State Law

Some legal experts fear the enforcement of the state's Open Meetings Act has been significantly weakened by a Howard County judge's ruling that private citizens cannot sue for violations without showing they suffered personal damages. "It decimates the power of the act," said Alice Neff Lucan, a media attorney based in Washington, who worries about the effect the decision will have on freedom of information. "This is of great concern." The ruling, signed by Howard County Circuit Judge James B. Dudley on Aug. 8, states that citizens do not have the legal standing to sue public bodies for open-meetings violations unless they can prove they have suffered injuries beyond those of the general population, which some said missed the purpose of the law altogether.

State health officials don't know how often Marylanders use medications mixed in facilities lacking safety oversight, like a Massachusetts facility linked to three deaths here, but a newly passed law could tell them — and help demonstrate a gap in federal regulation. Batches of sterile drugs from so-called compounding pharmacies will be subject to state review under the measure Gov. Martin O'Malley signed this month. And pharmacists and doctors who perform compounding, in which drugs are somehow altered from their Food and Drug Administration-approved form, will face an extra layer of permits and inspections for drugs used in Maryland.

Westminster officials plan to tap a decade-old state nuisance law to clean up a troubled neighborhood by cracking down on landlords who allow their properties to foster drug trafficking. The law - which ultimately would allow the city to "padlock" such structures - provides Westminster with an immediate tool in the revitalization of the Pennsylvania Avenue neighborhood. Crime, drug trafficking, housing code violations and vandalism have vexed the area in recent years. A group of government officials, social service agencies, residents and a landlord formed in the spring to devise a plan to rehabilitate the neighborhood, a several-block area of older homes, apartment buildings and few businesses on the city's west side that borders McDaniel College, formerly known as Western Maryland College.

Isaiah Dixon Jr., a jazz fan, world traveler and four-term state delegate from Baltimore City whose accomplishments included introducing a bill that made cross burnings a felony in Maryland, died of heart failure April 26 at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. He was 90. "He took his position very seriously," said Baltimore Circuit Court Clerk Frank M. Conaway, a longtime friend who served two terms alongside Mr. Dixon in the General Assembly. "He thought that he needed to make a difference, and he tried.

MARYLAND'S wiretap laws need to be brought up to date to deal with cell phone technology that gives criminals the upper hand. Under current law, investigators must get court permission for each phone line they wish to tap. The applications for these taps require pages of affidavits and take a lot of time to process. Meanwhile, drug dealers are buying cheap cell phones by the dozens and throwing them away after a few calls. It's nearly impossible for authorities to get and keep a tap on such quickly disposable lines.

A Howard County Council bill approved last month banning leg-hold animal traps is unenforceable because it conflicts with state law, county lawyers have concluded. Based on a six-page legal opinion signed by County Solicitor Barbara M. Cook and Senior Assistant Solicitor Ruth Fahrmeier, County Executive James N. Robey said he would tell police Chief Wayne Livesay not to enforce the ban the council approved as part of a larger reform of animal-control laws. "We don't have any authority to enforce it," Robey said.

A Baltimore County judge has struck down a 1997 state law that prevented the controversial Pulaski Incinerator from reopening in East Baltimore. In an order signed this week, Circuit Judge J. William Hinkel found the law unfairly targeted the incinerator, owned by construction magnate Willard Hackerman, because it allowed the state's other 104 incinerators to continue operating. The law was the result of a more than decade-long battle waged against Hackerman's waste operation by East Baltimore politicians and community leaders, who blamed the 44-year-old incinerator for air pollution and high cancer rates.

A coalition of neighbors filed suit yesterday to block construction of the 41-story Wyndham Hotel, alleging that the city violated state law when it approved the project.The suit filed in Baltimore Circuit Court alleges that when the project was reviewed by the City Council's land-use committee Nov. 20, city officials did not allow opponents to ask questions and did not keep a transcript of the hearing -- both required under state land-use laws.The lawsuit filed by the Scarlett Place Residential Condominium Association and the Waterfront Coalition -- an umbrella group of nine homeowner and business groups -- asks that the ordinances enacted as a result of that hearing be stricken from the city's books.

Noting approaching Baltimore city elections and the need for a definitive statewide ruling, the state prosecutor is appealing a circuit judge's decision striking down the ban on Election Day "walk-around" money. State Prosecutor Stephen Montanarelli filed formal notice yesterday in Prince George's Circuit Court to appeal the April 24 decision by Judge Richard H. Sothoron Jr., who declared unconstitutional a state law barring the payment of Election Day workers. "We need a statewide opinion," said Montanarelli, noting that technically Sothoron's ruling applies only to Prince George's county.

MAN, W.Va. - Billy Wiley could be forgiven for not knowing that under a new state law, he wasn't supposed to be driving his four-wheel all-terrain vehicle onto the two-lane road running through this coal-mining town. After all, it's long been routine for West Virginians to drive their ATVs on paved roads, even on state highways. The new law generated widespread talk in the days leading up to its debut on Wednesday, but Wiley missed all that: he was off riding his ATV in the hills, he said.

