 1123, which if passed by the Maryland General Assembly would legislate that girls lacrosse players in the state wear protective headgear as per specifications set forth by a state task force. The bill, which was introduced by Dels. Dana Stein and Jon Cardin on Feb. 8, would mandate protective headgear for girls lacrosse programs. Specifically, the bill would target programs organized for the recreational athletic competition or instruction of girls who are under age 19. A spokesperson for Cardin clarified, noting that this would apply to youth recreational programs and public schools, including high schools.

Lester V. Jones, a former Bel Air lawyer who had served in the Maryland House of Delegates, died of lung cancer Friday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. He was 74. Mr. Jones was born and raised in Kingsville and graduated in 1950 from Kenwood High School. After serving in the Army from 1952 to 1955, he became a mechanical engineer at Edgewood Arsenal. Mr. Jones was a 1959 graduate of the old Mount Vernon Law School in Baltimore, and was an assistant state's attorney in Baltimore County from 1962 until entering private practice in 1966.

Stephen J. Arata Jr., a machinist and former member of the House of Delegates from southwestern Baltimore County, died of cancer Thursday at his Arbutus home. He was 82.He had been chief inspector of the Baltimore County liquor board and a zoning inspector."He was a people person and they loved him," said Dan Minnick, a Baltimore County Democrat who served in the House of Delegates from 1966 to 1982.Mr. Arata, a conservative Democrat, was remembered as a strong representative of the concerns of constituents in Catonsville, Arbutus, Lansdowne and Baltimore Highlands.

In 2012, the Maryland General Assembly considered legislation reauthorizing the state Real Estate Commission, including a series of amendments related to an obscure function of that agency, a fund that compensates victims of bad actions by licensed real estate professionals. Those who have suffered a loss due to fraud, theft, embezzlement or other offenses by a licensee can get compensation from a state fund, which the offending party must pay back, with interest and fees. The amendments to the bill would have reduced the maximum interest rate, provided for the elimination of fees under some circumstances and allowed for the reinstatement of the offender's a real estate license during the repayment period.