Candidates Can Still Reach Out and Touch Everyone

The General Assembly is weighing whether to repeal the state's death penalty law, which was enacted in 1978, and replace it with a sentence of life without parole.

-- Ovetta Wiggins

Development Runoff Fees Debated

Lawmakers debated a bill yesterday that would impose fees on most new development to pay for the runoff that is polluting the Chesapeake Bay.

Under the measure, developers who build in "smart growth" areas -- established communities and urban areas -- would be assessed 25 cents per square foot of concrete. New construction in rural areas would be assessed at $2 per square foot, but the fee could be reduced by as much as 25 percent to offset the cost of limiting storm-water runoff with porous parking lots and driveways, green roofs, rain gardens and other systems that filter storm water into the ground.

Environmental Matters Committee Chairman Maggie L. McIntosh (D-Baltimore), the bill sponsor, said several changes will be made to the bill before it moves out of committee.

"I've always said if we never collected a dime I'd still be happy because we affected behavior," McIntosh said.

Though the bill has the support of House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) and Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), it is unclear whether it will pass this session.

Before yesterday's House committee hearing, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) said he doesn't like the measure.

"I agree that developers need to pay their fair share, but for somebody in Montgomery County to have to pay for having a basketball court in their back yard might be a stretch," Miller said.