National Rifle Association President David Keene said Wednesday the organization will pursue lawsuits in two states where Democratic governors are believed to have presidential aspirations, but it might not challenge new state gun laws elsewhere. "We're already in court in New York, and we will be in court in Maryland," Keene said in an interview. "Our feeling is that you've got a case in two states in particular that are one-party states. They both have governors who, when they close their eyes, see themselves in the White House.

First lady Michelle Obama came to Annapolis on Wednesday to praise a new Maryland law, saying it sets a national standard for removing barriers for veterans in transition to the civilian workforce. The legislation - unanimously approved by the General Assembly - was signed into law by the governor Wednesday as Obama looked on. It requires agencies to expedite the processing for veterans of 70 professional licenses, including those for nurses, paramedics and teachers. The measure also spells out how agencies and universities should translate military education and experience for licensing purposes and college credits.

When Phylicia Barnes' disappearance drew national attention two years ago, it prompted calls for stronger response to reports of missing children - particularly minorities. Some who made those pleas said Wednesday that Michael Maurice Johnson's conviction in Barnes' murder validated their efforts. The case spurred the General Assembly to pass "Phylicia's Law" in 2012, promoting better coordination of law enforcement and search efforts in the crucial first hours after children go missing.

A Western Maryland paper mill and several others in the region have collected millions of dollars over the past eight years by taking advantage of an obscure provision in a state law that is supposed to encourage the development of wind, solar and other renewable energy projects. The paper manufacturers routinely burn waste byproducts from their mills to make the energy to run them. But since 2005, they've been getting paid to do so by selling "renewable energy credits" to power companies, which can buy the paper waste credits rather than purchase ones generated by the sun or wind.

It has been one month since the devastating tragedy in Newtown, Conn., and most of us are still trying to come to grips with the events of that terrible day. When gun violence rips through a community it is always hard to bear, but when the victims of the violence are innocent children, it is unbearable. We are left wondering how so many young lives could be taken so quickly, and how we can prevent it from happening again. In our national search for answers, many have understandably been drawn to solutions that might reduce a perpetrator's ability to kill multiple people in short order: restrictions on high-capacity magazines and semi-automatic assault rifles like the Bushmaster .223 used by Adam Lanza.

What a lovely spot for a veto. Clark's Farm in Ellicott City spreads out on 540 acres along Route 108, where cattle roam the pastures and where Humpty Dumpty, Willie the Whale, Little Red Riding Hood and other characters from the old Enchanted Forest theme park have found second homes. It's also the former home of the late state Sen. James Clark Jr., the father of Maryland's agricultural land preservation program. County Executive Ken Ulman chose the location this month to spike a piece of County Council legislation dealing with development rights on rural property - such as Clark's Farm, which has been in preservation since the 1980s.

A Prince George's Circuit Court judge declared unconstitutional yesterday a state law barring the payment of Election Day poll workers, and threw out criminal charges against three workers tied to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s 2002 election campaign. In an eight-page decision issued just six days after a hearing, Judge Richard H. Sothoron Jr. said the 1979 law improperly infringed on guaranteed free-speech rights and had been interpreted to give "carte blanche authority" to restrict Election Day activities.

OAKLAND -- Steve and Flora Dirlik found their idyllic vacation retreat 200 miles from home, on 5 wooded acres in the mountains of Garrett County. But the Silver Spring couple didn't go far enough to escape the problems of suburbia.Traffic on their gravel road is increasing. Someone broke into their log cabin. The deer, bear and beaver that were once their neighbors are fleeing to a nearby state park.And the Dirliks wonder whether the flow of Baltimore and Washington suburbanites to the county will ever end. "I'd like to see a way to stop the growth," Flora Dirlik says.

A raft of new state laws take effect Monday, imposing new requirements from the car seat to the hearse. Children under 8 years old will be required to sit in a booster seat or child seat until they reach a certain height - the Maryland legislature repealed a provision that allowed heavier children to forego a special seat. And morticians will have to follow stricter rules when handling the dead, under legislation enacted by the General Assembly earlier this year. Other laws cut costs for patients undergoing oral chemotherapy, allow sports fans to win cash prizes in online fantasy football tournaments and give prisoners a reprieve from having to pay child support while behind bars.

At the heart of a Pennsylvania judge's decision to let that state's voter ID requirement stand for the fall election is the notion that people can get those documents easily and cheaply, in many cases for free. Echoing the sentiments of the backers of such laws across the nation, Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson no voter need be disenfranchised because they are poor or minority. But the reality is quite different. As a recent report from the Brennan Center for Justice notes, it's not so easy to obtain a state-issued ID in states with restrictive voter ID laws.