State Legislature

Republicans are proposing to award 53 of California's 55 electoral votes by districts and only two at large. Though the chances of the proposal being on the ballot in 2008 are uncertain, the plan raises electoral issues of national concern. Can a referendum decision trump the constitutionally stipulated power of the state legislature to choose a manner of awarding state electoral votes? Can any large or medium-size state really benefit from adopting the district scheme of awarding electoral votes?

LAUREL -- The task force that spent a year and $400,000 studying the best way to run the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission became Exhibit A yesterday in how not to do it.The 15-member panel of Prince George's and Montgomery County officials agreed that the management of the nation's seventh-largest water and sewer company is "dysfunctional," but stopped short of offering a solution.Instead, it voted to send its report to the state legislature and urged the creation of another bi-county group to continue the study.

WASHINGTON -- Yielding to the idea that college professors should spend more time with their students, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 yesterday that state-run universities may order the faculty to do more classroom teaching and student counseling and less research.In a brief opinion, the court upheld the constitutionality of an Ohio law that singles out professors, among all state employees, for controls on their workloads. That law also took away the right of faculty unions to negotiate over how professors divide their time.

IT'S UNDERSTANDABLE if some city residents -- and politicians -- find the notion of a commuter tax appealing. The idea of placing the burden of increased taxes on someone else is attractive. That's one reason taxes on hotel rooms and rental cars -- in other words, on visitors -- are imposed in some places with relatively little local uproar.A commuter tax, though, could have a devastating effect on Baltimore's attempts to retain and attract employers. It could also alienate the city's neighbors at a time when more -- not less -- cooperation is needed.

WASHINGTON -- With a week to go, polls show that voters in at least four states and Washington, D.C., are poised to allow marijuana to be used legally as a medicine -- ignoring the years-long and escalating opposition of the Clinton administration."

Dell and Yates earned their 'no' votesNow I remember why I voted against re-electing Carroll County commissioners Donald I. Dell and Richard T. Yates in the recent election.It's because of the way they say, "thank you."Ken WalkerWestminsterHorse-racing comments upsettingAs a taxpaying citizen of Maryland, I am extremely upset to read in your paper the words of Sen. Barbara A. Hoffman concerning the horse-racing industry.In the recent election, our industry was merely seeking the right to compete on a level playing field with our nearest competition.

Don't let nurses prescribe psychiatric drugsPeople in Maryland with psychiatric illnesses are in danger of getting risky, substandard treatment.Today's treatments of psychiatric illnesses rely heavily on knowledge of medical mimics, neurobiological processes and pharmacologic actions and side effects of psychotropic and other types of medications.There are two current bills in the state legislature (HB 1029 and SB 532) that would legally allow nurses with a master's degree in psychiatric nursing to prescribe and dispense medications to treat severe psychiatric illnesses, providing that they take a three-hour semester course in psychopharmacology.

NOT SINCE RECONSTRUCTION has a Southern state legislature been controlled by Republicans. Next week in Virginia that may change. In what has become a contest of national importance, with implications for what Congress and President Clinton do in the year ahead, Virginia voters will elect a new House and Senate. If Republicans gain just three seats in each chamber, they will have made history.Mindful of the stakes, Democrats and Republicans from all over are pouring resources into races for offices that are usually little noted nor long remembered.

Frito-Lay ThreatThe Maryland legislature made the right decision when it refused to repeal the snack tax in response to the heavy-handed, strong-arming tactics of Frito-Lay.Because Frito-Lay didn't get its way, it now says it will not expand and provide the 650 additional jobs for Harford County that it had planned.Robbi Dietrich, spokeswoman for Frito-Lay, said, "We make our decisions based on economics."Whose economics? Frito-Lay does not care what is in the best interest of the citizens of Harford County or Maryland.

ON JUNE 30, 1943, a stern notice was issued by John N. Gontrum, then Maryland's Insurance Commissioner: "The use of all kinds of fireworks is prohibited under terms of a law enacted by the state legislature in 1941 and enforced for the first time last year. And no section of the state is exempt. The law prohibits the use of fireworks except for a public display in cases where a permit has been issued."The commissioner had reason to be stern. Until 1941, the use of fireworks was thought to be a sacred right in Baltimore.

DENVER - In the 1930s, Colorado officials realized they were facing a long-term water problem because the Continental Divide channels about 80 percent of rain and snowmelt westward toward neighboring states and, ultimately, the Pacific Ocean. But most of the population of the state lives east of the Rockies, in the Front Range. So Colorado politicians decided to dig tunnels through the Rockies, creating man-made arterials that redirect waters eastward to those burgeoning, thirsty counties.

