A little bit of everything
Tuesday was the first day candidates could file for the 2014 election, and 11 candidates took the plunge, including four Montgomery County legislators filing for reelection. Del. Shirley Nathan-Pulliam, a 20-year veteran Democrat currently representing Baltimore County District 10, filed to run for state Senate in the redrawn District 44 currently represented by Sen. Verna Jones-Rodwell.
Read moreA bill granting immigrants in the country illegally with access to a legal driver’s license passed in the House of Delegates Friday after heated debate. The bill has already been approved in the Senate and awaits the governor’s signature.
The legislation extends a program allowing Marylanders to obtain a driver’s license without proving they are in the country legally or have a valid Social Security number – bringing issues of immigration, terrorism and compassion to the debate.
Read moreDespite general agreement on the need for more mental health services to prevent gun violence, providers argue that the state’s psychiatric services are woefully underfunded and that the General Assembly has done little to address this problem. They were particularly shocked that the governor revoked $7.2 million of funding for mental health in his supplemental budget this week.
Read moreThe Senate Budget and Taxation Committee voted Thursday to cut $100 million in contributions to the State Retirement and Pension System for fiscal 2014. The committee tied the unexpected move to passage of legislation that will eventually ensure the state puts aside enough money for employee and teachers pensions. But the cut also adds a year to achieving long-term funding goals for those pensions.
Read moreA new Goucher College poll finds a slight majority of Marylanders (51%) oppose ending executions — even though many overestimate how often it is used and a majority says it does not deter murder and would prefer life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. An overwhelming majority of Marylanders — more than four out of five — support the major provisions of Gov. Martin O’Malley’s gun control proposal, despite the fierce opposition of a gun-owning minority that has flooded Annapolis hearing rooms.
Read moreThe already heated debate over new gun control measures heats up as Gov. Martin O’Malley’s proposed new restrictions moves to the Senate floor on Tuesday.
In this 12-minute video, MarylandReporter.com pits Del. Mike McDermott, a Lower Shore Republican and police officer who opposes new gun licensing rules, against Vinny DeMarco, a long-time advocate for more gun control who heads Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence.
Read moreFor most of the last decade, Maryland has been putting less money into the pension system for state employees and public school teachers than actuaries said it should, as much as $2.4 billion less.
For years, the trustees of the pension system have been urging the legislature to phase out the “corridor” method of funding. This year the General Assembly’s Joint Pension Committee has agreed to go along, and approved a plan to phase it out over the next 10 years.
Read moreAs Maryland legislators debate whether to repeal the death penalty, Gov. O’Malley and foes of executions have repeatedly claimed that it costs more to kill a murderer than to let him live. A commission O’Malley appointed agreed, but advocates for executions disagree with the analysis.
Read moreSen. Paul Pinsky would like to see more liberals and progressives in Congress, but he’d also like to have congressional district lines drawn fairly and in a bipartisan way. He’s proposing a new bipartisan commission to draw the lines — if a matching Republican-controlled state will do the same thing.
Read moreRepresentatives from the alcohol industry told the Maryland Board of Revenue Estimates Wednesday that the state’s year-old 9% sales tax on alcoholic beverages has produced stagnant growth in liquor sales in the past year, while growth in neighboring Virginia and Delaware was above the national average. Banking and real estate panelists also speaking at the board’s economic advisory forum said state and federal regulations will hinder potential private sector growth as the federal fiscal cliff approaches.
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