| Christine/Emily/Diane
The snow is doing a good job of getting in the way of my helping on this inquiry. If you get in, do what you can. The two main questions are
1) the history/nature of the procedure by which this defeated issue is being brought back up for debate
2) whether the procedure has ever led to a reversal on an issue (Senator Gladden seemed to think so with regard to the use of the procedure by Senator Coolahan when the death penalty was reinstated? in 1978?
I particularly would like to see the study referred to by Agnew:
The last formal study of capital punishment conducted for the
State was in 1962 by a special committee appointed by the Legislative
Council and headed by Ralph G. Murdy. This committee held ex-
tensive public hearings, compiled a considerable amount of factual
data and recommended, by a vote of 5 to 2, that capital punishment
be abolished in Maryland.
I suspect that the procedure for the Substitute Motion is derived from procedures in the U. S. Senate and/or House. Jefferson describes the process of a substitute motion at length in his Manual of procedure (especially Rule XIX).
Link to Google Books
Montana has a good explanation of a substitute motion in that State while in Committee:
Link to Archive.org
A member who disagrees with the original motion may make a
substitute motion. For example: "As a substitute motion to the
motion pending, I move to lay (House) (Senate) Bill No. on the
table."
However, no more than one substitute motion may be offered
on top of the original motion.
Adequate discussion should be allowed before voting on each
motion, and under rules of parliamentary procedure, the substitute
motion offered is voted upon first. If that motion fails, the original
motion is reverted to and voted upon. The chairperson may
announce that without objection the vote on a substitute motion is
considered the reverse of the vote on the main motion if they are
opposing motions. (It is possible but rare that a member, feeling that
a bill should be further refined before a recommendation is made to
the full body for "do pass" or "do not pass", would vote against both
motions.)
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