Legislative Update
Updated
8/29/2008The Legislative Committee is busy developing Issues for Legislative Action 2009 – our annual "White Paper" that will sets forth the positions of the Chamber on issues that are expected to be critical in the next 12 months to the local business community. It will be released to the public at the Legislative Breakfast on November 20th at Turf Valley.
The County Council will meet in early September to introduce its legislation for the month. This list can be reviewed at:
http://www.howardcountymd.gov/CountyCouncil/Legislative_Pending.htm
The Chamber is
continuing its work
to support the slots
referendum—a
constitutional
amendment to allow
slot machines at
controlled limited
locations in the
State. For more
information on the
Chamber’s position
and the referendum,
click here.
As always, any questions can be directed to Heidi Gaasch, Director of Government Affairs at
legislative@howardchamber.com or 410-730-4111 X109.
Updated
7/10/2008
The County
Council met on Monday, July 7th to vote on its June
legislation and introduce legislation for the month of
July.
With the
exception of one bill that was tabled (CB 46-2008) and one
resolution that was withdrawn (CR 62-2008), all legislation
on the June list passed unanimously. The following are
those of particular interest to the business community:
-
CB39-2008, amending the Adequate Public Facilities
Ordinance to expand the eligibility for Rt. 1
revitalization allocations, was removed from the table
for re-consideration and passed, as amended. The
Council had 4 amendments to the bill, including one that
would eliminate the idea of charging funds for
allocations in lieu of the contribution of land (pending
approval of the County).
The Chamber had testified in support of this legislation
at the Council Hearing last month. Our position
statement can be found at:
http://howard.wliinc2.com/billPositions.aspx.
-
Both CB48, amending the definition of food service
facility and relating to food handling provisions of the
Howard County Code and CR66, amending the Food Service
Facilities Regulations and several other issues related
to food service facilities regulations in Howard County
passed as amended.
-
CB50-2008 (ZRA-95), amending the Howard County Zoning
Regulations to establish a new definition for
Neighborhood Preservation Parcel and relating to
residential density also passed as amended. The Council
had nine amendments to the bill, mostly technical
corrections. The one significant change was amendment 6
which limits the sending and receiving within a single
planning district. Council Chair Courtney Watson
reminded the audience that the goal of this bill is to
help those older neighborhoods in our community. She
also commented that this legislation is one of more to
come that will address the problem of infill development
in our region.