House Bill 461 Killed by Judicial Committee

by CMA 303 Comment Closed
A bill that would have increased fines and penalties for gang members in the state of Maryland was killed in the House Judiciary Committee last week. In 1970, the Racketeer Influence and Corruption of Organizations Act was put in place to combat mafia groups. The law was later expanded to disrupt everything from corrupt police departments to motorcycle gangs. 33 states including Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands have implemented similar state laws. However, Maryland is not one of those states. Current laws only allow individual members to be investigated opposed to the larger upscale organizations. The bill would have allowed law enforcement to focus on the distributors rather than low to mid-level dealers and users. Under current laws, there are numerous violations that warrant fines and possible imprisonment if one is found to be involved with criminal gangs. For example, a person may not threaten another individual with physical violence to leave or join a criminal gang. An individual who...
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Frederick Delegation withdraws bill for new Frederick CREST center

by CMA 303 Comment Closed
By: Katie Misuraca Frederick County senators withdrew the Frederick’s CREST funding bill after the bill was about to receive unfavorable votes from Senate committees. The bill would of allowed spending for Frederick’s Center for Research and Education in Science and Technology (CREST) through 2020. Originally, the funding bill had been introduced after the planned regional higher education center initially received no funding in Gov. Hogan’s yearly budget for the state. However in early March, when Hogan delivered his State of the State address, he included some of the funding for the Fredrick CREST in a supplemental budget. The House and Senate committees retained the funding. The bill was also known as a bond bill. “A bond bill which means rather than being legislative – writing policy – it is local districts requesting funding for very important projects,” Dominique Marsalek, chief of staff to Senator Ronald Young, said. Each representative is limited to around three requests each because funding is limited. With a Republican governor, Larry Hogan, funding...
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