Legislative

Warren Dechenaux, the Maryland Legislature's top budget analyst, testified before the assembly yesterday that O'Malley's budget cushion of $30 million may not be enough to cover unexpected spending, which has averaged $145 million in the past few years (and is expected to include things like increased cost of defendants at bail hearings, as required by a new court decision).

In addition, the balancing act by O'Malley's last budget includes tapping into reserves of the employee health benefit fund, and lowering state contributions by $100 million.

Dechenaux faced questions from

The Maryland School Assessments (MSA) tests that are given to Maryland
students are based on curricula that is being replaced, so Anthony Brown announced yesterday that the state should ask for a waiver until the new Common Core Curriculum is implemented.

O'Malley and stated education superintendent Lillian Lowery oppose a moratorium.

via the Baltimore Sun.

1/17/14 Todd Reynolds, Political Coordinator

While Maryland Senate President Mike Miller believes that a minimum wage raise in Maryland will happen, he thinks that, instead, it might be based by county, and not a state-wide, unified minimum wage.

Via the Capital Gazette.
 

1/17/14 Todd Reynolds, Political Coordinator

In an article on Marylandreporter.com, the governor was asked if the unions approved the decreased state contribution to pension. O'Malley turned to his chief of staff, John Griffin, and Budget Secretary, Eloise Foster, who said that they had.

AFSCME and MSEA responded by saying that they were not consulted, and were not aware that O'Malley wanted to make that cut permanent. It has become clear, as well, that this cut was made to balance the budget without raising taxes.

More at the Maryland Reporter.

1/17/14 Todd Reynolds, Political Coordinator

O'Malley did a powerpoint presentation on his final budget submitted yesterday. The details are still sketchy, but from what we can tell, we should have a problem with the way some of the savings were achieved and revenues generated-- not by tax increases but by cuts to the funding system for pensions.

In previous budgets, the plan to get the state employee pension fully funded was to be achieved by 2024. In 2011, the state upped employee contributions to their pension from 7% to 9%. The state's savings from this increased employee contribution could go back into the pension fund, but only up

Baltimore County joins Prince George and Montgomery counties in calling for more funding for school construction. This comes one year after Baltimore City schools won school construction funding.

More at the Baltimore Sun.
 

1/15/14 Todd Reynolds, Political Coordinator

A bill has been introduced in Annapolis to include protections to transgender Marylanders in issues of employment, public accomodations, and housing. It was filed by Rich Madaleno (Senator from Montgomery County), and has the Governor's endorsement.

Read more at the Baltimore Sun.
 

1/15/14 Todd Reynolds, Political Coordinator

Many politicians are pressuring Anthony Brown about the rollout of the Affordable Care Act in Maryland. He testified on Tuesday, and democrats and republicans alike are calling for independent investigations as to what went wrong and if the governor/lieutenant governor should have known beforehand.

Read more in the Maryland Reporter.
 

1/15/14 Todd Reynolds, Political Coordinator

Governor 'Malley is in favor of the Raise Maryland plan to bump the minimum wage plan to $10.10, and have it indexed to inflation. If the bill can get out of committees, they might have enough votes in both the senate and the house to pass.

Read more in the Baltimore Sun.

1/15/16, Todd Reynolds, Political Coordinator

Governor O'Malley announced his budget on Wednesday, offering a sneak preview the night before to various news outlets ragarding the overview of his budget. No increase in taxes, and O'Malley hopes to eliminate the budget deficit by 2017. However, he is cryptic as to how the revenue matches up, saying that it will come from "savings" to the state employee health insurance plan and pension/retirement plan. Will those "savings" include cuts? O'Malley made it seem like it was form an overcalculation as to how much the state needed to contribute to those plans. Or will employees need to bump up