From State Sen. J.B. Jennings:
Last week the issue front and center for the legislature was the overriding of Governor Hogan’s vetoes.
Last session, the legislature passed 692 pieces of legislation. Governor Hogan carefully reviewed all of the legislation and vetoed 197 bills. 191 of these bills were procedural overrides due to the bills being duplicated in both the Senate and House Chambers. The remaining 6 vetoes were based off of policy that the Governor did not support.
If the Governor vetoes a bill presented after the session, the veto message must be considered immediately at the next regular or special session of the legislature. A three-fifths vote of the elected membership of both chambers is necessary to override a veto.
I, along with several of my Senate colleagues, fought to override the vetoes. The Democrats have overridden several of these vetoes, which now makes them law.
The bills overridden are as follows:
– Decriminalize paraphernalia used to smoke marijuana, and also decriminalize marijuana smoking in public. When possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana was decriminalized in 2014, possession of marijuana paraphernalia remained a misdemeanor. In my opinion, the legal inconsistency should have been corrected. It is a crime to drink alcohol in public or while driving, therefore I believe it should also be a crime to smoke marijuana in public or while driving and should be specifically spelled out in the law. Those who opposed the veto pointed out that smoking marijuana in public or while driving is already against the law and a separate provision in the law is not necessary. Although, I voted to uphold the veto, it was overridden.
– A new tax on online booking services on companies such as; Travelocity, Expedia and Orbitz. Currently, all hotels pay Maryland state sales tax. Currently, Governor Hogan vetoed this bill because it changed the current law of customers paying sales tax on the price they paid for the room. I was in agreement with Governor Hogan. Additionally, another vetoed bill dealt with hotel taxes in Howard County. Both of the Governor’s vetoes were overridden.
– Restrict police from seizing criminal assets of cash or items worth up to $300 when making drug crime arrests of street level dealers. Suppliers give these low-level dealers only small amounts of drugs costing from $10 to $100 to sell. When they sell those small amounts they take the money back to the supplier and are given another small amount to sell. They rarely have more than $300 on them at any given time. The vetoed bill allowed seizure without charges or a conviction being brought against the suspect. The bill also restricts Maryland police from acting on information received from other state or federal law enforcement agencies to intercept drug money. I voted to uphold the Governor’s veto, although it was overridden. Already, new legislation has been introduced to prohibit seizure of assets unless the suspected criminal is convicted.
– Appropriate $2 million for the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis. The original request from the Creative Arts was for $500,000. The legislature mysteriously added an additional $1.5 million that was not originally requested in the last days of session. I believe that giving the full $2 million for the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis would not allow funds to be distributed to other projects around the State. This veto was overridden.
– On February 5th, the ex-felon veto will be on the Senate floor for a vote. The veto would allow 40,000 ex-felons to vote before their parole, probation or house arrest expires. State law already allows ex-felons to vote, but not until their parole, probation or house arrest expires. Two bills were approved to let ex-felons vote early. Hogan vetoed both. It should be noted that 40% of inmates released from prison will re-offend or otherwise return to prison. I will vote to uphold the Governor’s veto.
Please do not hesitate to contact me about these or any other issues of concern to you. Your input is important to me. I encourage and welcome it.
Best Regards,
J.B. Jennings
Very curious headline: suggests Jennings fought to override Governor Hogan’s vetoes. In truth, he voted to uphold the vetoes
Was this sloppy editing by the Daggar or a clever ploy by Jennings’ PR people to “have it both ways.?
I agree with Mr. Moderate that the headline for this article was misleading. It seems to summarize what Sen. Jennings is talking about, but gives the impression he would override the governor’s vetoes on certain issues. In fact, he is supporting them. I hope that the governor’s veto of restoring voting rights to convicted felons who have NOT completed their parole or probation is upheld. They are not “ex-felons” until these are completed.
It makes NO sense in having the voting rights restored to felons before completion of parole and/or probation, because you have to reregister to vote thru the MVA. This would make the jails and prisons responsible for the reregistration process and that’s just not fair to the corrections staffs. There is nothing wrong with the current process as the felony disenfranchising does not interfere with voting privileges once the complete sentencing is over. As for the marijuana issue, Hogan was being a bull headed fool by vetoing the legislation because of objections from the State’s Attorney Association, the Maryland Chiefs of Police Association and the Maryland Sheriffs’ Association. Of course they didn’t want to the legislation to pass. It takes away easy arrests and statistics from cops that depended on it for raises and promotions.
