You know that winter is over for sure and spring has sprung when the Maryland General Assembly comes to Sine die.
Flowering trees flaunt shades of pink and white and lavender on nearly every street, but in Annapolis the hardy winter legislators are going to seed fast.
You’ve heard of snakes on a plane. Now beware of “snakes” on the floor of the Senate, and the House. And “poison pills.” Someone should make a movie, but it would run on too long.
The last two hours before Sine die are like the last two minutes of a football or basketball game. You enter a twilight zone where time is suspended. Rather than winding down, action speeds up. No strategy is too bizarre to try, no trick play too sneaky to run. Unlike coaches, presiding officers have been known to take control of the hands of time, literally.
Sine die? That’s Latin, you know. Technically, it’s an adverb, except in Maryland, where it is a noun. And this is a blog, not a translation service or a grammar book.
Because the Maryland Assembly’s regular session is limited to 90 days, and because lawmakers are human and tend to procrastinate, a logjam of bills is always waiting to be untangled on deadline. Opportunities for legislative creativity abound at the drop of an amendment.
“Is this any way to run a legislature?” you might ask. Probably not. But that is a subject to be addressed during the interregnum. – Bernie Hayden
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