Senate Committee

A bill that would have imposed a moratorium on the use of hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas in Maryland was defeated Wednesday night in a Senate committee. The Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee voted 6-5 to reject the bill, which would have barred "fracking" in the state until the state Department of the Environment completes a study of the practice's environmental impact and issues appropriate rules. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Robert A. Zirkin, a Baltimore County Democrat.

WASHINGTON -- Democrats and Republicans quickly squared off Thursday over the confirmation of Labor Secretary nominee and Marylander Tom Perez -- preparing for a fight that is likely to intensify after a Senate committee voted along party lines to advance his nomination to the full Senate. House Democrats crafted a letter with 137 signatures to Senate leaders calling for a quick vote. "America's workers deserve a Labor Department operating at full capacity, especially as our economic recovery moves forward," Rep. Steny Hoyer, the Southern Maryland lawmaker and minority whip, said in a statement.

A change in the membership of a key Maryland Senate committee could hand Gov. Martin O'Malley a long-sought victory on a measure to foster development of a wind power industry off Ocean City. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller has replaced Sen. C. Anthony Muse on the Finance Committee with Sen. Victor R. Ramirez, Miller's office confirmed Thursday. The switch, which replaces one Prince George's County Democrat with another, was first reported on the Washington Post's web site.

A bill to raise Maryland's minimum wage to $10 an hour failed in a Senate committee vote Wednesday, its sponsor said.   The Raise Maryland campaign, part of a national effort, sought to increase the state's minimum per-hour wage from $7.25 to one of the highest rates in the country.  The organization said had the minimum wage been raised with inflation over the past 40 years, it would be $10.67.  The Senate Finance Committee voted unfavorably on the measure. One committee member said it failed in an 8-3 vote.

Behind-the-scenes jostling for committee chairmanships in the U.S. Senate has left Maryland Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski poised to take over the Senate Intelligence Committee — a move experts said Tuesday could bolster the role cybersecurity plays in the state's economy. But depending on what more senior lawmakers decide, the Maryland Democrat could also be in line to lead the committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which oversees the Silver Spring-based Food and Drug Administration and would direct the reauthorization of key education programs.

A state Senate committee passed a death penalty reform bill yesterday designed to streamline the lengthy appeals process, but rejected the governor's request to limit the scope of Maryland's harshest punishment.In a 9-2 vote, the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee passed the bill, which proponents say would reduce the time from sentencing to execution to six years.Fourteen people are on death row in Maryland, some of whom have been there off and on for at least the past decade. No one has been executed since 1961.

A Senate committee approved a bill yesterday that would make stalking a crime.The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee approved the bill unanimously, voting for an amended version that incorporates aspects of several similar bills.Under the proposed legislation, certain forms of harassment -- written or verbal threats, following another person -- could be classified as a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Most of the bills submitted by senators had sought lesser penalties for first-time offenses.

ANNAPOLIS -- A bill intended to prevent physicians from sending patients to facilities in which the physician has a financial interest died yesterday in a Senate committee.House Bill 1374, the so-called "physician self-referral" bill, failed to win a single vote once members of the Senate Finance Committee agreed there was little time to consider all the amendments offered.The Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, the state physicians' society known as Med-Chi, had pushed for the bill as a way to contain health-care costs.

Efforts to toughen penalties for young bomb-threat pranksters were dealt a serious blow yesterday when a Senate committee approved legislation that a House committee has twice rejected.There may be too little time for the House and Senate to work out a compromise before the scheduled end of the General Assembly session Monday."Realistically, it's probably not going to be worked out," said Sen. C. Edward Middlebrooks, a Severn Republican whose bomb-threat-penalty bill was voted down by the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

