Gun Proposals, Offshore Wind, MD's Open Meetings Law, and Table Games Coming Soon To Two MD Casinos

Dense fog on the Eastern Shore prompted a handful of school delays this morning; you can find the list here. 

Debate got underway yesterday in the State Senate on one of Governor Martin O'Malley's most controversial legislative proposals this session -- a package of legislation changing Maryland's gun laws. The bill would ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips. It would also require people who buy handguns to get licences -- and to submit fingerprints to state police as a requirement for those licenses. And it would forbid anyone involuntarily committed to a mental hospital from owning a gun. Senators have been told to expect early mornings and late nights as they consider the legislation... debate's likely to continue for the next two days, with a final vote possible on Friday. The gun legislation could then get hearings in The House of Delegates. And then, the Senate could turn to another controversial measure -- a bill that would end Maryland's death penalty (via our wire service and the Baltimore Sun).

Another of Governor O'Malley's legislative priorities is now headed to the full Senate, a bill designed to foster the development of an offshore wind power industry. The Senate's Finance Committee approved the measure yesterday... and its passage in the full Senate is pretty much assured, as it has 24 co-sponsors; that's the number of votes it needs. Because the bill was amended, it will have to go back to the House of Delegates, where it already passed... and where it's expected to be approved again (via the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post).

Two of Maryland's casinos will soon add table games to their offerings. Yesterday, the The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Commission agreed to let the state's largest casino -- Maryland Live! -- offer games like poker, blackjack and roulette, starting April 11th. Table games will come to Hollywood Casino Perryville even sooner -- sometime next week, where they'll available to gamblers either March 6th or March 7th (via the Baltimore Business Journal and the Baltimore Sun). And as the Hollywood Casino adds those games, it's scaling back its slot machine offerings; the facility has been given approval to remove 342 of its machines, and in the future, could get rid of some 158 more. The slot machines are owned by Maryland, and they'll be moving across the state, to the casino coming to Rocky Gap Lodge in Allegany County. That facility is set to open in June (via the Baltimore Business Journal).

The state university system's Board of Regents was in violation of Maryland's open meetings law, when it met in closed session to discuss moving from the ACC to the Big Ten Conference. That ruling came down yesterday from the state's Open Meetings Compliance Board. The ruling doesn't affect UMD's decision to switch to the Big Ten, and under current law, the Board of Regents doesn't face any penalty -- although individual members could face fines of up to $100 if they're sued (via the Baltimore Sun). And there's a bill moving through the General Assembly that would impose penalties on public bodies that violate open meetings law; if the measure passes, fines would be between 1-thousand and 10-thousand dollars (more here from marylandreporter.com).

 On today's edition of Inside Maryland Politics, WYPR's Fraser Smith and John Wagner of the Washington Post talk about Virginia's new transportation funding plan and how that might encourage Maryland lawmakers to make a deal to fund transit projects.

Baltimore City's speed and red-light camera program appears poised to get new oversight. The city's Board of Estimates today will vote on a six month contract with a private company to monitor the system, and ensure that "protocols and policies" for the properly implemented (via the Baltimore Sun).

The Baltimore City School system says that it will now monitor the administration of High School Assessment tests. The system has monitored assessment tests in elementary and middle schools for the past two years. School officials say the expansion of its monitoring system is a pro-active measure, and not prompted by any specific suspicions of cheating (via the Baltimore Sun).

Delegate Jon Cardin has introduced legislation to protect schoolchildren from on-line bullying. He'll speak about the legislation this morning at a news conference in Annapolis (via our wire service; more here from Washington Post).

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday on when law enforcement officers can take DNA samples from suspects. The case stems from a Maryland Court of Appeals ruling, that a law allowing police to take DNA from people who are arrested -- but not yet convicted -- of a crime is in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler argues there's no fundamental difference between taking a suspect's fingerprints and taking a DNA sample. Supreme Court justices could issue a ruling in the case by the end of June (via our wire service, the Daily Times, and the Baltimore Sun).

Maryland State Police now have two brand new state-of-the art medevac helicopters. The choppers arrived yesterday at Martin State Airport (via our wire service and the Baltimore Sun).

And in sports: Yesterday's Orioles spring training game against the Pittsburgh Pirates was rained out. The O's will be back at it with a pair of split-squad games today. The Birds will send a team to Tampa to face the Yankees this afternoon, before hosting the Red Sox in Sarasota tonight with a different squad.