Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Gun control, a repeal of the death penalty and a budget deal were among the victories for Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley.
The last 90 days have been good to Gov. Martin O'Malley and the state lawmakers who supported his vision for a more progressive Maryland. The 2013 session of the Maryland General Assembly was contentious, but productive and, according to at least one Republican staffer, "the most liberal," maybe ever. You can read what lawmakers and their staff are saying about "Sine Die," a Latin phrase meaning "without day" that signifies the last day of the legislative session, in the collection of tweets above. Among the bills that passed this year: Unsuccessful bills:
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Gov. O'Malley appeared optimistic at 8:30 p.m. Monday, but when the clock struck midnight his attitude shifted to anger.
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley is known for putting on a good face even in hard times, but when the General Assembly, as he said Monday night, “failed to protect the priorities that allow our state to move forward,” his smile disappeared. O’Malley (D) appeared optimistic when speaking with reporters at about 8:30 p.m. on the last night of the 90-day legislative session, despite a looming midnight deadline for the legislature to pass key components of the state’s capital budget. The same could not be said at 12:40 a.m. (See video for a comparison.) “This is not the sort of operating budget that this administration proposed after eight months of careful consideration, after $800 million in cuts and I think the people of our state have the …
Monday, April 9, 2012
Budget bill must be passed by midnight or General Assembly will extend its session.
Gov. Martin O'Malley and House Speaker Michael Busch called on the Senate to compromise on a state budget in time for the General Assembly to end its session at midnight. "The one constitutional obligation we have is to pass a balanced budget," said Busch, adding that House members assigned to the conference committee were prepared to complete negotiations. "Because one chamber has an obsession with a certain issue, that they do not want to concur on the budget until that issue is resolved, does not initiate any responsible stand for us not to deal with the budget that is in front of us," said Busch, speaking of a Senate effort to expand gambling to include table games and a sixth casino location in Prince George's County. "They have 11 …
Max A. van Balgooy
1:30 pm on Saturday, April 14, 2012
"A gaming measure for Prince George’s County"--what's this about? Once again, we're holding the entire state budget hostage to support gambling. Can we rebalance the priorities and think longterm and statewide? more ›