A Carnival of Cross-Fire

It’s the time of year in Annapolis when you have to watch out for the cross-fire.  Many bills are filed in both the House and Senate – this is called cross-filing.  The advantage of cross-filing is that you are virtually assured a hearing in both chambers, allowing bill supporters to educate all the involved parties.  If identical bills end up passing the House and Senate, the bill is passed.

But sometimes identical versions don’t pass; sometimes a version is voted down in one chamber and passes the other, and sometimes votes in one chamber impact votes and other issues in the other chamber.  All this activity sets up the April cross-fire phenomenon.  Bills march back and forth across Rowe Boulevard, like items in a carnival shooting gallery, some survive, but some die for the dumbest of reasons.

Recently, we wrote about issues surrounding motor scooters.  See Motor Scooters – like a bike or like a motorcycle? While not exactly the same bills, House Bill 961 and Senate Bill 708 both required licensing, registering, and insuring of motor scooters.  Senate Bill 708 passed the full Senate intact - now it has to journey across the street to the House.

SB 708, is now assigned to the same Committee that considered the related House Bill, 961.  HB 961 died in Committee – technically it is set for a Summer Study, which is a more detailed post-session review of the issue.  Senate Bill 708, then, is doomed to Summer Study too.  It is a victim of cross-fire.

But it will not be the only victim.  The House passed legislation making using a cell phone while driving a primary violation instead of a secondary violation.  The Senate rejected the bill.  In retaliation, the House rejected other bills.  The Senate passed the Civil Marriage bill.  The House failed to enact it.  The House passed a bill providing protections to transgendered individuals – but now the Senate won’t consider it.  And so it goes.

A popular Senate bill now waits its turn to see if it will get caught in cross-fire.  Senate Bill 679 allows local jurisdictions to install cameras on school buses to catch motorists who fail to stop when the bus is loading or unloading children.  It passed the Senate 38 to 7.  But the House already rejected a similar bill – House Bill 1106.  More cross-fire?

At the end of the day, legislators are people too.  Like people everywhere, they retaliate for rejections – real or perceived.  It’s cross-fire season in Annapolis, and people are trying real hard not to let their bills get hit.