MARYLAND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Adoption of foster children; AIDS insurance assistance program (extension); AIDS prevention (pilot needle exchange program - Baltimore City); ambulatory care facilities; assault pistols and firearms regulation; budgets (operating and capital); casino gambling - Prince George's County; child support; cross burning; death penalty (lethal injection; legal procedures); defense conversion assistance; Department of State Police; developmental disabilities (equity fund waiting list); discrimination by private clubs that serve alcoholic beverages; DNA data base and central repository; domestic violence; Efficiency 2000 Commission; English language; flag burning; gambling (charitable) regulation statewide; health care patient access (any willing provider); health services - local funding; Information Technology Board; juvenile crime (jurisdiction of criminal court); lead paint poisoning prevention; nursing facilities (discharge and transfer; prescreening and evaluation); parole eligibility and public hearings; procurement practices; schools (year-round); SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) suits; slot machines on Eastern Shore; small business development; State Aviation Commission; State symbols; Takoma Park (Prince George's and Montgomery Counties); tobacco tax; tourism funding; transportation funding; unemployment insurance (employers' surcharge); Vehicle Theft Prevention Council; victims' rights; violent criminals (habitual) mandatory sentencing; welfare reform; wrongful death cases (cap on noneconomic damages).

Automobile insurance; baseball (prohibition against replacement players); bicycle helmets; caning; child support; closing-cost reduction (transfer and real property taxes); community college funding; death penalty; domestic violence; drunk driving; economic development (Neighborhood Business Development Program); education (disruptive students); election law (Task Force to Review the State's Election Law); English language; environmental permits standing [requirements for contested case hearings or judicial review]; Fair Campaign Financing Act; gambling; health-care malpractice claims; Health Care Reform Act; health insurance (patient access); housing (lead reduction); hunting (regulated shooting areas); interstate banking; Judicial Disabilities Commission; juvenile law (detention and intake; restitution); legislative ethics; legislative scholarships; local government (residency requirements); motor vehicle theft; nontidal wetlands; optometrists (scope of practice); pensions (restrictions on special local systems); personal property tax; pornography (displaying to minors); procurement (minority business enterprise); Program Open Space Act; regulatory mandates on local government; sex offender registration; smoking (workplace ban, exceptions); speed limit (65 mph); State agencies reorganization; Student Safety and Support Act; taxes; title insurance; transportation (highway users revenue distribution); unemployment insurance; University of Maryland System; vehicle emissions testing; welfare; Woodrow Wilson Bridge and Tunnel Compact.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
OF 1996 SESSION

Automobile insurance reform; brownfields (cleanup of old industrial sites); economic development (Sunny Day Fund); education (disruptive students); educational funding - accountability and maintenance of effort; executive branch reorganization (Department of Personnel abolished; Department of Budget and Management formed); football stadiums (Camden Yards and Redskins); gaming; gun control; health insurance (mandatory coverage to lengthen postpartum hospitalization); HMOW - provider communication (Health Care Provider and Payor Act); job creation tax credit; medicaid reform; personnel (State Personnel Management System Reform Act); sentencing (Maryland Commission on Criminal Sentencing Policy); snack tax; spousal murder (adultery as mitigating factor); State employees early retirement/buy-out plan; tourism development; transportation funding; victims' rights; welfare reform; wildlands preservation.

Alcoholic beverages (microbrewery expansion); Baltimore City schools; brownfields (cleanup of old industrial sites; budgets; campaign financing; child-support enforcement; college tuition savings program; crimes (warrantless arrests); dairy industry; domestic violence (protective orders); family law (abuse as grounds for divorce); gaming; health (managed care); health insurance (mandated benefits); homicide (spousal adultery as mitigating circumstance); HOPE Scholarship Program; horse racing industry assistance; incinerators in Baltimore City; income tax reduction; job creation income tax credits; lead paint; lobbying reform; local tax on video sales; mortgage lender regulatory reform; motor vehicles (seat belt violation as primary action; traffic signal violations; use of headlamps in rain); pesticides (parental notification of use in schools); property tax - "truth in taxation"; public health (extension of needle exchange program in Baltimore City); right to farm; Rural Legacy; sales tax; Smart Growth; telecommunications; Thrive by Three (health insurance for women and children in low to moderate income households; tobacco tax; tourism funding; Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program - dynamometer test; welfare innovation.