Amendments are the order of the week.

They are the compromise needed to get your bill a favorable report.

A subcommittee will make it clear that your bill will move forward only if it’s modified.

You want to draft the amendment.

You always want to work off of your document.

My bill addressing unpaid speeding tickets on the Jones Falls Expressway did not have the votes to pass the Baltimore City delegation last Friday.

After sharing my amendments with my colleagues on the House floor this morning, it now does.

House Bill 128 would make it a crime, in part, to “harm another…[or] threaten to harm another” participating in a legislative proceeding.

The Criminal Law Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee is considering how “harm” should be defined.

I asked the Attorney General’s Office for advice.

Have the Maryland appellate courts defined “harm” in the context of the existing law criminalizing interference with a judicial proceeding?  Have the courts done so in any other context?

If there is no judicial definition, would it be appropriate to use a dictionary definition?