Senate

A bill to give health regulators more oversight of facilities like the now-closed Monarch Medspa in Timonium is making a late surge in the General Assembly after weeks of discussions among state and industry officials. The House of Delegates unanimously passed the legislation Monday afternoon. It needs to clear the Senate, including an extra procedural step, within the next week. The legislative session draws to a close April 8. If passed, the law would close a regulatory gap that does not allow state health officials to proactively inspect and oversee plastic surgery centers.

The Maryland Senate roll call on the gas tax bill The state Senate voted 27-20 Friday to raise taxes on gasoline sold in Maryland, sending the bill to Gov. Martin O'Malley for his expected signature. Voting Yea Benson, Joanne C. (D) Prince George's Conway, Joan Carter (D) Baltimore Currie, Ulysses (D) Prince George's Ferguson, William C., IV (D) Baltimore Forehand, Jennie M. (D) Montgomery Frosh, Brian E. (D) Montgomery Garagiola, Robert J. (D)

The Maryland Senate will take up a proposed increase in the state's gas tax Friday, and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller is expected to push it to a final vote before Sunday. According to Senate staff, Miller will try to bring the transportation revenue bill through preliminary approval and a final vote in a single day. But Miller told senators they might have to work Saturday of Easter weekend -- a not-so-subtle incentive to forestall delay. The gas tax bill was appoved Thursday by the Budget & Taxation Committee.

It was a Good Friday indeed for Baltimore city school students--who in the next few years will begin seeing their dilapidated school buildings undergo a major facelift. An unprescedented $1 billion financing plan that will renovate or rebuild roughly 50 schools is effectively on its way to the bank, our statehouse reporter Michael Dresser reports. According to Dresser, when the plan went for its last whirl through the Senate "the measure passed easily on a bipartisan vote of 40-7.

Legislation that would have phased out millions in ratepayer-financed subsidies for mostly out-of-state paper mills died in a House committee Friday, just a day after the Senate passed a companion measure. The House version of the so-called "black liquor" bill, HB1102 , fell one vote short of the 12-vote majority needed to get out of the Economic Matters Committee. The vote in the panel was 11 to 8 for it. The Senate had voted 33-13 on Thursday to end the subsidies, after the bill had died and been resurrected in committee.

A phase-out of renewable energy subsidies for paper mills has cleared the Maryland Senate, though with a provision that guarantees the state's only paper plant in Allegany County would continue to receive payments underwritten by taxpayers. Environmentalists hailed the 33-13 vote Thursday for SB684 , which they said would close what they considered a major loophole in Maryland's renewable energy law. Currently, mostly out-of-state paper mills receive millions of dollars annually for powering their operations by burning "black liquor," a tarry byproduct of the pulping process, and other wood waste.

In a long-sought victory for Baltimore, the Maryland Senate approved a $1 billion financing plan Friday for an unprecedented systemwide drive to rebuild and renovate the city's crumbling school buildings. The measure passed easily on a bipartisan vote of 40-7. It now goes back to the House of Delegates for approval of a minor amendment and then will move to Gov. Martin O'Malley's desk. Takirra Winfield, a spokeswoman for O'Malley, said the governor will sign the bill. "He's always been a supporter of Baltimore City and Baltimore City public schools, and he is very pleased that a deal has been reached," she said.

The proposal to raise Maryland's gas tax by as much as 20 cents per gallon cleared a Senate panel Thursday, sending the plan for a final vote as early as Friday. The Senate Budget and Taxation approved 9-4 a bill that increases gasoline taxes for the first time in more than 20 years. It would raise an estimated $4.4 billion over six years, cash that would be dedicated to road and transit projects. The new sales tax on gas, which could rise to 6 percent, would be tied to inflation and is expected to generate more than $660 million for transportation each year.

A Senate committee approved legislation Wednesday that would launch a $2.4 billion plan to rebuild aging Baltimore city schools, putting the measure on an apparent fast track toward final passage. The Budget & Taxation Committee cast a bipartisan 13-0 vote to approve the House-passed bill, which would provide the first $1.1 billion for the plan, with no substantive amendments. That means that if it passes without further changes on the Senate floor, the measure would likely avoid a conference committee and quickly land on  Gov. Martin O'Malley's desk.

The Maryland Senate voted Wednesday to pass a bill that would qualify more Marylanders for government health care and pay for a new health insurance marketplace, both part of advancing the rollout of federal health reform. The House of Delegates approved an identical bill Monday, clearing the way for the legislation to make its way to Gov. Martin O'Malley for his signature. Initiatives in the bill spell out changes in the way poor or uninsured residents and small businesses would access health care once the federal law becomes effective next year.