Senator Colburn Reports from Annapolis – Statewide Issues (to read more about local issues, click this link)

April 10, 2007

ANNAPOLIS - Senator Richard F. Colburn (R. Eastern Shore) today highlighted some of the statewide issues from the 2007 General Assembly Session that ended on Monday night.  First, Senator Colburn detailed some of the statewide legislation he amended or introduced that passed.  Colburn stated, “One of the most discussed bills this session was Senate Bill 148 (Natural Resources – Chesapeake Bay – Oyster Restoration).  The original bill would have authorized the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to lease land under waters of the Chesapeake Bay for oyster restoration, and would require the Department to adopt regulations and conditions for the leases to require a holder of oyster bottoms to plant a minimum amount of seed oyster.  This legislation requires strict enforcement regarding current harvest restrictions and would also investigate aquaculture and diseases.  Current law allows a lease for “protecting, sowing, bedding, or cultivating oysters, or other shellfish.”  DNR is prohibited from leasing any additional submerged areas within the jurisdictional boundaries of Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s, Somerset and Talbot Counties.  However, there are currently over 7,000 acres of Bay leased bottom.  Both the Senate and House accepted my amendment that would require that one-tenth of the oyster seed or spat produced at Horn Point shall be made available for purchase to any leaseholder of land beneath the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.  The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s (UMCES) Horn Point Laboratory will provide technical assistance and training for Maryland’s oyster growers in the techniques of remote setting of Horn Point-produced oyster larvae which, when successful, will allow them to produce oyster seed or spat for their own use.  Some of the newest techniques that are planned include putting disease-resistant strains into these efforts with leaseholders and will hopefully help restore a healthy oyster population in the Chesapeake.  The oyster is the bay’s natural filter.

Senate Bill 214 (Crimes – Unauthorized Possession of Contraband – Place of Confinement) will prohibit a person from knowingly possessing contraband to affect an escape, or possess a weapon, an alcoholic beverage, a controlled dangerous substance, or a telecommunication device in a place of confinement without authorization by a managing official.  This bill passed on the last day of Session.

Senate Bill 215 (Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Critical Area Protection Program – Advisory Committee) will be going to summer study.  This bill will have established an advisory committee to study and recommend reforms of the growth allocation process within the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Critical Areas.  The Joint Committee on the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Critical Areas will study this issue during the interim.      
Senate Bill 444 (Motor Vehicles – Special Registration Plates for Veterans – Use after Vehicle Transfer) will allow the continued use of a special registration plate, such as a commemorative veteran’s plate, in cases where the title of ownership of a vehicle jointly owned by a married couple is transferred to the surviving spouse.  It would permit the surviving spouse of a veteran to continue to have two plates registered to them.  Previously, the motor vehicle administration’s policy on this was that once the veteran spouse passed away, the surviving spouse would have to return the rear license plate allowing them to keep the front as a souvenir.  Recently the MVA changed the policy allowing for widowed spouses to keep the plates on the vehicle, however if a new vehicle is purchased the spouse would then have to turn in the plates.  This bill takes this new policy one step further, allowing the spouse to keep the plates during transference