Legislators

Baltimore County wanted lights and turf for athletic fields, skate ramps and new schools. And for the most part, the county got it. Some of the priorities of local officials -- such as halting construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal -- didn't win approval from lawmakers, who adjourned their session earlier this week. But at a meeting yesterday of the legislators, attended by Gov. Martin O'Malley, county officials celebrated their victories in Annapolis, including the record $52.25 million for public school construction and renovations.

As the General Assembly enters the final three weeks of its annual session, lawmakers still must decide whether to expand government health care for Maryland's poorest residents, to raise taxes, to OK an impact fee to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, to regulate ground rents, and to ban smoking in restaurants and bars. But this year's last-minute frenzy is coming without much of the usual high-stakes politicking or fierce debate. Lawmakers from both parties say that's fine with them. This year has shaped up as a breather between a four-year period of skirmishes between the Democratic-controlled General Assembly and the Republican governor, and next year's battles over taxes, budget cuts and slot machines.

Environmental testing and development I am writing in response to recent reports in The Sun and most of Baltimore's other major media outlets about the arsenic (60 times normal) and lead (240 ppm above normal) contamination found at Turf Valley. It is unforgivable that the developer's July 23 revelations date back to 2005 testing. This is in addition to the mercury, DDT and chlordane that was previously found at Turf Valley during limited testing (13 samples across more than 800 acres)

In his strongest comments yet on a central issue of ground rent reform, Gov. Martin O'Malley called yesterday for an end to the "cruel and antiquated practice of using ground rents to evict families from their homes." His appeal for action - included in his State of the State address - gave a high-profile boost to those seeking to prohibit the most devastating action that can befall homeowners who owe ground rent. "Having the administration on board is huge, period," said Sen. Brian E. Frosh, chairman of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.

Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler urged Maryland lawmakers yesterday to gradually eliminate ground rents and to back a legislative package aimed at strengthening homeowner protections while fairly considering the interests of land lease-holders. Ground rent owners and a legal scholar testified at a hearing that some of the proposals amount to an unconstitutional usurping of property rights. And lobbyists, including representatives of the Maryland Bankers Association, said they support the measures but asked for changes that they said would ease the burden of the reforms on business.

Gov. Martin O'Malley descended the elegant marble staircase of Maryland's State House last week to repeat his administration's insistence that 83 percent of taxpayers will pay no more under his wide-raging tax reform plan than they do now. No one, he said during his eight-minute speech to the General Assembly, then convening in special session, had laid a glove on his claim. No one, in other words, had shown that his numbers were wrong, a snare and delusion to rally support. Of course, the governor and the legislators he addressed knew it would be a tough sell whatever the numbers show.

Maryland lawmakers approved a $30 billion budget, a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants and a first-in-the-nation "living wage" for some government contract workers yesterday, but as the General Assembly adjourned last night, legislators left the State House with a sense of unfinished business. The decision not to address this year the state's most pressing problems - including a projected budget gap of as much as $1.5 billion, a growing number of Marylanders without health insurance and the decline of the Chesapeake Bay - made for a quiet, largely drama-free final day for the General Assembly.

Howard County's state legislators are pondering emotional appeals from homeowners at both ends of the economic spectrum as mobile home park residents along U.S. 1 organize to prevent displacement while upscale western county seniors beset with sewage problems seek protections for future projects. The homeowners turned out at an Ellicott City hearing held by legislators Thursday night, as did advocates and critics of using cameras to catch speeding motorists. They previewed some of the arguments the county's eight delegates and three state senators will consider before voting on local legislation in the 90-day General Assembly session that begins in January.

When the General Assembly adjourns tonight, leaders in the state Senate, the House of Delegates and the administration of Gov. Martin O'Malley will have demonstrated that they can work together - so long as they ignore the fundamental issues that divide them. The 423rd session of the Maryland General Assembly is meandering to a close as lawmakers work out technical details on remaining issues. Legislators considered issues such as immigration and the abolition of the death penalty this year but appear likely to leave Annapolis without having gotten bogged down in divisive debates like those that occurred during recent sessions over slot machines, electric rates and malpractice reform.

Tomorrow, as state lawmakers convene for a special session to address Maryland's fiscal woes, they will face the complex and controversial multibillion-dollar plan proposed by Gov. Martin O'Malley. In the days that follow, Mr. O'Malley's $2 billion budget-balancing blueprint - as well as a handful of related bills likely to be offered by legislators - will be scrutinized, debated and voted upon. In the end, their success can be measured by only one result: the adoption of a real and long-term solution to the state's growing structural deficit.

