February 8, 2009

Annapolis Update

When a reporter asked me recently about the legislature’s agenda this year, I replied, "The top three items on the agenda are the budget, the budget, the budget."

With the country’s major economic slowdown as backdrop, Governor O’Malley proposed his fiscal year 2010 budget on January 21. It is a lean budget, to say the least. It is 1.3% less than the FY 2009 budget and is $1.5 billion less than what would be required to maintain the current baseline budget. The Governor’s budget curtails expansion of health care for the uninsured, eliminates 1,000 vacant state positions, proposes 700 state employee layoffs, and makes other reductions. It reduces funding of some education programs (though overall K-12 education funding does increase). State employees are furloughed for 2-5 days, will not receive COLA increases and may face benefit cuts. All of this belt-tightening is necessitated by the economic recession and mirrors the tough times that companies and employees in the private sector are experiencing.

The bad news on the budget was made worse last week by the news that bidding for slots licenses did not go well. As has been widely publicized, Maryland’s slots commission received bids for less than half of the slot machines that last year’s referendum authorized. While it is unclear how the commission will respond, the tepid bid response means that the State is likely to receive much less in revenue from slots than was hoped.

On the good news front, there is hope that the federal stimulus package will mitigate Maryland’s budget pain. The federal stimulus package – still being ironed out in Washington — will provide some relief for the operational and capital budgets of states. Maryland’s transportation budget for maintenance and improvements projects has been cut back and could benefit significantly from President Obama’s emphasis on “shovel-ready” capital projects.

This coming week, I will have hearings on two of my bills. One is HB 120, which extends the term of the task force on financial literacy. The task force (the result of my legislation from 2008) is charged with making recommendations on how to improve the financial literacy of students and adults. On January 28, I helped present the task force’s recommendation to the State Board of Education that all students be required to learn financial literacy skills. I was very pleased that the Board stated that it will give serious consideration to this recommendation. Two recent newspaper articles described the work of the task force:

The second bill hearing is on HB 271, which defines “road rage” and establishes penalties. Aggressive driving has become more prevalent on our highways. According to AAA Mid-Atlantic, 38 percent of all motorists fear road rage and aggressive drivers more than any other driving hazard.

I am proud to be representing you in Annapolis and to be a part of the District 11 legislative team, which includes Senator Bobby Zirkin and Delegates Jon Cardin and Dan Morhaim. Please contact me at 410–841–3527 or if I can ever be of assistance.

Best,

Delegate Dana Stein

410-841-3527