Proposed Legislation

A graphic in Tuesday's editions incorrectly reported the outcome of proposed legislation to license recreational crabbers Maryland. The bill was killed in a House of Delegates committee.The Sun regrets the errors.! Pub Date: 4/12/96

In July, authorities discovered that a radiology technician who had worked in Maryland and several other states had been injecting himself with narcotics-filled syringes, refilling them with saline and leaving them behind for use on patients. More than 1,700 Marylanders were exposed to hepatitis C as a result, and five contracted the disease. Dozens more were affected in other states. In September, the Maryland health department shut down a Timonium cosmetic surgery center after three patients contracted a dangerous bacterial infection after liposuction.

Status of Carroll County's legislative packageBill--91-1Description of proposed legislationGeneral obligation bond authorization: Authorize the county to sell bonds to pay for capital projects, included in the fiscal 1992 county budget (such as for schools, landfills, senior centers); amount to be determined.Status (as of Jan. 11)Delegation has agreed to draft bill.Bill-- 91-2Description of proposed legislation.Carroll County General Hospital contribution: Authorize County Commissioners to grant $200,000 per year, for a five-year period, to CCGH to help finance its capital improvement programup.

Supporters of home births are trying to convince legislators to create a pilot program that could  eventually lead to the licensing of midwives without nursing degrees. The three-year pilot would allow certified professional midwives to deliver babies in a home setting without worry of arrest or prosecution. Certified professional midwives are trained in midwifery and meet standards set by the North American Registry of Midwives. Under the pilot progam, midwives would share their birth outcomes with the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Proposed legislation would allow early voting in elections Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller proposed legislation yesterday that would allow voters to participate in elections up to eight days early. Other states that allow early voting have found the alternative to be successful, Miller said, because many voters have trouble finding time to get to the polls as they juggle family, work and other responsibilities. Miller's legislation would allow local election boards to determine the number and location of polling places that would be open prior to Election Day. Proposal would change BWI name to honor judge The Baltimore-Washington International Airport would be renamed the Thurgood Marshall Baltimore-Washington International Airport under a proposal from Del. Emmett C. Burns Jr., a Baltimore County Democrat.

Of 463 SUNDIAL callers who responded to a question about proposed legislation that would require guns at home to be kept under lock, 183 (39.5 percent) said the bill would accomplish its goal of preventing shooting accidents; 108 (23.3 percent) said stronger measures should be taken; and 172 (37.1 percent) said no bill is needed."It's Your Call" represents a sampling of opinions from certain segments of the community, but it is not balanced demographically, as a scientific public opinion poll would be.

Sen. Robert H. Kittleman proposed yesterday a change to the Senate rules that would require lawmakers to vote on every bill introduced in the legislature. The rule change, which would affect only the Senate, aims to end a practice by committee chairmen to block passage of a bill by never bringing it to a vote. Kittleman, a Republican who represents Howard and Carroll counties, said the rule change, which would require a committee vote on each piece of proposed legislation, would help keep the process open.

The initial cost for Harford County to limit the powers of the sheriff will be $279,000, the county executive said yesterday while unveiling proposed legislation to take control of the criminal, correctional and communications divisions of the sheriff's office.County Executive Eileen M. Rehrmann said her moving to transfer operation of the Detention Center, police dispatch and road patrols from the sheriff to the county would cost taxpayers $104,000 annually.Much of that total would go to hire a police chief and for administrative support, Mrs. Rehrmann said.

NASHVILLE -- Dick Schultz, executive director of the NCAA, will make his fourth "state of the association" address this afternoon during the opening business session of the 85th annual NCAA convention. Reform will be the main topic, but a Division I-A football tournament might also be mentioned.The NCAA sponsors 16-team championship tournaments in Division I-AA, II and III football, while the I-A climax continues to revolve around the traditional bowls. Even before 1990's muddled finish on New Year's Day, Schultz was quoted as saying he thought there would a I-A tournament before the year 2000.

The Anne Arundel County delegation is supporting legislation to help homebuyers who fail to ask enough questions about the neighborhood into which they will be moving. Anne Arundel delegates and senators have been deluged with calls from frantic neighbors who never expected a megamall in North County, an auto racetrack on the Solley Peninsula, or expansions at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Officials say it's time homebuyers became more careful and developers more forthcoming.

