Provision

WASHINGTON -- Critics of the tax-cut bill took mostly broad swipes at the measure yesterday, but one particular provision really ruffled their feathers: a tax credit for chicken manure."

A Senate committee severely weakened Gov. Parris N. Glendening's bill guaranteeing collective bargaining for state employees by voting yesterday to exclude 8,000 nonfaculty workers in the University System of Maryland.The Senate Finance Committee approved the collective bargaining bill but the amendment deprives organized labor of one of its biggest gains in the bill proposed by the governor and approved by the House of Delegates.As changed by the Senate panel, the bill includes two other amendments supported by critics of Glendening's labor policies -- reducing the governor's bill to little more than his 1996 executive order granting collective bargaining rights to state employees.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening proposed a collective bargaining bill last night under which all state employees covered under labor agreements could be required to pay a fee to the union that negotiates their contract -- whether they are members or not.The bill would allow expansion of state employee collective bargaining rights to about 18,000 nonfaculty employees of state universities. That would increase the number of state workers eligible to work under union contracts from about 42,000 to 60,000.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening's proposed collective bargaining law received a skeptical reception from a House committee yesterday as members zeroed in on a provision that could require state employees to pay a fee to the union that represents them.At a hearing that pitted union against union, administration officials proclaimed Maryland's 2-year-old experiment with collective bargaining a success.Budget Secretary Frederick W. Puddester told the House Appropriations Committee that despite predictions bargaining would mean "the end of the Western world," it has improved communications between the state and its work force.

The House of Delegates gave preliminary approval yesterday to a broad reform of Maryland ethics laws, rejecting a raft of efforts to weaken the measure and strengthening a provision to ban the solicitation of gifts from lobbyists.The action came amid widespread grumbling by legislators that the bill is either unnecessary or too strict.Despite the misgivings, a majority of the 141-member chamber was unwilling to go on record against any of the legislation's key provisions. Final House approval is expected next week.

IT IS NOT surprising in our lawsuit-happy society that some developers abuse the privilege of litigation, using it to intimidate and silence community groups that oppose their projects. Such lawsuits have become known as "SLAPP" suits, or "strategic lawsuits against public participation." Legislation that would offer qualified immunity to defendants in SLAPPs has passed in a number of states and is again before Maryland's General Assembly.But legislatively protecting defendants is not the way to deal with frivolous lawsuits.

''Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?''-- Joseph Welch, Army special counsel, to Sen. Joseph McCarthy June 9, 1954 WASHINGTON -- Those words, spoken in a televised meetingof a Senate committee, in response to a politician's legal but contemptible behavior, lanced a boil on the body politic. They catalyzed public revulsion about Joseph McCarthy's recklessness; his swift downfall began. Today's question is: Who will speak comparable words to another political sociopath, President Clinton?

Bad tax code change would reduce surging philanthropic activityAs was aptly portrayed in Eric Siegel's article "Foundations see holdings swell in booming market" (June 9), the assets of Maryland's foundations have greatly increased in past years. The result has been increased support for the nonprofit sector through new and additional resources for innovative projects, operating costs and emergency needs.The bull market of the 1980s and 1990s has also been a boon to foundations because of growth in personal wealth among those with large amounts of highly appreciated, publicly traded stock.

WASHINGTON -- Exercising a power coveted by White House occupants since Ulysses S. Grant, President Clinton invoked his new line-item veto authority for the first time yesterday to delete three tax-related items from the balanced-budget package that Congress approved and Clinton signed into law last week.The president said the three items would have unjustifiably benefited a few groups and were just the kind of special favors the line-item veto was meant to combat."From now on, presidents will be able to say no to wasteful spending or tax loopholes even as they say yes to vital legislation," Clinton proclaimed in an Oval Office ceremony.

WASHINGTON -- A chastened Senate voted emphatically yesterday to undo a $50 billion tobacco-industry break that had been slipped into the tax-cut bill signed into law last month.Voting 95-3 to repeal the provision, senators rather contritely agreed to an amendment that unraveled what sponsor Sen. Richard J. Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, called "a sweetheart deal" for the industry.But the repealer was nearly derailed by an amendment from Sen. Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican, who tried to limit the fees that can be collected by attorneys hired by the states to press damage claims against the tobacco industry.

