The Maryland General Assembly pushed hundreds of bills across the finish line Monday, concluding its 437th session by passing legislation that would make the state’s attorney general the first in the country with power to sue drug companies for price gouging.
Lawmakers voted to bar colleges from asking about a prospective student’s criminal history in an initial application. They also passed legislation that would let beekeepers shoot bears that attack hives, limit how much students can be tested each year, forbid poultry companies from routinely treating chickens with antibiotics, and devote more resources to addressing the escalating heroin epidemic.
They failed, however, to approve an expansion of the state’s nascent medical marijuana industry. Negotiators agreed Maryland needs more minority-owned medical marijuana firms; they could not agree on the details.
By Monday, the annual 90 days of lawmaking had already produced a few big policy accomplishments, banning the controversial natural gas extraction technique known as fracking and approving a bill that would give five paid sick days to most Maryland workers.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Erin Cox over at the Baltimore Sun