Republicans won a second delay Thursday in the progress of a bill to redraw the state’s congressional districts before this fall’s midterm elections, but House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk made it clear that the latest delay would be the last.
“OK, so tomorrow, the chair will not allow a second layover on this bill,” Peña-Melnyk said from the rostrum. “So, let’s be clear, you have amendments, you bring them tomorrow, and we will discuss this bill tomorrow. Make sure that you submit them. There will not be a second layover on this bill.”
The House began preliminary debate on House Bill 488 on Thursday, just two days after it was passed out of committee — and less than a week after the introduction of the legislation that was unveiled as a “conceptual” map on Jan. 21. If Peña-Melnyk sticks to her schedule, the bill could be heading to the Senate next week.
Peña-Melnyk’s warning followed about an hour of debate covering a single Republican amendment on Thursday. The House leader praised the chamber for its civility on what she described as an emotional issue for both parties.
“There were little ones here who were watching, and it was beautiful to see, because we have to model good behavior for them,” Peña-Melnyk said, noting that some delegates were accompanied on the floor by children who are out of school because of snow-related closures.
Democrats in the House hoped to expedite the passage of the bill that includes amendments to the Maryland Constitution.
The bill was introduced last Friday and sent to the House Rules Committee for a hearing that was pushed back from Monday to Tuesday by the snow. After five hours of testimony on Tuesday, the committee voted along strict party lines to send it to the full House.
The bill recasts all eight Maryland congressional districts, but focuses on making the 1st District, held by the state’s sole Republican member of Congress, Rep. Andy Harris, more competitive for a Democratic candidate. The 1st District, which includes the entire Eastern Shore, would lose the upper Shore and be redrawn across the Chesapeake Bay into Anne Arundel and Howard counties.
The bill came to the House on Wednesday, but the House Freedom Caucus, supported by other conservative Republicans, asked for and were granted a one-day delay to prepare amendments for what was expected to be an extended debate.
The House took about an hour on Thursday to debate one amendment, sponsored by House Minority Leader Jason C. Buckel (R-Allegany), that would require any future congressional districts to be compact, contiguous, and to observe communities of interest. Those are identical to the requirements used in the drawing of state legislative districts.
Buckel’s amendment would have codified a “novel ruling” from 2022 by Judge Lynne A. Battaglia, who struck down a proposed congressional redistricting that year because the districts in it were not compact and contiguous.
“The amendment requires you to live by standards that you all went by already in your legislative districts,” Buckel said. “What is good for you because it’s good for the state, is good for those Congress critters down in D.C. too, because it’s good for the state. What is good for you is good for Congress.”
The amendment would also undo language put in the bill by sponsor Del. C.T. Wilson (D-Charles) that prohibits the compact and contiguous requirement for congressional districts.
“The standard that we use for our legislative body, i.e., the General Assembly, does not apply to the U.S. congressional maps that we form, because that’s what this amendment says,” Wilson said. “It says that Judge Battaglia was wrong. History says the judge is wrong. Subsequent litigation says that she was wrong.”
Buckel’s amendment failed on a 39-98 vote.
The session ended when Del. Matt Morgan (R-St. Mary’s) introduced a second amendment and then invoked a House rule allowing for a one-day layover, which was granted, before Peña-Melnyk’s admonition to come prepared to work through the bill Friday.