House Votes to Toughen Coastal Development Restrictions

DNA Collection, Death Penalty Study Advance as Deadline Nears

The Maryland House of Delegates voted yesterday to tighten regulations on development in the state's environmentally sensitive coastal areas and worked to build consensus on two contentious criminal justice issues: DNA collection and the death penalty.

The action came on a day when the House, meeting in a rare Saturday session, took up more than 150 bills in advance of a deadline tomorrow to send legislation to the Senate. A bill also moved forward that would establish an authority to solicit bids for a new owner of the ailing Prince George's County hospital system.

Both The House and Senate plan to convene early tomorrow to meet an annual "crossover" deadline, the start of a two-week sprint toward adjournment during which the fate of most major pieces of legislation in the 90-day session will be determined. Also hanging in the balance are hundreds of bills that have received less attention, such as one advancing in the House yesterday that would require that dogs in the backs of pickups be caged.

The Critical Area bill, which cleared the House 115 to 22, is a leading environmental priority for Gov. Martin O'Malley (D). The legislation toughens development restrictions along the Chesapeake Bay shoreline by enlarging buffer areas and increasing water quality protection.

"This is our most precious shoreline, our most precious land, that which we need to protect for our water, that which we need to protect for our habitat," Del. Maggie L. McIntosh (D-Baltimore), chairman of the Environmental Matters Committee, said in an impassioned speech.

The bill's detractors argued that the new regulations could unfairly limit owners' rights to develop their property.

"That may be our most precious shoreline, but that shoreline is owned by somebody," said Del. Tony McConkey (R-Anne Arundel), who said his waterfront property could be affected by the law. "It's unconstitutional to say to someone that they can't use their property for what they want to use the property for."

The exchange came well into a six-hour floor session in which House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) ordered pizza for fidgety delegates and wore sneakers with his business suit to ease the challenge of standing as he presided. The tone was at times playful, but the often-rowdy chamber fell silent as attention turned to capital punishment.

Legislation to repeal Maryland's death penalty has stalled this year. But a bill calling for a wide-ranging study of the punishment is moving forward in both chambers. Several Republican delegates questioned whether the 19-member study commission was too heavily stacked with appointees of O'Malley, a death penalty opponent, in the House bill, sponsored by Del. Kathleen M. Dumais (D-Montgomery).

"I get the impression that this task force is being guided by the invisible hand of a political philosophy to move in a certain direction," said Del. Patrick L. McDonough (R-Baltimore County).

Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg (D-Baltimore) said that the commission had been expanded to include family members of murder victims and that their voices would be heard.

Others argued that the commission was another delaying tactic in resuming executions in Maryland. The state has had an effective moratorium on capital punishment since December 2006, when its highest court ruled that the state's procedures for lethal injections had not been properly adopted. For executions to resume, the O'Malley administration would have to issue new regulations, a step the governor has resisted.