Overview
- The Maryland House, which voted 102-14 Friday to consider expelling Del. Christopher Eric Bouchat, sent the late-filed resolution to the Rules Committee.
- Rules Chair Anne Healey said the measure is unlikely to get a hearing because the session is near its end, reducing the chance of any vote to remove him.
- Sponsors say Bouchat has checked in then left the State House for weeks without voting or attending Judiciary Committee meetings, which at times strained quorums and left his district without a voice in key work.
- In late February he asked to leave the Judiciary Committee, then offered to donate his salary and left blank $1,000 checks on colleagues’ desks that they voided and reported to ethics counsel.
- Expulsion in Maryland requires a two-thirds vote and is rare, with censure or reprimand more common after confidential reviews by the legislature’s ethics panel.