The 2013 Maryland General Assembly adjourned Monday evening in Annapolis. During the 90-day session, Del. Wendell Beitzel and Sen. George Beitzel saw several of their bills make it to governor’s desk for signing into law, while a few pieces of proposed legislation died in committee chambers.
One of the local lawmakers’ more notable achievements was securing a total of $1 million for the Adventure Sports Center International (ASCI) in McHenry. Beitzel explained that he worked with the capital budget subcommittee to include $500,000 in the state’s capital budget on the House side, and Edwards was able to secure an additional $500,000 in the budget on the Senate side.
The funding will be used for improvements at the whitewater course, including upgrading telecommunications, building new facilities, and upgrading existing infrastructure to prepare for the International Canoe Federation’s Deep Creek 2014 Canoe Slalom World Championships.
“These whitewater course improvements will benefit the facility for many years to attract new visitors to our region of the state,” Beitzel said in his weekly newsletter to constituents.
The championships are expected to generated $20 million for the local economy.
The lawmakers were also able to secure a $15 million bond bill for renovation/expansion work at Garrett County Memorial Hospital. Gov. Martin O’Malley signed Edwards’ SB 369 on Tuesday, which enables the Garrett County commissioners to borrow money on behalf of hospital officials for the $23.5 million project.
About $7.5 million of its cost will come from hospital operations and cash reserves, and $1 million will come from donations. The hospital will be solely responsible for paying off the bond’s debt service, which will be at a rate of 5.25 percent over a 20-year period.
The governor is also expected to sign HB 504/SB 370 – Garrett County Commissioners – Industrial Wind Energy Conversion Systems. This legislation authorizes the commissioners to enact ordinances pertaining to setbacks and the decommissioning of wind turbines.
“As you may know, Garrett County is the only county without countywide zoning,” Beitzel said in his newsletter. “I am pleased to announce that after six consecutive years of introducing this bill, it finally made its way out of the House and Senate, and is currently sitting on the governor’s desk awaiting [his] signature.”
HB 828/SB 766 – Oil and Gas Land Professionals – Registration was also approved by the House and Senate and awaits the governor’s signature.
“This is the second year that I have sponsored this significant legislation,” Beitzel said. “This bill requires that a person seeking to obtain any oil or gas leases from a property owner must provide proof to the property owner that the person is registered as a land professional in the state of Maryland.”
Under the pending law, a person may not operate as a land professional in the state unless he/she is registered with and Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation and is issued a certificate by the department.
Beitzel said a “land professional” is defined as a person, acting on their own behalf or on behalf of a prospective lessee or buyer, who negotiates with a property owner for the acquisition of mineral rights in oil or gas. He added that “mineral rights in oil or gas” means property rights, including an oil or gas lease, that allow the holder of the rights to enter into or under the property of another person for the extraction of crude oil, natural gas, or the constituents of crude oil or natural gas.
Also approved during this year’s General Assembly were bills that Edwards and Beitzel introduced on behalf of the Garrett County Liquor Control Board. One piece of legislation clarifies Sunday alcohol sales regulations that are already in place in the county. Another bill allows establishment of a beer festival license and the off-premise sales of special commemorative bottles or special event bottles of alcohol on a licensed Class C premise.
Some of the local lawmakers’ bills did not receive favorable reports from House and Senate committees, most notably HB 451/SB 310 – Garrett County – Coal Combustion Byproducts – Storage. The Garrett County commissioners requested the legislation. They asked that the state amend COMAR to allow the county to stockpile coal combustion byproducts, which are used locally as a road abrasive in the winter. The county has stored bottom ash at its three roads garages for numerous years, but the Maryland Department of the Environment cited the county last year for not having the piles covered, as required by COMAR.
MDE told county officials they must either cover the piles with a tarp or construct buildings to house the abrasives. Local officials, in turn, pointed out that the tarps would have to be one acre in size and buildings would be greatly cost prohibitive.
Edwards’ SB 204 – Bowhunting – Possession of Handguns for Protection received an unfavorable report from the Senate Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee.
Also not winning approval were SB 298, which would have allowed the speed limit on I-68 to be increased up to 70 mph; and SB 286, which would have changed the definition of a “school vehicle.”
