Legislative Hotline
2006 SESSION OF THE
MARYLAND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Volume 14, Number 8����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� March 9, 2006
Here are some of the hot
issues as the 2006 Legislative Session develops:
STEM CELL
RESEARCH LEGISLATION UPDATE
BILLS
INTRODUCED
STAFF CONTACT INFORMATION
Stem
Cell Research Legislation Update
House Bill 1
By a vote of 85-54, the
bill passed the House early this afternoon.�
The amended bill moves the stem cell program under "Tedco" (the Technology Development company),
a quasi public agency, which was favored by the Governor as the appropriate
place for the program.
The amendments make the
structure of the bill more like the structure in
The bill now provides a
process for contracting out the scientific peer review process to an
out-of-state contractor. The new peer review process
was established to avoid conflict of interest problems for
The amended version opens
the bill up to adult stem cell research in addition to the original embryonic
focus, but it incorporates language modified from California law that provides a
preference for funding research for which funding from federal sources is not
expected to be available or not available in a timely fashion.
The House bill will now be
sent to the Senate.� Should the need
arise, 85 votes is the number needed for a Gubernatorial veto override.�
Senate Bill 144
An amended version of the
Senate bill was reported “favorable with amendments” by the Senate
Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee on the Senate floor on
March 2nd.� However, after somewhat
heated debate, it was recommitted to the Committee on Friday, March 3rd
because the reported amendments were apparently different from those agreed to
in Committee.� The bill was re-reported
to the full Senate on Tuesday, March 7th for debate and a possible
filibuster is expected to start Wednesday, March 8th.
Although there are many
consistencies between the two amended bills, a very significant difference
relates to the funding.� The Senate
amendment strikes the $25,000,000 and merely mandates an
“appropriation”, thus leaving the amount up to the Governor’s
discretion each year.�
Budget
In
budget action, on Monday, March 6th, the Senate Budget and Taxation
Subcommittee on Education voted to reduce funding for stem cell research to $10
million from the Governor’s FY 2007 Allowance.� They also adopted language making the
expenditure of the funds contingent on the passage of either Senate Bill 144 or
House Bill 1, which are described above.
This
is just the beginning of the budget actions which will occur over the next two
to three weeks.� The full Senate
committee will act on the subcommittee recommendations on Tuesday, March 7th
and Wednesday, March 8th.�
Subcommittee recommendations are very influential but not dispositive.�
Finally, the Senate must negotiate with the House committee which has
not yet made its decisions.� The House
will take action early next week and the conference committee could begin
meeting as early as the weekend of March 17-19.
The
House version of the Governor’s bill on the initiative to address the
nursing shortage was heard before joint House Committees this week.� Dean Hill testified in support of the bill
which will create a nursing competitive grant fund whose purpose will be to
award grants to increase the number of bedside nurses and create solutions to
address the nursing faculty shortage.� At
the same hearing, Dean Hill also testified in support of legislation aimed at
eliminating minority health disparities.
BILLS INTRODUCED
Business Operations
SB0817� Worker Freedom Act of 2006
Senate Bill 817 will prohibit an employer from
requiring an employee to attend an employer-sponsored event for the purpose of
communicating the employer's opinion regarding religious and political matters.� The bill also prohibits an employer from
taking, or threatening to take, specified disciplinary actions against an
employee in order to require attendance at such meetings or because the
employee made good faith oral or written report any violation.
Effective
Date:� October 1, 2006
For more
information, please contact:� Bret
Schreiber
General Education
HB0866� Education - Full-Day Kindergarten and Prekindergarten
Programs - Alternative Providers
House Bill 866 requires that county boards of
education determine their capacity to provide full-day kindergarten programs
and pre-kindergarten programs in their updated comprehensive master plans.� The bill also requires a county board to
contract with alternative early learning and child care providers to provide
full-day kindergarten and pre-kindergarten programs under specified
circumstances.
Effective
Date:� October 1, 2006
For more
information, please contact:� Bret
Schreiber
HB1294� Public School Construction Assistance Act of 2006
This bill imposes recordation and transfer taxes on
the transfer of real property with a value of $1.0 million or more when the
transfer is achieved through the sale of a “controlling interest”
in a specified corporation, partnership, limited liability company, limited
liability partnership, or other form of unincorporated business. Controlling
interest is defined as more than 80% of the total value of the stock or the
interest in capital and profits. The bill also requires specified amounts of
local recordation taxes to be dedicated to school construction for fiscal 2007
through 2010. State transfer taxes collected under the bill are dedicated to
land preservation purposes, as provided under current law.
