State Circle. Episode 514

1991-04-09

Maryland General Assembly meets in Annapolis each year for 90 days; State Circle reports weekly on the legislature during that period. This episode summarizes the contentious 1991 session. Legislators approved raising taxes on cigarettes; made kindergarten mandatory throughout the state; allowed "battered wife syndrome" to be entered at trial; closed loopholes on exemptions to capital gains; and signed into law a major pro-choice bill, called the most liberal such law in the nation. (Opponents later gathered enough signatures to put the issue on the 1992 ballot.) Gun control measures were rejected, as were plans for health insurance, a 5% gasoline tax, and revisions to campaign finance and lobbyist reform bills. The recommendations of the governor's "2020 Commission" to control development and the Linowes Commission tax reduction plan were sidelined for further study. Gov. William Donald Schaefer; Senate President Thomas V. "Mike" Miller; and House Speaker R. Clayton Mitchell, Jr. are interviewed. Reporters John Rydell, Sue Kopen, Todd Spangler (Washington Times), Fern Shen (Washington Post) and Lou Panos (Patuxent Publishing) close the program with a panel discussion.

Maryland Public Television

Broadcasting, Communications

North America; United States of America

Public Broadcasting

Special Collections and University Archives

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00:31:08 hh:mm:ss; Betacam

Maryland Public Television records
A guide to the full collection of Maryland Public Television records is available in our archival collections: http://hdl.handle.net/1903.1/32974.
Access condition: public.

Fedora 2 PID: umd:736101; Handle Identifier: hdl:1903.1/46326; Filename: bcast-076146