Constitutional framework
Despite provisions for a statewide vote every 20 years on whether to call a constitutional convention, repeated attempts to repeal the 1867 document-with its unnecessary details, outdated concerns, and silence on issues of contemporary interest-have failed. However, the document has been amended some 200 times.
The governor, who serves a four-year term, can be re-elected only once. A reorganization of the state government in 1969-72 consolidated several hundred separate agencies, boards, and commissions into 12 departments.
The state’s bicameral legislature, the General Assembly, consists of a 47-member Senate and a 141-member House of Delegates. Members of each chamber serve four-year terms and are eligible for re-election for an indefinite period. A reorganization in the 1960s ended the legislature’s dominance in rural areas and transferred power to counties bordering Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
The seven-member Court of Appeals is the highest court; below it are the intermediate special appellate court, district and circuit courts, and the Orphans’ Court, which handles wills, estates, and other inheritance matters. Judges are appointed by the governor; however, to retain their positions, they must run in the next election after appointment, and in Baltimore, Circuit Court judges must run against anyone who files an opposition. Appellate judges are elected for 10-year terms and circuit judges for 15-year terms.
To avoid the higher costs associated with incorporation as a governmental entity, many of Maryland’s most populous areas remain unincorporated, with services provided on a countywide basis. Historically, the emphasis in Maryland has been on the county government providing most local services. A constitutional amendment allows for self-government for counties under a special charter. A charter county is governed by a county executive and a county council, both elected for four-year terms; the council is authorized to make all local laws. Eleven mostly rural counties are still governed by elected boards of county commissioners. The city of Baltimore, a separate jurisdiction, is governed by an elected mayor and city council, as well as a mostly appointed Board of Estimates.
Since the 20th century, elections in Maryland, while free of the intimidation, poll taxes, and other obstacles to voting rights practiced in some places in the South, have often been influenced by machine politics. A larger group of voters consistently register as Democrats, and the Democratic Party has usually, but not always, dominated elections. A GOP candidate can expect to do well in the western counties, one or two southern enclaves, the eastern seaboard, and some affluent suburban Maryland neighborhoods. Baltimore, with its tradition of party leadership, is a Democratic stronghold.
In the 19th century, Baltimore hosted numerous presidential nominating conventions, but since 1912, none have been held there. In 1969, Marylanders elected their first Jewish governor, in 1970 their first black congressman, and in 1986 their first female U.S. senator.
Health and welfare
Healthcare is a major economic activity in Maryland. Baltimore has become a well-known center for healthcare and medical research with renowned facilities at Johns Hopkins University and University of Maryland hospitals. The Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda is one of the country’s most renowned military medical facilities and oversees the health care of U.S. presidents.
The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, in addition to overseeing county services, provides treatment for alcoholism, drug addiction, developmental disabilities, mental illness, and other health and behavioral problems. The department is also actively engaged in preventive medicine, for example, by providing educational programs against drug abuse. The state’s Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore flies seriously injured people from anywhere in the state by helicopter within one hour for immediate life-saving treatment.