ANNAPOLIS — The Maryland Legislature completed work yesterday on Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.’s bill to create a new state agency for people with disabilities and moved ahead with other parts of his legislative program.
The governor predicted he would have “a very productive end of session.”
With no debate, the House of Delegates unanimously approved the bill to set up a separate agency to administer programs for people with severe disabilities and sent it to Mr. Ehrlich, a Republican, for his signature. The new agency would have an annual budget of more than $3 million.
The House also unanimously approved the governor’s two minority business enterprise bills and passed his bill to provide drug treatment instead of prison for many nonviolent crimes. The delegates also passed a bill supported by the governor to extend a state program that provides tax credits for restoration of historic buildings.
Except for the disabilities agency bill, all of the measures require Senate consideration before they can reach the governor’s desk.
A task force headed by Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, a Republican, examined the effectiveness of the state’s existing law affecting minority businesses and proposed legislative changes.
Under current state law, at least 25 percent of the value of state contracts is supposed to go to companies owned by women and people of racial minorities. Mr. Steele’s task force found that the state has not been doing a good job of meeting the 25 percent goal.
When the bill was introduced in January, Mr. Steele, Maryland’s first black lieutenant governor, said that it would “empower minority-owned businesses by increasing their access to markets, capital and business opportunities.”
A bipartisan coalition that included liberal urban Democrats and conservative rural Republicans supported Mr. Ehrlich’s plan to emphasize treatment instead of incarceration for people charged with nonviolent offenses.
The plan would authorize local prosecutors to offer drug and alcohol addiction treatment instead of jail to criminals who passed a screening test and agreed to enter a treatment program. The charges would be removed from records if the offender successfully completed the program.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.