Rubin Sztajer left a German concentration camp alive, but he worries about surviving a government health care overhaul. "I've been sentenced to death before by the Nazis," said the 84-year-old from Timonium. "I don't want to be sentenced again." Seniors like Sztajer are fearful that government bureaucrats will block access to their medical care if President Barack Obama's plan becomes law. These concerns are being fed, in no small part, by an effective conservative assault on a relatively short provision that involves end-of-life counseling.

WASHINGTON -Gov. Martin O'Malley assured members of Maryland's congressional delegation yesterday that the state is prepared to spend all of its roughly $3 billion share of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package. The $789.5 billion spending and tax-cut measure, expected to gain final approval in Congress this week, contains use-it-or-lose-it provisions that would require states to decide relatively quickly how to spend portions of the federal money, including for highway projects.

I retired a few years ago from the military after 20 years. Does the windfall elimination provision reduce my future Social Security benefits? A number of factors could throw you under the provision, including how long and how much you paid into Social Security from your non-military employment over the years. Up to 9 percent of future retirees could see their Social Security benefits trimmed by this provision, which dates to 1983, according to research published in the Journal of Financial Planning.

Micros Systems Inc. amended its stock option plan yesterday after an influential shareholder advisory service contended that its language might allow executives to profit when other shareholders couldn't. Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. advised shareholders not to vote for a larger amendment to Micros' option plan Nov. 16 if that issue wasn't rectified. Votes on stock option plans are a routine part of many corporations' annual meetings and rarely contested. But ISS, a Rockville firm that advises large stockholders on how to vote, said the plan language must be changed first so it wouldn't allow the company to alter the price of previously awarded options.

WASHINGTON -- House and Senate negotiators reached agreement yesterday on a long-debated anti-terrorism bill as the Democratic majority in Congress scrambles to rack up accomplishments to boost job-approval ratings. The legislation to implement many of the recommendations of the bipartisan commission that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks is among the raft of measures that Democrats hope to pass before leaving next week for a monthlong recess. One major provision would require screening of all cargo bound for U.S. ports within five years and steer more anti-terrorism funding to regions considered at the greatest risk of attack.

WASHINGTON -- The White House found a lot to dislike yesterday about the first big energy bill to come before the Democratic-controlled Congress, complicating passage of the measure. The administration complained that the bill being debated in the Senate "does nothing" to promote domestic production of oil and natural gas, a criticism echoed by a number of Republican senators. The White House threatened a veto if the bill includes a provision that would make gasoline price-gouging a federal offense.

For those sickened by unbridled development, overcrowded schools, clogged highways and loss of green space, Frederick County has a potential antidote for suburban sprawl. A new county ethics law approved this year by the Maryland General Assembly and signed just weeks ago by Gov. Martin O'Malley uses a "sunshine" provision - and limits on campaign contributions - to help manage growth. Since Friday, Frederick County commissioners have been required to publicly disclose their every communication regarding pending development, whether it's from an applicant or an opponent.

WASHINGTON -- As the curtain prepared to fall on the Republican-controlled Congress, GOP leaders pushed for approval of what is likely to be the last major pro-drilling bill during the Bush presidency - a measure that would open a large swath of the Gulf of Mexico to energy exploration. The drilling provision was part of a $45 billion tax and trade bill that was pending before the House. If that chamber passed it before the night ended, it would likely go to the Senate today as the lame-duck Congress wrapped up its business.

. Investigations led by a Republican lawyer, Stuart W. Bowen Jr., in Iraq have sent American occupation officials to jail on bribery and conspiracy charges, exposed disastrously poor construction work by well-connected companies such as Halliburton and Parsons, and discovered that the military did not properly track hundreds of thousands of weapons it shipped to Iraqi security forces. And tucked away in a huge military authorization bill that President Bush signed two weeks ago is what some of Bowen's supporters believe is his reward: a pink slip.

Interrogation techniques Deep, long-running conflicts over detention policy continued to divide the Bush administration even as it pushed legislation through Congress last week on the handling of terrorism suspects. Here are highlights of the military commissions and interrogation system, as approved by Congress: The president would not be allowed to authorize any interrogation technique that amounted to a war crime. These include torture, cruel or inhuman treatment, murder, serious bodily injury, sexual abuse, taking hostages and biological experiments.