You withdraw your bill to avoid a recorded committee vote killing it.

It’s tougher to get a member to change a vote from no to yes than from none to yes.

At a subcommittee hearing today, a bill sponsor was giving a very lengthy explanation of why her legislation was needed even though she was withdrawing it.

Then two of the affected health care providers spoke, followed by the chair of the subcommittee.

All four were setting the agenda for the work group that would study the issue before next year’s legislative session.

I learned this morning that my bill giving Baltimore City the authority to regulate the sale of tobacco was in trouble.

A lobbyist and I talked about whether I should withdraw the bill before today’s voting session.

We didn’t.

The bill got an unfavorable report.  It was unanimous.

I’m already thinking about  how to modify the bill to achieve a different result next year.