A crossfile can help you crossover week. If a Senator agrees to introduce an identical version of my bill, it’s called a crossfile. If my legislation passes the House of Delegates and crosses over to the Senate by the close of business next Monday, it is guaranteed a public hearing there during the last two …more >

It was our second meeting of the afternoon on the death penalty bill, which will be debated by the full House tomorrow. We were reviewing our vote count. Who would vote for the bill and who would oppose all amendments? We decided to ask six members to speak to the first three amendments, to build …more >

“The orders came down from above.” We were voting on the death penalty legislation in committee. One of my Republican colleagues was implying yet again that Democrats were meekly following the Governor’s orders to oppose all amendments. He said it once too often. Another member of the committee objected; then I did. “The advocates and …more >

For me, these are core values. My life’s work is in a legislative body, where the majority rules. If you can count to 71 in the House and 24 in the Senate, you win. But the First Amendment provides that the majority does not prevail when fundamental rights are violated. The constitutional protection of freedom …more >

For a handful of my older colleagues, a laptop is a foreign object. Of course, many younger delegates are far more adept at using the Internet than I am. So I brought my laptop to the witness table to make this point: A growing number of people get their news from this machine, not from …more >

“Do you think that spending 2,000 hours on one death penalty case is a worthwhile use of Professor Millemann’s time?” I posed that question to Scott Shellenberger, the Baltimore County State’s Attorney and a leading supporter of the death penalty. In my testimony, I had again made the point that the extraordinary amount of time …more >

I may not be good at science, but I do know the chemistry of the legislature. Governor O’Malley budgeted $18.4 million for stem cell research. Our staff has recommended a drastic reduction – to only $5 million. I thought this would send the wrong signal to the scientific community about Maryland’s commitment to this research …more >

I go to lots of functions and community meetings. But none with the anticipation and sense of history that I brought to the dedication of the Ohr Hamizrach synagogue. For 2700 years, there was a Jewish community in Persia/Iran. The Iranian revolution of 1979 prompted an exodus. The late Rabbi Herman Neuberger was instrumental in …more >

I must have been channeling Yogi. The Sun reporter asked me if the Judiciary Committee would act favorably on both my death penalty repeal bill and the Senate’s amended version. It was a question I had never been asked before. Her article today ended with my response: Rosenberg, however, predicted only the Senate plan would …more >

I issued the following statement on the death penalty this afternoon. I continue to believe that Maryland should end capital punishment. The Civiletti Commission, on which I served, identified significant problems in how the death penalty is applied in our state. The Commission concluded that these problems can not be fixed. The possibility of the …more >