The committees are starting to report bills to the House of Delegates for debate.  On Wednesday HB33 – Child Care Articles Containing Bisphenol-A – Prohibition came up for a final vote and passed 137-0.  This bill was heard in the Health and Government Operations Committee and the lead sponsor was Delegate Hubbard.  I did not get a chance to co-sponsor this bill, but do support its aims.

The bill prohibits the manufacture, sale, or distribution of bottles or cups containing Bisphenol-A that are intended to be used by a child under the age of 4 years.  This issue has been widely reported in the news and linked to possible birth defects.  I heard from several parents concerned that these products were allowed on the market.

The Year 2010 may long be remembered for the record snowfall in the first ten days of February.  State, county and federal governments, schools and businesses were forced to close for much of the time.  Mail was suspended and flights cancelled at the major airports.  The Monday night session of the General Assembly was cancelled, marking the first missed session since 2003, when another major snowfall blanketed the State.

Because of the weather, both the Senate and the House extended their bill introduction deadlines.  The House deadline, originally February 12, was extended to February 18.

The Governor’s bill, Job Creation and Recovery Tax Credit – HB92, was presented to the Ways and Means Committee today.   This emergency bill will offer Maryland businesses a $3,000 tax credit for every unemployed Marylander it hires.  The bill includes a one-year program: capped at $20 million, and $250,000 per employer.  The worker must be employed for at least one year, and must fill a position that is new and that has been vacant for the prior six months.  This tax credit applies to employees who are currently receiving unemployment insurance benefits or who were in the past year.

The object of this bill is to get Marylanders off the unemployment insurance and back to work so that they can provide for their families and have a more stable future.

One of the bills being heard by the Ways and Means Committee today was HB59.  This bill would establish a Task Force to Study the Incorporation of the Principles of Universal Design for Learning into the Policies, Practices, and Curriculum of the Education Systems in Maryland (a very long title).

This bill recognizes that all of us learn differently – some are gifted, some challenged, some process written material quickly, some need the material more hands on.  This request received support from the Governor’s Office for Children, the University System of Maryland, several county Boards of Education, and many professionals and parents.

While the concept has been around many years, most teachers say that developing tailored learning plans for each child is extremely time consuming.  This bill would provide several alternatives to the teacher and they could then judge which to use for each child.

The briefing today for the Ways and Means Committee was Election Law.  We first heard from the State Board of Elections that they are moving forward as directed by the Legislature to procure a new optical scan voting system.  They will purchase 2,000 voting units and eventually an additional 2,000 ballot marking devices.  Presently we have 18,000 touch screen voting units.  Originally, it was assumed that the new voting system would be less expensive than the touch screen system to maintain; however, that will not be the case.

Next we heard from the Maryland Association of Counties which is asking that the conversion to the new optical scan voting system be delayed.  County governments are required to pay for half of the costs of the statewide voting system and related expenses.  The counties are suffering the same budget crunch that the State is experiencing and does not have the money for the new machines.  The counties feel that the present system is fully functional and effective.  There have been no major problems with the touch screen system.

The last presentation was by Save Our Votes an organization which is concerned about what will happen if the State needed to have a recount and had no paper ballots or verifiable method to count the votes.  They are concerned about the security vulnerabilities in touch screen voting.

These are weighty issues that we face.  No one wants to think that any vote was not counted.  By the way, this year voters may cast their votes at an Early Voting Center.  The Center for Charles County will be the Board of Elections’ office in La Plata.