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The Maryland Senate quietly passed an amended version of聽, the Judicial Transparency Act of 2022, Monday evening.
That bill is a top legislative priority for Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R), and as originally introduced would have required a comprehensive annual report on the sentencing decisions by individual judges, including details on sentences outside of the Maryland Sentencing Guidelines.
The bill was聽 and aggregate the published sentencing data by county or circuit to not single out individual judges.
Republican lawmakers preferred the more detailed reporting requirement, but the amended bill ultimately passed unanimously out of the Senate during a Monday evening floor session.
Hogan has introduced versions of the bill since 2019. That year, an amended judicial reporting bill passed the Senate late in the legislative session, but did not move forward in the House.
Republican amendments to coal tar sealant bill fail聽
, introduced by Sen. Cheryl C. Kagan (D-Montgomery), would ban the use of certain coal tar sealant products on driveways and parking areas. The bill specifically bans people from selling or applying coal tar sealing products with high amounts of more than 0.100% polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) to driveways and parking areas starting Oct. 1, 2023.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are chemicals that occur naturally in coal, crude oil, and gasoline, and result from burning coal, oil, gas, wood, garbage, and tobacco, according to the聽. According to the CDC, those chemicals can cause blood and liver problems with large amounts of exposure, and 鈥渟cientists consider several of the PAHs and some specific mixtures to be cancer-causing chemicals.鈥�
Sen. Johnny Ray Salling (R-Baltimore County) took issue with the bill鈥檚 fines 鈥� up to $2,500 for each violation up to a total of $100,000 鈥� and introduced an amendment to lower those penalties. Salling called the fines 鈥渆xtremely high鈥� and worried they could have a detrimental effect to small businesses, and sought to lower the fines to $1,000 for each violation up to a total of $25,000.
Sen. Paul G. Pinsky (D-Prince George鈥檚) pushed back on Salling鈥檚 amendment, and said the fines are meant to ensure the bill is enforced and that people don鈥檛 use the banned coal tar sealant products.
鈥淲e want to make sure when it says it can鈥檛 be used, it can鈥檛 be used,鈥� Pinsky said.
Kagan said many major hardware stores don鈥檛 even the products that would be banned by the bill for fear of lawsuits.
鈥淭his is not easy stuff to find anymore,鈥� she said.
Salling鈥檚 amendment was ultimately voted down 15-30.
Salling introduced another amendment that would鈥檝e removed the term 鈥減arking area鈥� from the bill, arguing that parking areas should be specifically defined, but that effort was likewise rejected in a 15-30 vote. Pinsky said banning the use of those sealants on driveways but allowing them in parking areas would 鈥渄efeat the purpose鈥� of the bill.
