CCI ENTERTAINMENT, LLC T/A CROOKED I SPORTS BAR & GRILL ET AL. v. STATE OF MARYLAND ET AL.
Court of Special Appeals, Kehoe, Filed Dec. 18, 2013
Special Laws- 2012’s SB 864 [Authorizing instant bingo games using electronic machines] is not an illegal “Special Law” in violation of Maryland Constitution Article III, § 33

Not technically a “criminal case,” but it revolves around a constitutional challenge to a criminal statute, so I let it slide

Special Laws:
– A special law is one that relates to particular persons or things of a class, as distinguished from a general law which applies to
all persons or things of a class
– One of the important historical purposes behind § 33’s prohibition against “special laws” has been “‘to prevent one who has sufficient influence to secure legislation from getting an undue advantage over others
– Legislation is presumptively constitutional; challenging party must prove the existence of a “special law”
– Factors: (non-exclusive, no single factor dispositive)
(a) the underlying purpose of the legislation in question to determine whether it was actually intended to benefit or burden a particular member or members
of a class instead of an entire class,
(b) whether particular individuals or entities are identified in the statute either explicitly or by clear implication, as determined by a consideration of the
substance and “practical effect” of an enactment as well as its form,
(c) whether a particular individual or business sought and received special advantages from the Legislature, or if other similar individuals or businesses
were discriminated against by the legislation,
(d) the public need and public interest underlying the enactment, and the inadequacy of the general law to serve the public need or public interest; and
(e) whether the legislatively drawn distinctions are arbitrary and without any reasonable basis.