Markell Gets Out His Veto Stamp

Filed in National by on August 3, 2010

Governor Markell makes some news today in vetoing two bills. The first bill called for mandatory fines be imposed against uninsured drivers should they be cited for driving insured. Markell said he believes this infringes on a judge’s discretion in punishing first offenders. I must say that I agree here. The more we as a state and as a society get away from mandatory sentences and mandatory minimums, the better positioned our judges and justices will be in dispensing actual justice.

The second bill would have changed the the two-tiered structure for the licensing and certification of massage professionals. The bill would have eliminated the ability for a person to become a certified massage technician after 300 hours of training, and instead would have required all massage professionals to train for 500 hours and become licensed therapists. Markell said he thinks this eliminates a lower priced option for consumers, forcing all consumers to purchase services from a fully licensed therapist rather than a certified massage technician. I personally don’t care about the licensing structure for massage therapists, but the Governors’ reasoning seems logical.

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  1. Aoine says:

    I also agree with the forst part – the executive branch had no business meddeling with the judicial branch
    they are seperate (like church and state) for a reason.

    secondly – i just need a good massage therapist – how many hours of training they had is irrelevant
    my kids do a good job tho – as long as I pay them….

  2. Joanne Christian says:

    What’s there to ejudicate about not having your insurance? Either you do or you don’t. Fine the errant, irresponsible, drag on society, then let them go to court and the judge can reduce or remove it if he wants. But heck, your insurance company lets you know, the renewal is coming up, and then the warnings come–and then the letter comes saying you’re being reported to DMV–and then a policeman pulls you over and can’t fine you for driving uninsured? Talk about safety nets for safety nets–or rather enabling. That policeman not imposing that fine, has just given you a free pass to continue to keep on going—yup going on up the road to hit my husband and daughter head-on in their black Mercedes at 60mph, then claim “oops–no insurance–I didn’t like the “service” I was getting, so I cancelled it 2 weeks ago” (true story). So now we have the insurance, and OUR insurance company gets all the bills for totaled car, hospitalizations, rehab., etc., etc.. Sorry, driving w/o insurance only burdens ALL of us. FINE the scofflaws–in fact–I think you should impound their car–right there. Because I hate getting the rules AND the bill too.

  3. anon says:

    Joanne is lucky Duke Brooks is on the air this week.

  4. Joanne Christian says:

    Duke Brooks??? Sorry–you’ll have to fill me in.