Here?s a quick update on legislation moving through the Maryland General Assembly. Most of the bills passed with little or no opposition.
» BOOMERS: The Baby Boomer Initiative Act (H.B. 599) passed the House of Delegates on Saturday and was set for final passage in the Senate on Monday. Despite its expansive name, the bill does little more than set up a study for how to keep the boomer generation ? people born between 1946 and 1964 ? in the work force and as “a source of social capital.”
» CHEESE: Those hankering for cheese made from scratch on Maryland farms are in luck, with companion bills (H.B. 865, S.B. 463) having passed both the House and Senate. Raw milk has been sent out of state for cheese making, but now a pilot study would be allowed to let a farm with fewer than 50 cows produce its own “farmstead” cheese. But you?ll have to trek to the Eastern Shore. Only one farm in Talbot County qualifies under the bill.
» STORM WATER: A bill to set higher standards for storm-water runoff passed the House on Saturday but faces an uncertain fate in the Senate. Backed by environmentalists and some homebuilders, the bill (HB 786) would require the Maryland Department of the Environment to write a model ordinance and regulation for the counties to follow. The idea is to take more pollutants out of the runoff from development that flows into the Chesapeake Bay by such techniques as using vegetated channels and swales, rather than traditional curbs and gutters.
» DISHWASHING: Both the House and Senate have passed measures that will require all but traces of phosphorus to be removed from household dishwashing detergent ? another measure to keep chemical nutrients from flowing into the Bay. The Soap and Detergent Association told lawmakers that there is currently little detergent that meets this standard, and it would take manufacturers three years to comply. The bill (H.B. 1131) was changed to have the standard go into effect in 2010. In the Senate, five Republicans voted against the measure.
