Maryland’s majority-Democrat House of Delegates will vote Wednesday on whether to overturn at least two of Gov. Larry Hogan’s vetoes, marking the first direct showdown between lawmakers and the Republican governor of the 2016 legislative session. The state Senate has delayed its override votes until Thursday, because two senators will be absent on Wednesday. Each chamber needs a three-fifths majority to override a veto. The House will decide whether to reinstate a bill that would require online hotel booking companies to collect sales tax for the entire cost of a hotel room in Howard County and give that full amount to the state, rather than keeping part of it as a service fee. It will also try to resurrect a measure that would provide $2 million for capital improvements to a performing arts hall in Annapolis.
It remained unclear Tuesday whether the House would also attempt to override Hogan’s veto of a bill to restore voting rights for felons who have been released from prison but are still on parole or probation. The House could wait for the Senate to take up the issue first.
The Senate will attempt four veto overrides on Thursday, including the voting-rights measure; a bill that would decriminalize drug paraphernalia; and another that would prevent police from seizing a certain amount of property and money from people without charging them with a crime. The Senate will also consider a statewide hotel tax bill, known by many as the Marriott bill, because the hotel chain has pushed for the measure and threatened to move its headquarters out of Maryland if the legislation is not enacted.
Full Article: Maryland’s veto-override battle begins Wednesday in Annapolis – The Washington Post.