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Senator seeks ban on sale of novelty lighters; Republicans hoping to have Feb. 6 declared Ronald Reagan Day; Stifler files bill dealing with mortgage originators

BY RACHEL KONOPACKI

Posted 2/02/11

For the second straight year, Northern Harford Sen. Barry Glassman will try to prohibit the sale and distribution of novelty lighters in Maryland.

Western Harford Sen. J.B. Jennings has signed onto a bill Glassman reintroduced that would prohibit selling or distributing the novelty lighters.

In the Senate Bill 112, novelty lighters refer to an electronic device used for lighting cigarettes, cigars or pipes that resemble a cartoon character, toy, gun, watch, musical instrument, vehicle, animal, food or beverage, among other designs.

In a previous interview, Glassman, a Republican from District 35, said some in the industry have stopped making novelty lighters, but unfortunately there are still cases of people being burned by these types of lighters.

A hearing on the bill is scheduled for today (Wednesday) in Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, according to the Senate’s daily bills status report that was updated Monday.

In last year’s session, the House version of the novelty lighter bill passed out of its respective chamber on third reading, 111-26, but the Senate version received an unfavorable report from the Senate Judicial Proceedings panel. All of Harford’s delegates voted for the House version except Northern Harford Del. Donna Stifler, who voted against the bill, and Southern Harford Del. Mary-Dulany James, who did not vote.

Tax appeals

Glassman has also introduced Senate Bill 69 authorizing a taxpayer to record property tax appeal hearings, at their own expense.

A hearing on SB 69 is scheduled for 1 p.m. today (Wednesday) in the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, and local taxpayer advocacy groups, like the Bel Air based Marylanders for Fair Property Taxation, are urging supporters to attend and speak out in favor of the bill.

SB 69 specifies the right to record a hearing be added to the Property Owner’s Bill of Rights.

Western Harford Del. Kathy Szeliga, who was elected to the House in November, cross-filed the Senate version with House Bill 141.

Last session, Glassman filed a bill that would expand the Property Owner’s Bill of Rights, but lacking action, the bill died in the Budget and Taxation Committee. The bill had multiple aspects pertaining to the bill of rights, which included the right to record an appeal hearing.

Northern Harford Del. Wayne Norman has introduced House Bill 91 allowing a person in specified bankruptcy proceedings to claim an exemption to keep up to $2,000 in arms, or guns.

The bill was due to be heard Tuesday afternoon the House Judiciary Committee.

Honoring Reagan

While Harford’s eight delegates have not come together to submit any delegation bills this session, a majority of them have signed onto House Bill 146 requiring the governor to annually proclaim Feb. 6 as Ronald Reagan Day.

Norman and Szeliga, along with Western Harford Dels. Rick Impallaria and Pat McDonough, Bel Air area Del. Susan McComas and Southern Harford Del. Glen Glass, have all signed onto this bill.

Like the late president, whose birth centennial is Feb. 6, the local co-sponsors of the Reagan bill are all Republicans.

The bill also requires the proclamation to urge Maryland citizens to observed Ronald Reagan Day in a proper manner.

Of the 141 legislators in the House of Delegates, about a quarter of them have signed onto this bill, which had a hearing Jan. 26 in the House Health and Government Operations Committee.

Mortgages, child safety

Stifler has filed House Bill 102 prohibiting a mortgage originator such as a bank from bribing an appraiser or coercing a false appraisal.

Stifler said a mortgage fraud bill passed a couple of years ago along with an appraisal fraud bill, but she said none of those bills address a mortgage originator bribing an appraiser.

“I think it’s an oversight of the original bill,” she said Thursday.

Stifler is also planning to introduce a bill that will bring Maryland into compliance with the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act.

The bill, she said, will be emergency legislation to bring Maryland’s juvenile sex offender registry up to par with the federal registry.

If this bill is not enacted by June 30, Stifler said, Maryland could lose $2 million in funding.