Effective
Date:� January 1, 2007
For more
information, please contact:� Bret
Schreiber
SB0650� Education - Funding Formula for Adult Education and
Literacy Grants
Senate Bill 650 will require the State Department of
Education to provide competitive adult education grants beginning in fiscal
year 2007 for specified eligible adult education providers.
Effective
Date:� July 1, 2006
For more
information, please contact:� Bret
Schreiber
SB0740� Income Tax Credit for Graduate Level Education -
Nonpublic School Teachers
Senate Bill 740 will allow teachers in nonpublic
schools to claim a credit against the State income tax for up to $1,500 of
tuition paid by the teacher for graduate level education required to maintain
certification.
Effective
Date:� July 1, 2006
For more
information, please contact:� Bret
Schreiber
SB0742� Teacher Incentive Act of 2006
Senate Bill 742 will allow classroom teachers in
specified public schools that teach math, science, or special education to
claim an income tax credit of $1,500.
Effective
Date:� June 1, 2006
For more
information, please contact:� Bret
Schreiber
SB0946� Building Opportunities for All Students and Teachers
(BOAST) in Maryland Tax Credit
Senate Bill 946 will provide a tax credit against the
State income tax for contributions made to an eligible educational scholarship
organization or an eligible innovative educational grant organization.� The bill looks to support innovative teacher,
student programs in the public schools that are not part of the regular
academic curriculum.
Effective
Date:� July 1, 2006
For more
information, please contact:� Bret
Schreiber
General Health Care
SB0649� Oral Health Safety Net Program
Senate Bill 649 will establish the Oral Health Safety
Net Program within the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s (DHMH)
Office of Oral Health to award grants to local health departments and federally
qualified health centers to increase dental provider capacity for the
underserved.
Effective
Date:� July 1, 2006
For more
information, please contact:� Bret
Schreiber
Health Care Facilities
HB1420� Health Facilities - Certificates of Need - Repeal
This bill does not add language to current standing
laws about Certificates of Need but removes requirements previously imposed on
the Commission.� It repeals the
requirement for the Commission to develop standards and policies consistent
with the State Health Plan that relate to the CON program.� It also removes the responsibility of the
Commission to use the institution-specific plan in reviewing certificate of
need applications for conversion, expansion, consolidation, or introduction of
hospital services in conjunction with the State Health Plan.� This bill removes language requiring that a
license applicant have a certificate of need to operate a hospice care program.
Effective
Date:� July 1, 2006
For more
information, please contact:� Heather
Barthel
HB1440� Hospitals - Open Heart Surgery
This bill requires the
Commission to grant one new open heart surgery program on or before January 1,
2007 to a hospital that:
(i) Is in a
county:
a. that
does not have a hospital that provides open heart surgery, and
b. where at
least 500 patients requiring open heart surgery were transported or referred to
hospitals with open heart surgery within the 12 months prior to this
bill’s effective date;
(ii) Is not
part of a merged asset system that already provides cardiac surgery in any
hospital that is not part of the system;
(iii) In
the previous 3 years before the Commission grants an open heart surgery
program, attained an annual average of:
a. 14,000
adult medical, surgical, gynecological, and addiction admissions,
b. 64,000
ER visits, and
c. 2,500
inpatients receiving cardiology services;
(iv) Has
participated in the Cardiovascular Patient Outcomes Research Trial;
(v) Has
filed an application with the Commission before January 11, 2006 for a waiver
to provide primary percutaneous coronary intervention services; and
(vi)
Demonstrates clinical and resource capacity for an open heart surgery program.
If this
bill should pass, the Commission’s need methodology or assessment for the
necessity of an open heart surgery program does not apply to a program that is
created as a result of this bill.
Effective
Date:� October 1, 2006
For more
information, please contact:� Heather
Barthel
Higher Education
HB1222� Constitutional Amendment - Higher Education - System
and Funding
House Bill 1222 adds a new section to the Maryland
Constitution to require the State to fund the amount necessary to support and
maintain the public institutions of higher education.� The bill submits this amendment to the qualified
voters of the State of Maryland for their adoption or rejection.
