Month: February 2012

Senators consider repeal of old income tax cut to fill budget hole

A bill to roll back a 15-year-old income tax cut and raise all tax rates by a quarter of a percent (.25%) may be part of Senate strategy to avoid a “doomsday” budget of drastic cuts by generating $600 million in new revenue. The bill proposed by Sen. Roger Manno, D-Montgomery, repeals a 1997 income tax cut “that greatly contributed to the budget deficit of today,” Manno said.

Podcast: Same-sex marriage petition drive starts

The petition drive to repeal Maryland’s same-sex marriage law — which will be signed by Gov. Martin O’Malley today — is underway. Duane Keenan filed this podcast talking to organizers of the petition drive, headed up by the Maryland Marriage Alliance and backed by Del. Neil Parrott’s group MDPetitions.com.

Regional authorities proposed to finance transit

A bill that would create a task force to study the creation of regional transit financing authorities met with little opposition in the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday. Proposed by Del. Mary-Dulany James, D-Harford, the bill comes after the recommendation last November by the Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation Funding that a study be conducted to assess the potential revenue that could be generated from regional transit authorities.

State Roundup, February 29, 2012

Former Atty Gens. Curran and Sachs line up behind repealing death penalty; religious leaders file to start petition drive to repeal same-sex marriage; school safety cited as reason for long-term student suspensions; maintenance of effort and teacher pension shift continues to dominate county concerns; transgender bias bill gets a hearing; and Democrat John Delaney gets new campaign manager for 6th District race.

Bates proposes to cut budgets of agencies with repeat audit problems

Cutting the budgets of agencies that have problems with waste, poor policies, and lack of adequate controls will spur them to fix the problems more quickly, said Del. Gail Bates, R-Howard.

Bates, a new member of the Joint Audit Committee, has proposed a bill that would allow budget committees to withhold up to 5% of an agency’s funds if there are at least three repeated findings on the regular audit reports done every three years by the Office of Legislative Audits.

State Roundup, February 28, 2012

Counties protesting planned teacher pension shift; proposed state program for gifted students under fire; 2008 millionaires’ tax may be resurrected while lawmakers seek to find ways to close budget gap; labor unions rally at the State House; state concerned that fracking in one county could affect outdoor recreation in another; and as 6th District Congressional race heats up with new ads, new controversies, and lots of candidate forums.

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