So far, five American states have legalized gay marriage: four New England states - Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont - plus (more surprisingly) Iowa, heart of heartland America. Why isn't Maryland, one of the nation's more progressive states, a member of this small but growing club? The proximate reason is that the state judiciary has yet to rule in favor of gay marriage. In September 2007, the Maryland Court of Appeals, reversing an earlier decision by the Baltimore Circuit Court, ruled 4-3 to uphold the state's statutory ban on gay marriage.

Maryland legislators are all for transparency when it comes to those who work outside of the government. But they prefer to hide from scrutiny when it comes to their own finances and affiliations. State senators and delegates failed to pass a law in the 2008 legislative session requiring state officials to file financial disclosure documents electronically and ignored it in the most recent session. They so despise disclosure that the bill (SB190) did not pass even after an amendment exempting elected officials was added.

Cornell N. Dypski, one of Baltimore's longest-serving state legislators who was in both the House of Delegates and Senate, died Tuesday of Alzheimer's disease at Gilchrist Hospice Care. He was 77. During yesterday morning's session, Del. Peter A. Hammen, a Baltimore Democrat, announced Mr. Dypski's death, and delegates observed a moment of silence in his honor. "He was an awfully decent fellow," former Gov. Harry R. Hughes said yesterday. "He typified the public official who worked really hard as a legislator representing the people who had elected him."

One sensitive bill that met a mysterious death in the last General Assembly session is not scheduled for a second appearance before the county's state legislators at their annual public hearing Tuesday. But the underlying issue has not gone away. Mobile home park residents along the U.S. 1 corridor are hoping a church-based community organizing group can persuade Gov. Martin O'Malley to back a statewide bill to give them the first chance to buy the land their homes occupy if a park owner decides to sell for redevelopment.

Slots are a bad idea whose time, according to the polls, has come. Support for more gambling is on the rise. Anybody know why? A combination of boredom and exasperation, perhaps? We're tired of seeing government pinned to the wall by a single issue? There are legislators who want the whole thing over with so other problems can be addressed. But, of course, the real motivator is the economy. The state is cutting its budget deeply as the recession (officially declared or not) chokes off sales and income tax revenue.

Maryland lawmaker Heather R. Mizeur shepherded a bill through the General Assembly this year to establish a new fund supporting the emerging field of nanobiotechnology. In the process, she also succeeded in securing a potential funding source for companies she had registered to represent on Capitol Hill. The Montgomery County Democratic delegate acknowledges working extensively for a nanobiotechnology company as a congressional lobbyist with the Washington law firm of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis, but she says she got clearance from the state legislature's ethics counsel to sponsor and vote on the legislation.

The delegates looked to be going over thorny budget issues or planning how to gather votes on the House floor as they whispered to each other yesterday morning between debates on adult education and passage of a law designating Smith Island cake as the state dessert. But with just hours to go before a long, difficult General Assembly session was to adjourn for the year, they were actually talking about whether Orlando Phillips, a well-known calypso, soca and reggae musician, would make it to Del. Dereck E. Davis' annual sine die bash.

Maryland's powerful liquor lobby is on track to achieve virtually all of its legislative priorities during this General Assembly session - despite opposition from the attorney general, the comptroller, public health advocates and hundreds of consumers. Legislators shot down Internet wine sales, which are legal in most of the country. They are poised to expand the definition of beer to include such items as Jack Daniel's Country Cocktail, allowing wider distribution and lower taxes for such drinks.

He stood at the witness table with an expression of respect for the legislative committee he was addressing. And though he had become a fixture in Annapolis, he always introduced himself. "My name is Jim Doyle, and I'm a lawyer from Baltimore," he would say. Then would come brief, sharply focused testimony. "There was an air about him that stood out above us all," says his friend and colleague, George N. Manis. "It was the silver hair, the blue suit, the blue tie, his presentation, his demeanor.

Legislative auditors who uncovered serious financial mismanagement at Morgan State University want to broaden their investigation to more construction contracts at the public Baltimore campus, a key lawmaker said yesterday. Del. John L. Bohanan Jr., a St. Mary's County Democrat, said he spoke with auditors before a contentious three-hour hearing he chaired yesterday. During the hearing, legislators sharply criticized Morgan officials for lax financial oversight of public money and raised the possibility that the General Assembly could rescind Morgan's hard-won authority to manage its own construction projects.