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O'Malley Is Pressed to Veto Bill That Would Push Back Phosphate Ban
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Before voting to send the bill to the Senate floor, the committee added an amendment to exempt auto dismantlers and recyclers from reporting. That meant no new reporting for Joseph Smith and a few other large dealers that recycle cars as well as scrap. Several senators said Exum did not mention that at the voting session. They vowed to put the auto companies back in the bill.
A House of Delegates committee did just that during the session's final days. A conference committee appointed to reconcile the House and Senate versions agreed to go with the House version. The Senate approved the committee's report minutes before the legislature adjourned at midnight. But technical issues tied up the report on the House floor.
Del. Michael L. Vaughn (D-Prince George's), head of the House subcommittee that put the auto companies back in the bill, said a delegate on the conference committee was misidentified on the report -- requiring it to be reprinted and delaying it from getting to the House floor. Then came a filibuster on another bill. Midnight came and went.
"We had a printing snafu, and the bill died on the speaker's desk," Vaughn said. "Plain and simple, it just ran out of time." Vaughn is one of three delegates in Exum's district. Exum did not return a call seeking comment.
Sen. James E. DeGrange Sr. (D-Anne Arundel), the bill's Senate sponsor, said he's disappointed that the scrap industry will avoid reporting for another year. "We have a lot of people who are affected by these thefts, including a lot of car owners," he said. DeGrange said he will bring the bill back next year.
-- Lisa Rein
Gansler to Be Honored for Gay Rights Stand
Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler (D) was the only statewide official to endorse this year's ill-fated bill to legalize same-sex marriage. Now Maryland's leading gay rights group is taking notice.
Equality Maryland will honor Gansler at its fundraising dinner in Bethesda on June 1. "The history books will favorably record that he was the first statewide official to stand up for marriage equality," said Dan Furmansky, the group's executive director. "He's not afraid to do what he feels is in the best interests of the citizens of Maryland."
-- Lisa Rein
New President of Female Legislative Caucus
The Women Legislators of Maryland has a new leader. Del. Karen S. Montgomery (D-Montgomery) was elected president this month of the General Assembly caucus for 2008-09. Montgomery was elected to the House of Delegates in 2002 and serves on the Health and Government Operations Committee. She succeeds Del. Adelaide C. Eckardt (R-Dorchester). Women make up 31 percent of the legislature, and the Maryland caucus was the first in the nation, founded in 1972.
-- Lisa Rein
