Researching Maryland Legislative Histories

The key to effectively researching Maryland legislative histories is to first read a couple of articles by Mike Miller, the former director of the Maryland State Law Library: "Ghost Hunting: Searching For Maryland Legislative History" and "Deciphering The Codes: Researching Legislative History In Maryland." For bills going back to the mid 1990's, a large amount of information can be found online using the Maryland General Assembly site. Remember to check the Fiscal Note attached to the bill: this can be a key item in compiling a legislative history. A key piece of the puzzle not available online, though, are the bill files which contain the Committee Reports and testimony of those who supported the bill. For bills enacted between 1976 and 1995, you can find the bill files (on microfiche) at the Thurgood Marshall Law Library and at the University of Baltimore Law Library. For bill enacted outside of that period, you'll have to contact the Department of Legislative Services. As a courtesy, they'll email you one PDF copy of a bill file. After that you'll have to pay.

'08 Maryland Legislation

Following on my last post, the 90 Day Report, your best option for a review of the legislative actions in the '08 session is now available. The report is organized into 12 subject areas and discusses, for each category, the majority of bills that passed as well as significant bills which did not.

Overview Of The '08 Session

As of now, the 90 Report which provides the most comprehensive review what happened in a particular legislative session, is still waiting to be published for the '08 session. In the meantime, there are a number of useful resources to give you an overview of what passed and what didn't. The last edition of the Legislative Wrap-Up gives a good overview of legislation that passed. You can also see a list of legislation that was signed by the Governor, based on the date on which it was signed. So far, bill signing ceremonies took place on April 3rd and April 8th. Additional bill signings are scheduled for April 24, May 13, and May 22. This session also witnessed one legislative override (SB 497). SB 497 was vetoed by the Governor and then the legislature overrode the Governor's veto.

Report On Maryland's Real Estate Market

A new report, "Trend Watch 2008: The Baltimore/Washington Commercial Real Estate Outlook,” a combined effort of the Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business and the Maryland chapter of the Appraisal Institute gives a surprisingly upbeat take on the region's real estate market. “Although the warning signs pointing to a downturn in the national economy are many, Trend Watchers on the whole express cautious optimism about the Baltimore/Washington commercial real estate market,” the report states. Take a look at articles by the Sun, the Daily Record, and Commercial Property News. Unfortunately, the report does not appear to be online.

Maryland Tech Tax Repealed

I realize that by blogging standards, this is already "old news." Not surprisingly, a number of papers reported on this major event. See articles from the Sun and Daily Record. None of the articles that I saw, though, provided links to the bill. So, here it is. The bill, SB 46, was passed by both Houses, and now awaits the Governor's signature. For more specifics on the bill, see the bill's fiscal note.

Baltimore City Bans Trans Fats

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon signed into law City Council Bill 08-0034 which prohibits food service facilities from serving, storing, distributing, or holding food containing trans fat. The bill will take effect in the Fall of '09. See this BBJ article for more. Also see this City of Baltimore Law Department letter which was included as an attachment to the bill.

Draft Computer Service Tax Regulations

Up until now, no one knew how the computer services tax (Section 3 of SB2), adopted as part of the 2007 Maryland General Assembly special session legislation, was intended to be implemented. The Comptroller's office just today released draft regulations implementing the law. The Comptroller's office also released this FAQ. Barring any unforseen challenges, final regulations are scheduled to be released sometime after the close of the legislative session on April 7. For more, see this BBJ article.