Compromises Play Key Role in O'Malley Legislative Wins
Compromises Play A Major Role in Legislative Success

By John Wagner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 9, 2008; B06

By the time the confetti fell at the close of Maryland's 90-day legislative session Monday night, Gov. Martin O'Malley had racked up far more wins than losses. But some of those victories arguably should be recorded with asterisks.

O'Malley (D) pushed through a bill to expand the collection of DNA samples from suspected criminals. But he succeeded only after agreeing to several compromises, including one that will allow the legislation to expire in five years if it is not renewed.

Lawmakers sent O'Malley a bill he had sought tightening restrictions on shoreline development, but only after they scaled back a buffer zone he proposed by one-third. And O'Malley was successful in his bid to create a Department of Information Technology, but only after lawmakers insisted that he revise the bill so that the new Cabinet agency does not cost taxpayers additional money.

Almost 15 months into office, O'Malley has shown a flexibility in dealing with the Democratic-led legislature that often eluded his Republican predecessor, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.

"He puts something out there realizing it's not necessarily the ultimate answer," said Sen. Thomas M. Middleton (D-Charles), chairman of the Finance Committee, which handled several of the governor's bills, including one to implement a settlement providing $2 billion in rate relief to customers of the state's largest electricity provider.

O'Malley's willingness to compromise does not always guarantee success. His bill to expand the use of speed cameras statewide unexpectedly died Monday night as lawmakers raced toward their midnight adjournment. And an O'Malley-backed bill to curb greenhouse gases collapsed on the session's final day even after it had been watered down.

But by and large, lawmakers say, the governor's flexibility helped him advance an agenda that included some of the country's most ambitious mortgage industry reforms and a package of energy conservation measures, some of which O'Malley highlighted yesterday at the first in a series of bill-signing ceremonies.

Among the 111 bills O'Malley signed was legislation repealing the state's new tax on computer services. The bill languished until the final days of the session, when O'Malley brokered a compromise to compensate for the lost revenue with a surcharge on the income of millionaires and cuts to transportation projects and state agencies.

"He's got a personality where he reaches out to people and says: 'This is a team effort. Help me get the job done,' " Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) said. "As a consequence, people want to help him."

By all accounts, the atmosphere was far less collegial during Ehrlich's administration, when Democratic leaders and the GOP governor sometimes found themselves at odds over common objectives. Ehrlich, for example, called a special session on rising medical malpractice rates for doctors, then vetoed the bill produced by the legislature.

Senate Minority Whip Allan H. Kittleman (R-Howard) said Democratic leaders engaged in a "24-7 attempt" to embarrass Ehrlich, making cooperation difficult. What appears to be compromise by O'Malley, Kittleman said, is often a realization by the governor that he is overreaching.

"I think it is the legislature saying you can't go that far, even in the liberal Maryland legislature," Kittleman said.

O'Malley and his aides said they have been willing to accommodate members of a diverse 188-member legislature to advance the administration's agenda during the two annual sessions since O'Malley took office and in the special session on the state's finances.

"The fact that we had to make some compromises to get things done is just a reflection of the legislative process," O'Malley said.

There was perhaps no greater give-and-take with lawmakers this session than on the DNA bill.

Under current policy, the state takes DNA samples from people convicted of violent crimes and tries to match them with clues from unsolved crimes. At the outset of the session, O'Malley proposed following the lead of Virginia and 10 other states that have started taking DNA samples from people under arrest. The idea is to create a larger database that will help solve more cold cases.

The proposal was opposed by the Legislative Black Caucus, which said O'Malley wanted to cast the net too wide. Sen. Lisa A. Gladden (D-Baltimore) said the proposal was an attempt "to use technology to ensnare people."

After dozens of conversations among O'Malley, his aides and lawmakers, a compromise was reached that includes allowing the bill to expire in five years. That would give the legislature an opportunity to evaluate whether the policy had been successful before allowing it to continue.

The bill cleared both chambers Monday, 130 to 9 in the House and 33 to 10 in the Senate.

O'Malley's speed camera bill was among the casualties of the final day. The bill would have authorized counties to use speed cameras in school zones, residential neighborhoods and work areas. The cameras are now allowed only in Montgomery County.

Negotiators finished reconciling differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill Monday afternoon, and copies arrived in the chambers in time for passage, lawmakers said. But Miller said he feared that a Republican-led filibuster of the legislation could endanger other bills, so he focused on them first.

O'Malley told reporters that he remains uncertain about why time ran out on the speed camera bill. With traffic fatalities on the rise, he said, "I'm sure the bill will be back next year."

The governor's staff had apparently been confident of passage. The bill was listed in the public safety section of a list of administration accomplishments distributed to reporters yesterday.

Among the legislation O'Malley signed was the last of four bills he proposed that seek to stem the foreclosure crisis. The bills make the most egregious mortgage schemes subject to criminal prosecution; extend the foreclosure timetable from 15 to 150 days; and ban prepayment penalties and transactions in which homeowners are tricked into signing over their houses to third parties.

O'Malley's plan to compensate for lost revenue from the repealed computer services tax includes a $50 million cut in funding for transportation projects.

Given that lawmakers increased spending on projects by more than $400 million a year during the special session, O'Malley said he considered the loss of $50 million a reasonable compromise.

"I look at it as eight steps forward, one step back," he said.