Effective
Date:� Next general election to be held
in November 6, 2006.
For more
information, please contact:� Bret
Schreiber
HB1381� Higher Education - Public Senior Higher Education
Institutions - Restrictions on Tuition
House Bill 1381 will prohibit for the academic year
beginning in the fall of 2006 an increase in the tuition that a resident
undergraduate student at specified public senior higher education institutions
in Maryland may be charged.� The bill
provides that this Act is contingent on the enactment of a specified
supplementary appropriation bill.
Effective
Date:� Contingent, July 1, 2006
For more
information, please contact:� Bret
Schreiber
HB1398� Higher Education - University System of Maryland -
Restrictions on Tuition
House Bill 1398 will limit the amount of the annual
increase in tuition that may be charged to resident undergraduate students at
constituent institutions of the University System of Maryland to 4% beginning
in the 2007-2008 academic year if State general fund appropriations to the
System equal or exceed 51% of the System's total operating budget approved by
the General Assembly.
Effective
Date:� October 1, 2006
For more
information, please contact:� Bret
Schreiber
SB0959� Higher Education - Tuition Affordability Act of 2006
Senate Bill 959 prohibits academic year an increase in
the tuition that may be charged to a resident undergraduate student at
specified public senior higher education institutions in Maryland in the
2006-2007 academic year.� The bill provides
that the tuition restriction shall take effect contingent on the General
Assembly authorizing the transfer of specified funds in the FY 2007 budget and
the Governor transferring specified funds by August 1, 2006.
Effective
Date:� July 1, 2006
For more information,
please contact:� Bret Schreiber
Medical Liability
HB1419� Medical Malpractice - Analysis of Information and
Reports - University of Maryland and University of Maryland Baltimore County
This bill requires the University of Maryland School
of Law, in conjunction with the Center for Health Program Development and
Management at UMBC, to be provided access to information and reports compiled
by the Maryland Insurance Commissioner for the sole purpose of analyzing the
information to determine the effect of the alternative dispute resolution
process and the supplemental certificates of qualified experts on the
resolution of medical malpractice claims.�
The cost of the analysis must be supported by $50 thousand from the
amount that the Maryland Insurance Administration may retain from the Maryland
Health Care provider Rate Stabilization Fund.
Effective
Date:� October 1, 2006
For more
information, please contact:� Heather
Barthel
Prescription Drugs
HB1569� State Board of Pharmacy - Revocation of License - Sale
of Drug Different from that Ordered
This bill requires that the State Board of Pharmacy
revoke a license to practice pharmacy if the holder of the license is convicted
of knowingly selling or delivering a specified substance without specified
authorization.� It also authorizes the
Board to reinstate the license to practice pharmacy in accordance with
regulations adopted by the Board.
Effective
Date:� October 1, 2006
For more
information, please contact:� Nicole
Xander
Public Health
SB0436� Health - Maryland Obesity Awareness and Prevention
Task Force
Senate Bill 436 establishes the Maryland Obesity
Awareness and Prevention Task Force in the Department of Health and Mental
Hygiene.� The Task Force must develop
recommendations for a Maryland obesity action plan, which will include
actionable measures to support and enhance obesity awareness and prevention
among state residents.
Effective
Date:� October 1, 2006
For more
information, please contact:� Bret
Schreiber
��
��
STAFF CONTACT INFORMATION
Please contact Government Relations if you have concerns or would like
additional information. Your input assists us greatly in evaluating and
formulating the position of Johns Hopkins on all legislation.
Legislative Session Office
410-269-0057
fax 410-269-1574
Heather Barthel������������������� [email protected]
Mickey Geisler��������������������� [email protected]
Sheila
Higdon��������������������� [email protected]
Jessica
Hendrix������������������ [email protected]
Nicole
Xander��������������������� [email protected]
Bret Schreiber��������������������� [email protected]
Tom Lewis���������������������������� [email protected]
Cathy Ximenez������������������� [email protected]
�[ Go to Top]
Legislative Hotline is a service of Johns Hopkins
Government Affairs.
� 2005 The Johns
Office of Government, Community and Public Affairs.