The House Judiciary Committee has rejected legislation trying to ban gay marriage and driver?s licenses for illegal aliens, and the House Ways and Means Committee has voted down a proposed tax credit for businesses donating to private schools.
» MARRIAGE: The Judiciary Committee defeated an amendment to the state constitution (H.B. 919) sponsored mostly by Republicans that said only a marriage between a man and a woman was valid in Maryland, and that the public schools could not teach about same-sex relationships. The Court of Appeals has yet to issue a decision on a Baltimore City court case that had found Maryland?s current statute banning gay marriage was unconstitutional.
» LICENSES: The House committee also rejected legislation that would have required someone getting a driver?s license to prove legal residency in the United States. Sponsored by Del. Ron George, R-Anne Arundel, the measure (H.B. 537) would have changed Maryland?s current practice of requiring only proof of state residence, rather than legal admission to the country. The move was opposed by immigration attorneys, advocates for immigrant groups and a representative of the Catholic bishops.
» TAXES: The bishops and Christian and Jewish groups lost an attempt to pass a tax credit for business that contributed to nonpublic schools. The measure (H.B. 973) was opposed by county school boards and school superintendents who objected to state funds going to private or religious schools. The measure was also hurt by its $20 million price tag. That was chief reason for its defeat in the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, where more than half the committee members had sponsored the bill.
