Lawmakers took small steps on giant issues in 2008 session

A General Assembly session that began with predictions of a partisan war over gay marriage and the death penalty might be best remembered instead for an intraparty brawl pitting Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley against the overwhelmingly Democratic Legislative Black Caucus over DNA collection.

The same-sex marriage and capital-punishment repeal bills, which had been expected to kindle lively statehouse debate along party lines, fizzled in the Democrat-led assembly without ever reaching the Senate or House floors.

Lawmakers, however, did pass scaled-down measures on each of the hot-button topics, granting a limited number of rights to same-sex couples and calling for a commission to examine the death penalty’s future.  See Lawmakers took small steps on giant issues in 2008 session
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