Nancy S. Grasmick, Maryland's state superintendent of schools, said she's proud of the fact that four different Democrats who've run for governor asked her to be their lieutenant governor. A fifth Democrat might ask her one day; you'd make some easy money by betting that it won't be Gov. Martin O'Malley. The guv's made it clear: He wants Grasmick out. Grasmick's a "poster child for No Child Left Behind," O'Malley has groused on public airwaves. What's more, she's "a pawn of the Republican Party."

Republicans are proposing to award 53 of California's 55 electoral votes by districts and only two at large. Though the chances of the proposal being on the ballot in 2008 are uncertain, the plan raises electoral issues of national concern. Can a referendum decision trump the constitutionally stipulated power of the state legislature to choose a manner of awarding state electoral votes? Can any large or medium-size state really benefit from adopting the district scheme of awarding electoral votes?

As reported Nov. 16, 1967, in The Sun: More than 10 miles of new state highways in Howard and Baltimore counties were opened to the public yesterday afternoon at a brief but cold dedication ceremony. Among the audience of about 75 persons were several dozen construction workers, contractors, Howard and Baltimore county politicians and State Roads Commission officials. Construction of six miles of Interstate Route 70N, which will connect the Baltimore Beltway and Route 29, and 4.5 miles of a dualized Route 29 from I-70N to Route 108 costs slightly more than $14,000,000, most of which was paid for by the Federal Government.

MARYLAND Lawmakers driving the agenda Democrats in the state legislature - used to acting on their own during Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s term - are not waiting for Gov. Martin O'Malley to take the lead. They're pushing to ban smoking in bars, abolish the death penalty and establish strict pollution limits for cars. pg 1b Smart Growth at risk A shortage of water in Carroll County's population centers is threatening to undermine the state's pioneering anti-sprawl policies by forcing new homes into undeveloped areas, a national expert on water rights said yesterday.

Rosapepe worked hard for Clinton The Sept. 3 article about the 21st District state Senate race quoted Jim Rosapepe's opponent criticizing his service in the Clinton administration with no response from those of us who served with him. The truth is that, as U.S. ambassador to Romania, Jim was a hard-charging advocate for President Clinton's foreign policy agenda. No one should be surprised that he ruffled some bureaucratic feathers. The bottom line is that he successfully served Clinton and did a great job. John Podesta Washington, D.C. The writer is a former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton.

Clever, those Supreme Court justices. They've produced a ruling on the Texas redistricting map that invites such outrageous political mischief that the national movement to take remapping away from politicians may get a backhanded boost. The high court not only rejected the claim that election districts wildly contorted for partisan objectives violate constitutional protections, it also encouraged such maneuvers by ruling that state legislators need not follow the traditional practice of remapping after each decennial census, but may redraw the lines as often as they like.

Pity the potential candidates for the Carroll County Board of Commissioners. They're going to have a tough time campaigning for office anytime soon. That's because nobody knows whom they're supposed to represent. The General Assembly's failure this week to approve legislation setting the boundaries for the county's five commissioner districts has left the local election process in disarray. The controversy started two years ago when Carroll voters approved a referendum expanding the board from three to five members who would be elected by local districts instead of at large.

NEW YORK - The United Nations will need to make a decision on its temporary office space before the end of this year, officials said at a news briefing yesterday. The world body wants to start renovating its dilapidated headquarters in 2007, so it can't wait on the state Legislature to approve its previous plans to build temporary office space at Robert Moses Playground across the street from its current location. A report released Tuesday said that one site in downtown Brooklyn and another in Manhattan would meet the United Nations' specifications for temporary space.

WHAT'S IT GOING to be, Magna, a "solemn commitment" or nothing for Maryland racing without slots? A year ago, Magna Entertainment Corp., the Canadian firm that owns Pimlico and Laurel Park racetracks, made a big deal of proclaiming its deep interest in reinvigorating Maryland horse racing - even if it didn't get the windfall of a state license to operate slot machines at one or more of their tracks. "It's a solemn commitment," Frank Stronach, Magna's chairman, told The Sun back then. Added Jim McAlpine, a Magna vice-chairman and then president and CEO: "We didn't make this investment in Maryland with the idea that, if everything didn't go our way, we'd pull up stakes."