New laws focus on domestic partners, protecting wetlands

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

New laws focus on domestic partners, protecting wetlands

by Sean R. Sedam | Staff Writer

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Domestic partner rights and bans on shoreline development and electronic bingo machines are among a number of new state laws that took effect Tuesday.

A strengthened critical-areas law bans new development within 200 feet of the tidal waters and wetlands. A fund established by the General Assembly during last fall’s special session set aside $50 million for Chesapeake Bay cleanup. The legislature cut the funding in half earlier this year. The initial $25 million for the fund became available this week as the fiscal 2009 budget took effect.

In a move that gay rights advocates say does not go far enough and that critics say is a step toward same-sex marriage, legislation granting domestic partners hospital visitation rights and exempting them from paying property transfer taxes also took effect this week.

There will be far fewer electronic bingo machines as a phase-out of the games takes effect this week.

A few of the bingo machines, which resemble slot machines, will be allowed to operate until July 2009.

Earlier this year, hundreds of new machines sprang up across the state, particularly in St. Mary’s County. Proponents of the phase-out said the machines were siphoning money from the state lottery and could jeopardize passage of a November ballot referendum to legalize slots. Nonprofit organizations who operate the machines and pay rent to businesses that host them argued that the machines generated money for social services.

The beginning of the fiscal year also means expanded health care for 100,000 Maryland parents and for employees of small businesses.

The Working Families & Small Business Health Coverage Act, passed during the special session, makes Medicaid coverage available to parents of children enrolled in the Maryland Children’s Health Program and uninsured adults with incomes at 116 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, or $11,844 a year.

It also includes subsidies for businesses with from two to nine employees whose average wages are less than $50,000 a year.

Advocates have hailed the legislation as a first step toward universal health care in Maryland.

Protecting children in automobiles is the aim of a safety seat bill that takes effect June 30, allowing the state to draw on a federal incentive grant program during the current federal fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

The law requires parents to place children 8 and younger in safety seats unless the child is at least 4 feet, 9 inches tall or weighs more than 65 pounds. Violators could face a $25 fine.

The final large group of laws passed in 2008 and signed by the governor will take effect Oct. 1.