While the General Assembly managed to preserve higher education funding in the short-term, other bills students lobbied for had a mixed record in this year’s legislative session.

A bill protecting student journalists passed overwhelmingly, but a clean energy loan program and bill allowing for election day voter registration failed, and legislators in the state House of Delegates and Senate threatened the academic freedom of a state university for the second straight year.

Clean energy loan program

Members of the student group UMD for Clean Energy had convinced a receptive College Park City Council to implement a clean energy loan program that would have granted residents low-interest, long-term loans from the city to make environmentally friendly improvements to their homes.

But the proposal hit a roadblock because state law prevents cities from issuing loans. A bill proposed to the legislature that would change that policy was met with skepticism. Ultimately, committee members didn’t take the leap, citing concerns about the repayment structure and defaulting. The bill did not come to a vote.

Shield law expansion to student journalists

Legislators in both houses voted unanimously to extend the state’s shield law — which prevents journalists from revealing confidential sources. The bill had previously only protected journalists employed by professional news agencies (The Diamondback reporters and editors are paid, and thus were already protected under the law), and now expands protection to students who are engaged in recognized scholastic or scholarly news dissemination.

Need for the expansion became clear earlier in the year, when law officials ordered journalism students at Northwestern University to reveal sources from reporting done for a project.

Academic freedom and law school funding

Academic freedom took a blow when legislators tried to block University of Maryland School of Law students from filing suit against Eastern-shore employer-giant Perdue Farms. The suit was filed as part of a lawclinic class on behalf of environmental groups claiming the company polluted a nearby river and was in violation of clean-water laws. Legislators in both the House and Senate threatened to withhold funding from the law school, and though they ultimately backed down, some worry that their actions set a bad precedent, particularly in the wake of last year’s threat by the General Assembly to cut funding to this university for showing Pirates II: Stagnetti’s Revenge, a pornographic movie.

Election Day registration

A bill supported by student lobbyists from MaryPIRG failed for the second year in a row. The legislation would allow voters to register to vote on election day and immediately cast their ballot. Opponents of the bill argue it would have increased voting fraud. The bill failed to make it out of committee.

Medical marijuana

Despite a litany of favorable testifiers, a medical marijuana bill that aimed to allow seriously ill patients to legally smoke the drug and purchase it from a network of state-licensed dispensaries also failed to pass.

A Senate committee gave it a favorable 7-4 vote, but the bill remains stalled in the House, largely due to concerns about the program’s start-up costs and how the marijuana would be produced.

Cell phone ban

Legislation passed that would make it illegal for drivers to use a cell phone without also using a hands-free device to talk on it. The bill makes the violation a secondary offense. A bill that would have banned reading texts while driving failed in the final hours. It remains illegal to send a text while driving, however.

Rosecroft Raceway

Senate President Mike Miller (D-Calvert and Prince George’s) strongly supported a bill that would have legalized card games, including poker and blackjack, at the financially struggling Rosecroft Raceway in Prince George’s County.

Rosecroft, which is about 25 miles from the campus in southern Prince George’s, will likely to have to close without the additional business, possibly costing 200 jobs.

pino@umdbk.com