The once-a-year session of the Maryland General Assembly has been a historical curiosity for a long time. Now it is becoming a downright embarrassment. Maryland needed a Special Session, after four years of deadlock over slot machines. The Special Session brought progress — the lawmakers agreed they were unworthy to decide on slots within the… [Read more…]
April 7, 2008
The question of how to raise enough money to pay for government services in Maryland has preoccupied the General Assembly for more than a year. The structural deficit had been an open secret in Annapolis for years, and there were loud calls for Gov. Martin O’Malley to push the issue last year, during the winter… [Read more…]
December 22, 2007
Yesterday, Dec. 21, was the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice. Today is the longest shopping day of the year, the Saturday before Christmas. Ah, Rockville Pike at Christmastime. Retailing on steroids. SUVs and pickups bumper to grille from Georgetown Prep to Richard Montgomery. Four-wheel drive and no place to go. Commercialism meets road… [Read more…]
December 1, 2007
The Department of Legislative Services is out with the first comprehensive analysis of the bills passed during the recent Special Session of the Maryland General Assembly. It’s mostly numbers, grist for policy wonks. Of special interest is page 5, “Tax Burden Scenario – Governor’s Proposal, As Amended by the General Assembly. Impact on Example Taxpayers.” Here you can… [Read more…]
November 23, 2007
At the bitter end of the recent unpleasantness in Annapolis, Senate Republicans mounted a final filibuster to make the Maryland Special Session crash and burn. They couldn’t do it on their own. The Republicans have only 14 senators, and three of them were absent for the final vote, including the minority leader, Sen. Lowell Stoltzfus. To the consternation of Senate… [Read more…]
November 20, 2007
The Special Session of the Maryland General Assembly put Democratic leaders to the test of breaking government gridlock in Maryland, and most of them passed. Gov. Martin O’Malley justified the decision of Maryland voters who selected him over Republican Bob Ehrlich in the 2006 election. O’Malley was still seen as the brash young upstart with a mixed… [Read more…]
November 18, 2007
The three-week Special Session of the Maryland General Assembly has ended. It accomplished much, most notably raising the revenue needed to close the state’s structural budget deficit and avert drastic spending cuts. As the legislators go home for Thanksgiving, questions remain. The two big questions: Is this tax package fair and progressive? The income tax brackets… [Read more…]
November 17, 2007
Five Republicans found the gumption to join with Democrats in voting for the slots referendum, probably because slots are popular in their districts. I’d like to think those votes might signal the beginning of the end of bitter partisan unpleasantness in the Maryland General Assembly, but not likely. The Republican votes were critical to passing the referendum bill,… [Read more…]
November 17, 2007
The Maryland House of Delegates passed a bill Friday setting up a referendum on a slot-machines constitutional amendment for the November 2008 general election. The vote was 86-52, only one more than the three-fifths majority needed for a constitutional amendment. House Democrats could not have passed the bill without help from a handful of Republicans.… [Read more…]
November 16, 2007
Today (Friday), we wait to see if 85 members of the Maryland House of Delegates can work up the gumption to vote for a referendum on slots. Wait a minute. That’s what I wrote yesterday! The Special Session of the General Assembly is starting to look like the movie Groundhog Day. Senate President Mike Miller is… [Read more…]
April 19, 2009
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