Democratic leaders in the Maryland General Assembly engineered the override of several key vetoes by Gov. Robert Ehrlich Monday night as the state Legislature ended its regular session in the same intensely partisan way it began three months ago.
Now, exhausted legislators still must face the possibility that they will be called right back to Annapolis to deal with some unfinished business – the search for a way to soften impending electricity rate increases for the 1.1 million Baltimore Gas and Electric Company customers in Central Maryland.
Three veto overrides completed Monday will establish early-voting polling locations, prohibit University System of Maryland regents from participating in campaign fundraising and ease restrictions on collective bargaining by state employees.
“All in all, it was a great session,” Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., D-Southern Maryland, said a few minutes after he gaveled the session to a close and endured the traditional confetti shower from the galleries above. “It was a huge win for anyone concerned with education.”
Indeed, members of both parties were quick to point out increases in education funding, a bolstered financial aid program, revamped teacher pensions and tuition freezes for the state’s public universities.
“Higher education has been an incredible winner this year,” Ehrlich said, tallying up legislative victories this session.
Healthcare and environmental issues were at the forefront as well, with legislators and the governor both pushing for stem cell research funding and clean air initiatives.
Members of both parties supported some form of stem cell research, but conservative lawmakers were able to gather enough votes to force a preference for the more-controversial embryonic stem cell research out of the bill before its passage. The law now includes $15 million in funding to be distributed by the Maryland Technology Development Corporation, a business development group.
The Healthy Air Act, which imposes restrictions on emissions from coal-fired power plants, was also passed and signed by Ehrlich, despite his claims that it closely resembles his own rules announced last summer.
But several items were still on the table as the clock struck midnight, including a heavily amended bill that would have toughened the sentencing and monitoring of sex offenders.
Ehrlich blamed the lack of a sex offender bill on what he characterized as the Assembly’s spending too much time on political bills aimed at embarrassing him. “By any measure, these misplaced priorities are a result of partisanship,” the governor said.
The sex offender bill stalled in the Senate Monday night as debate erupted over portions of the bill that would impose minimum sentences on first-time offenders who have been convicted of raping young children.
“I think we spent too much time trying to be partisan and trying to override vetoes,” said House minority whip Del. Anthony J. O’Donnell, R-Southern Maryland, in explaining why time ran out on many high-profile bills. “It didn’t help the citizens of Maryland.”
Four of Ehrlich’s most controversial vetoes were also left intact. One would have given the Senate