No opposition means there’s no opposition.
I hope.
No one signed up to testify against my two bills in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. The chairman took note of that after I finished testifying on the first.
That legislation deals with legal liability for architectural and design firms when their employees enter on a third party’s property during a construction or renovation project. The example I gave was setting foot on a railroad property to make an assessment of a bridge overhead.
Arcane for sure.
The second was my bill extending the reporter’s shield law to student journalists for college newspapers. The chairman repeated the first argument I made in my written testimony.
But unanimity is not busting out all over Annapolis.
I was in back-to-back meetings about two very controversial issues: impeachment of Attorney General Doug Gansler because of his legal opinion that the State can recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states and a budget bill amendment that would cut funds for the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Maryland Law School because it sued Perdue Farms for allegedly violating the Clean Water Act.
What we decided will be known shortly.
Showing posts with label reporter's shield. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reporter's shield. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Saturday, January 31, 2009
The Second or Third Time Around
It’s the rare bill that gets enacted the first time it’s introduced.
This is the third year I’ve introduced legislation to repeal the death penalty. It’s the first year that Governor O’Malley has also sponsored the bill.
In his State of the State Address, the Governor asked the General Assembly to “follow me in abolishing an outdated, expensive, and utterly ineffective death penalty in Maryland.” He recognized the presence in the House chamber of Benjamin Civiletti, the chair of the Commission that studied the issue this past summer. Afterwards, the Senate President said the bill was likely to pass.
Lilly Ledbetter lost her discrimination case in the Supreme Court in 2007. Efforts to overturn that ruling in the Congress were thwarted by President Bush and a filibuster by the Republican minority in the Senate. A new President and more Democrats in the Senate sent the bill to a White House signing ceremony this Thursday.
Four years ago, I introduced a bill to add bloggers to Maryland’s shield law, which protects journalists from revealing their confidential sources. Last year, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee adopted a shield law that includes bloggers. This year, I’m reintroducing my bill, this time with the definition of blogging in the federal bill.
This is the third year I’ve introduced legislation to repeal the death penalty. It’s the first year that Governor O’Malley has also sponsored the bill.
In his State of the State Address, the Governor asked the General Assembly to “follow me in abolishing an outdated, expensive, and utterly ineffective death penalty in Maryland.” He recognized the presence in the House chamber of Benjamin Civiletti, the chair of the Commission that studied the issue this past summer. Afterwards, the Senate President said the bill was likely to pass.
Lilly Ledbetter lost her discrimination case in the Supreme Court in 2007. Efforts to overturn that ruling in the Congress were thwarted by President Bush and a filibuster by the Republican minority in the Senate. A new President and more Democrats in the Senate sent the bill to a White House signing ceremony this Thursday.
Four years ago, I introduced a bill to add bloggers to Maryland’s shield law, which protects journalists from revealing their confidential sources. Last year, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee adopted a shield law that includes bloggers. This year, I’m reintroducing my bill, this time with the definition of blogging in the federal bill.
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