Posted under Politics
The big news out of Annapolis today is that the bill to repeal the death penalty, strongly supported by Gov. O’Malley was defeated in committee. The Washington Post has details:
A Maryland Senate committee narrowly voted today to reject Gov. Martin O’Malley’s bill to repeal the death penalty…
The vote by the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee was seen as a setback for O’Malley (D), though repeal supporters said they remain hopeful that the bill’s fate will be different when all 47 members of the Senate are given a chance to weigh in…
The committee voted 5 to 5 today on a motion to send the repeal bill to the floor with a favorable report. That was one vote shy of a majority vote needed from the 11-member committee, one of whose members was absent today.
Senate President Mike Miller, in a gesture to Gov. O’Malley, is allowing the bill to go before the whole chamber even though it did not clear the committee. Despite the optimism of supporters, however, the bill has little chance of passage. Miller is an ardent death penalty supporter and would not send the bill to the floor unless he was confident it would fail. Yesterday, Miller said “I don’t anticipate a long, protracted debate. I think I know where the votes will be.”
Comments Off