Oops – I did not mean to put a dislike on your post!! Sorry!!
You and I agree completely………….. that seems like an odd thing to say.
Again the Soulman is putting his personal slant on the marijuana/paraphernalia issue. He likes weed and for that reason he feels that it must be legalized. In fairness to him, I tend to agree that in most cases marijuana use is probably a fairly harmless event and is far less a society problem than is alcohol. As a former career police officer, I can tell you that I was called to hundreds, if not thousands of fights or disturbances. I do not recall any of the disorderly behavior directly related to marijuana use or abuse. Please don’t perceive this as an argument for legalization. It is not. There are other issues of concerned to include driving a vehicle while stoned, etc. The Soulman comments of “easy arrests” to facilitate raises and promotions. Not being in the law enforcement profession he would not have an understanding of the obstacles which are encountered by police on a daily basis. The constitution protections, which he has relied upon to knowingly break the law, must be adhered to. The cops know who the bad guys and sh#t heads are that are causing the problems but are mandated to follow the rules. He speaks of “easy arrests”. I am not sure if the he is aware of the amount of crimes that have been legally cleared by the mere odor of marijuana or the on view observation of a paraphernalia object. The probable cause from just the smell of marijuana has generated arrests for homicide, child abductors, wanted people, rapes, burglaries, terrorism, and the list goes on. The police have a very difficult job and I don’t feel that additional restrictions should be placed on them while they are attempting to do there job.
No, I’m referring to legislators listening to the public about how they feel Marijuana should be decriminalized. The law is supposed to be reflected by the People’s views toward an issue. If the People want it to be legal then it should be. Look at how Alcohol Prohibition was repealed because the people wanted it to be, same situation. However, YES, I do believe Marijuana should be completely legal, not just decriminalized. That’s my personal opinion. I also believe Marijuana should have come off the Class 1 schedule for Narcotics about 44 years ago, that’s when they found out it had medical benefits and uses. Class 1 Narcotics are supposed to have no medical benefits or uses as per Federal Law. I’m not going to argue this point as I’ve read the study under the Nixon Administration, done by the Attorney General of the US at the time.
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It is a struggle to make sense of this piece of Sen. Jennings’ writing. Grammar matters.
I find it laughable in a macabre sort of way that marijuana is still illegal. My question is WHY? Billions of tax payer dollars are spent every year to catch, convict and house persons found with marijuana.
This “drug” is actually a plant (surprise) that grows wild everywhere in the Atlantic region. It is not manufactured in a laboratory. Nature more or less controls its production. Are we going to outlaw wild strawberries because the produce lobby sees them as an encroachment on their strawberries harvested by near-slave labor?
Marijuana is no more harmful than alcohol (prove it otherwise) which is invasive in our society and causes far more damage.
All this tax money that could be spent on far more important medical research to find a cure for any number of diseases way more deadly than marijuana smoking.
What is the justification for spending this money on worthless “gotcha” programs when there is a much greater need for this money in other areas?
Why don’t we have the marijuana issue placed on the ballet and end the discussion? Will the persons with a financial interest in keeping marijuana legal accept the outcome of this referendum?
My mistake, I meant would those with an interest in keeping marijuana ILLEGAL accept the outcome?
The REAL question is why do they want to keep it illegal? It does NOT meet the criteria for being on the Class 1 Schedule. What interest do they have in keeping it illegal? From what I read in Hogan’s letter is that the opposition to a decriminalization measure is in fact the prosecutors and the law enforcement of Maryland. What benefit or why is it beneficial for these two groups of the Criminal Justice system to want to keep it illegal? The only people who benefit are the legal system, tobacco and alcohol companies. So you’re talking about the system, not the people, who want to keep it all against the law, along with two specific special interest groups. Oh, lets not forget BIG PHARMA, who would much rather you buying their pain pills and medicines than having access to something that can be provided much cheaper and naturally…..
I couldn’t have said it better. Thank you
OK, but I don’t think the ballet will help with the issue.