By John Wagner and Ovetta Wiggins
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Maryland lawmakers voted yesterday to ban smoking in bars and restaurants statewide, express "profound regret" for the state's role in the slave trade and deny parole to child rapists in a burst of activity as they confronted a key deadline for moving legislation.
A 33 to 13 vote in the Senate all but ensured that next year Maryland will join at least 18 states and the District, which have similar prohibitions designed to protect workers and patrons from the dangers of secondhand smoke.
Lawmakers must reconcile several differences with a bill passed Saturday by the House of Delegates before sending it to Gov. Martin O'Malley (D). The governor has said he will sign a statewide smoking ban, despite concerns about exemptions allowed in the legislation. Both versions of the bill would allow counties to enforce stricter bans if they elected to do so.
The legislation has been opposed by the restaurant industry's lobby, but Sen. Robert J. Garagiola (D-Montgomery), its lead sponsor, called Senate passage "a victory for public health."
The action came on one of the busiest days of the 90-day session, which is scheduled to end in two weeks.
After an impassioned debate, the House voted 81 to 57 for a bill that would allow undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition at universities and community colleges. Currently, illegal immigrants must pay out-of-state tuition.
The House also gave a unanimous nod to a bill that would move up Maryland's 2008 presidential primary to Feb. 12 from March 4 and passed a measure 78 to 60 that restores the voting rights of some repeat felons.
But another election-related bill, which would authorize paper receipts on election machines and which passed the House last week, stalled in the Senate amid concerns about how to fund it.
The Senate, meanwhile, voted overwhelmingly for legislation that would require health insurers to allow children to stay on their parents' policies to age 25. The House has passed a far more comprehensive bill that would expand access to health care to the uninsured.
The flurry of activity was largely driven by a deadline for bills to clear at least one chamber or face additional procedural hurdles, which probably would result in their demise by the time the session ends April 9.
One of the most emotional issues of the session -- the state's gesture of contrition on slavery -- generated little debate.
The House broke into applause after delegates approved the resolution, 130 to 6. The Senate passed the same measure unanimously this month. Maryland would become the second state -- after Virginia, earlier this year -- to express regret for slavery if one of the two measures is passed by the other body.
The Maryland resolution says slavery "fostered a climate of oppression" not just for slaves and their descendants but also for other people of color who moved to Maryland after slavery was abolished and has "afflicted the citizens of this state down to the present."
The lack of debate underscored how dramatically the politics of the issue has changed in the past decade.
After a 1998 tour of Africa in which President Bill Clinton expressed regret about the slave trade, he was accused by some conservatives in the United States of pandering to African Americans.
Sen. Nathaniel Exum (D-Prince George's), the bill's sponsor in the Senate, said he was pleased that "we can come to a recognition that we participated in something that was morally wrong."
Exum said he hopes that the apology resolution is just the beginning of a discussion about race relations and the steps that need to be taken to address the "lingering effects" slavery has had on African Americans.
Both chambers took action on another emotional issue, passing by overwhelming margins a bill named for a 9-year-old Florida girl who in 2005 was molested and murdered by a previously convicted sex offender.
Her death sparked a national movement to toughen laws on child sex offenders, with legislatures throughout the country taking action on bills in her memory.
Last year in Maryland, lawmakers passed a broader sex offender bill that, among other things, imposed mandatory minimum sentences of 25 years in prison on those at least 18 who are convicted of first-degree rape or sexual offense against someone younger than 13. The bills passed yesterday eliminate the possibility of parole during that 25-year period.
House Minority Whip Christopher B. Shank (R-Washington), the lead sponsor of "Jessica's Law," acknowledged the no-parole provision would apply to few convicted criminals but said, "It only takes one to create a Jessica Lunsford."
The House chamber broke into applause after the bill passed, 138 to 0. The margin in the Senate was 43 to 3.
Sen. Nancy Jacobs (R-Harford) said the bill finishes the business that should have been taken up last year.
"The majority of Marylanders believe these guys should never see the light of day," Jacobs said.
O'Malley spokesman Steve Kearney said the governor will sign the bill.
The House had a far more spirited debate over a bill it narrowly passed that would allow twice-convicted drug dealers the chance for parole instead of the mandatory 10-year sentence the law requires. The bill had failed by one vote last week but was reconsidered yesterday.
Staff writer Lisa Rein contributed to this report.
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