I am writing in opposition to the proposed legislation in both the Maryland Senate and House to ban assault weapons ("Governor predicts assault weapons ban will pass" Jan 13). The proposed legislation will not accomplish stated purposes of increased public safety. It will only injure Maryland's law abiding citizens. It proposes to fix problems that we do not have in Maryland. According to the Maryland State Police data for the year 2011 there were only two murders with any type of rifle.

As part of her push to increase Baltimore's population, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake plans to introduce legislation to the City Council next week that will provide generous tax breaks to builders of apartment buildings downtown and in six other neighborhoods. "It will promote development in areas right now where the market might not have the proper stimulus," said Bill Henry, vice chairman of the City Council's taxation committee. The tax credit proposal is one of Rawlings-Blake's most direct legislative efforts to increase the population and could prove to be a significant tool to reinvigorate underused buildings and stagnating sections of the city.

Columbia Association wants legislation passed that will reclassify itself as a nonprofit community services corporation and remove all of its lien-payers from the protection of all Homeowners Association laws. CA recognizes only the 10 members of the Columbia Council as members of CA, excluding 100,000 residents on 37,000 lien-paying residential and commercial properties. The president of CA is not elected by lien-payers. My guess is that CA is probably the largest organization in the country where people are forced to pay an annual fee, are not considered members and can't vote for their executive.

Some members of Congress want to fire federal workers who are seriously delinquent on their taxes. Furthermore, if they had their way, prospective employees in deep tax arrears wouldn't even be considered for a job with Uncle Sam. The Republican-led House passed legislation last month that raised the consequences for federal civilian workers behind on their taxes, or anyone who wants to work for the government. Supporters say the measure is necessary to hold employees accountable, collect about $1 billion past due and foster confidence among Americans that public servants aren't ditching their tax obligations.

A year after the rockfish season was cut short because recreational and commercial fishermen were charged with poaching with illegally tied-down gill nets, a bill proposing the ban of all gill nets in Maryland waterways will be considered by the General Assembly. Sponsored by the Maryland Saltwater Sportfishing Association and state Sen. Kathy Klausmeier, a Baltimore County Democrat, Senate Bill 1032 calls for the ban of gill nets whether they are weighted down or not. Gill nets are legal, but it has been illegal to hold the nets down with weights since 1985.

Compared to the congressional district maps Maryland lawmakers adopted this fall, Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposal for new legislative district lines looks downright rational. In most instances, the boundaries bear more than a passing resemblance to recognizable communities - Hagerstown, for example, gets its own delegate, Carroll County has its own senator, and the Lower Shore, Middle Shore and Upper Shore are divided in more or less the way you would expect. And there appears to be no obvious attempt here by Democrats to seek partisan advantage.

Americans will find it a lot easier to tell an imported car from a domestic model, under proposed legislation outlined today by Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski.The bill, which she said she plans to introduce when Congress reconvenes next week, would require every new car sold in this country to carry a sticker on the window revealing the percentage of American parts and labor in the vehicle."American car buyers have a right to know when they buy their Toyota or their Chevy what portion of that car comes from the United States of America," she said, announcing the measure at the United Auto Workers Local 239 union hall in southeast Baltimore.

The O'Malley administration is completing legislation that would give the city the right to acquire nearly 200 properties in East Baltimore for the future expansion of the Johns Hopkins medical campus. The proposed legislation, scheduled to be introduced when the City Council returns from summer recess Monday, would amend the urban renewal plan for the Middle East area just north of the medical campus, which includes the hospital and schools of medicine, nursing and public health. A public hearing on the plan is tentatively scheduled before the city's Planning Commission in early November.

Even those, like us, who agree with the Supreme Court's ruling that the despicable protest by Westboro Baptist Church outside a soldier's funeral in Westminster was constitutionally protected free speech have nothing but sympathy for the family of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder and the other slain service members targeted by the group. To that end, we sympathize with U.S. Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger's desire to find a way, within the bounds of the court's decision, to prevent the Topeka, Kan.-based church group's ability to inflict emotional damage on other innocent families in the future.

Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold's proposals to step up oversight of school board spending are being denounced as "unnecessary" by the county schools chief. At a county House delegation meeting Friday morning, Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell, who has long butted heads with Leopold, spoke out against the legislation and hinted that the proposals are personally motivated. School officials said the legislation would impose rules on Anne Arundel that no other school system is required to adhere to. The proposed legislation, in the form of two separate bills, is being discussed by the county's delegation, though no lawmakers have agreed to sponsor the bills.