The House passed a bill Tuesday that would create a task force to study whether gasoline wholesalers should be able to price their product differently depending on where in Maryland they’re selling it.

As Danielle Ulman wrote this week, the practice known as “zone pricing” has raised some questions in the General Assembly this year.

A bill to ban the practice outright failed this year, but if the task force finds that zone pricing is no good, that could revive the proposal.

“Economists have said it allows gas stations in aggressive markets to stay open because the wholesalers charge them less. But lawmakers have said the system is too arcane,” Danielle wrote Monday.

Check out her story for a complete explanation of how the zone pricing works.

If Maryland moves forward with the proposal, we’d be the first state in the country to get rid of zone pricing. Is it worth the risk to give it a shot?

There’s still awhile to go. The task force bill hasn’t come up for a vote in the Senate yet. And if the task force is formed, it won’t report on zone pricing until the end of 2009.

I haven’t seen anything like this before.

In an apparent effort to increase oversight over all aspects of state government, Del. Addie Eckardt has sponsored a bill (HB1215) that would establish a new task force, which would study — you guessed it — “task forces, commissions, temporary or ad hoc committees, and related panels.”

Now it may sound wild, but task forces often hold a great deal of power in determining state policy and crafting legislative proposals for the General Assembly. As one example, look at the Homeownership Preservation Task Force formed last year by Gov. Martin O’Malley. With very few exceptions, its recommendations comprise the mortgage reform legislation now being considered by lawmakers.

But of course you must see the problem here.

Who will form the task force to study the task force studying task forces, commissions, temporary or ad hoc committees, and related panels?