A state Senate committee voted yesterday to kill keno, the controversial electronic lottery game.But while lawmakers were predicting that the full Senate also would vote to get rid of the game, they continued to doubt that the House of Delegates would agree.By an 8-2 vote, the Senate Finance Committee approved a bill yesterday that would prevent the State Lottery Agency from installing any new keno terminals after June 1 and would require it to end the game outright by Dec. 31 of this year.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to encourage development of a wind energy farm off the coast of Ocean City cleared a major hurdle Friday as the Maryland Senate passed the bill 30-17. The proposal, designed to spark an offshore wind industry by subsidizing its developer, now goes to the Maryland House of Delegates. The House has passed a similar bill but needs to consider minor changes made in a Senate committee. If the project is built, most utility customers would be charged an extra $1.50 per month to pay for the electricity it generates.

A bill that would have imposed a moratorium on the use of hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas in Maryland was defeated Wednesday night in a Senate committee. The Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee voted 6-5 to reject the bill, which would have barred "fracking" in the state until the state Department of the Environment completes a study of the practice's environmental impact and issues appropriate rules. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Robert A. Zirkin, a Baltimore County Democrat.

Costco and the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce are among more than 70 businesses and groups that support raising the minimum wage in Maryland, according Raise Maryland, a group advocating for a higher wage. "We pay a starting hourly wage of $11.50 in all states where we do business, and we are still able to keep our overhead costs low," Craig Jelinek, Costco's president and CEO, said in a statement. "Instead of minimizing wages, we know it's a lot more profitable in the long term to minimize employee turnover and maximize employee productivity, commitment and loyalty.

Efforts to end Maryland's death penalty moved forward late Monday as the Senate squashed attempts to retain the death penalty for what one senator called "the worst of the worst. " Senators resumed an emotional debate they left off Friday evening, considering Monday whether to keep capital punishment for people convicted of murdering police officers or inmates who kill correctional officers. Both amendments, offered by Republicans in the Democrat-controlled chamber, failed by wide margins.

It will be a full week about guns and capital punishment in the Maryland Senate.  Floor debate will begin Tuesday on two of the most controversial proposals in Gov. Martin O'Malley's legislative package.  Senators will face early mornings and late nights as the chamber tackles gun-control and repealing the death penalty in the same week.  A memo to sent to senators Monday night said they will be called in at 8 a.m. Wednesday through Friday and that they can expect to stay late on Wednesday and Thursday nights to get all of the work done.

Over the objections of Republican lawmakers, the House of Delegates on Friday approved Gov. Martin O'Malley's bill to create incentives for development of a wind energy project off the coast of Ocean City . The measure, a top item on O'Malley's legislative agenda, was approved 85-48. Its passage was not a surprise because a similar bill passed the House last year only to die in a Senate committee. This year, the bill's prospects appear much better in the upper chamber. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller has predicted it will pass.

A key Senate committee voted yesterday to change a state education formula as a way to give the Baltimore public school system an extra $4.3 million next year.The panel's action, if upheld by the General Assembly, would undo a cut approved by the House of Delegates that rankled many city legislators.The extra money for the city would be included in a bill authorizing more than $61 million in new state spending for local school systems.Under the formula approved by the House, Baltimore was to receive $9 million, while Prince George's County was getting $16.2 million and Montgomery County $10.1 million.

As Senate Intelligence Committee members file into room 216 of the Hart office building in Washington for a CIA confirmation hearing this afternoon, they will be under a spotlight much brighter than they anticipated last week. That was before a Monday NBC report unveiled leaked documentation from the Obama administration strongly implying that extrajudicial drone killings of American citizens abroad are made casually, with little meaningful oversight or geographic restriction.

The chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees traffic laws will announce Tuesday that he will introduce legislation that would allow police to pull over a driver using a hand-held cell phone even if the motorist is not committing another offense. Del. James E. Malone Jr., a Baltimore County Democrat, said Monday that he plans to renew his effort to treat driving while talking on a hand-held phone the same as driving while texting. Texting while behind the wheel is considered a primary offense, allowing an officer to stop a motorist for that alone.