Month: July 2012

State Roundup, July 31, 2012

Justice Roberts indicates Maryland law on DNA collection may be upheld; list of issues that may be addressed at gambling special session grows; Queen Anne’s County lifts ban on pit bull adoptions; Pepco defends its response to derecho disaster; and more on the poor return of state pension fund.

Housing Dept. responds to audit article

The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development took issue with some of the statements in a MarylandReporter.com article last Friday about an audit of the department, asking “to clarify and correct some of the information.” The article contained two substantial errors of fact.

State Roundup, July 30, 2012

Gov. O’Malley calls the second special session of the summer, saying that addressing gambling is “about jobs” but opponents and skeptics still wary of the call-back; meanwhile, analysts say that betting on gambling is hardly a safe bet and developer David Cordish says the state is already saturated with venues; now it’s BGE’s turn to ask for a rate hike to strengthen its infrastructure; O’Malley asks for disaster aid from the feds; state health department wants input as it updating laws governing tanning beds; congressional candidate Delaney heads to Israel; Ehrlichs pay to be on the air; and first woman elected to Frederick commissioners remembered.

Md. pension system earns close to nothing in past year

Maryland’s $37 billion state retirement and pension system for employees and teachers earned only .36% on its investments in the fiscal year that ended June 30. This is far below the 7.75% that is the system’s target. “The last 12 months presented a challenging environment for investors, particularly in international equity,” said chief investment officer Melissa Moye.

State Roundup, July 27, 2012

Gov. O’Malley is expected to make an announcement today about a possible special session on gambling issues; In the meantime, MGM Resorts has dropped efforts to win tax breaks while Penn National has one particularly harsh word for Maryland’s process of awarding casino; Democratic researcher says Larry Hogan fudged the numbers on residential flight from the state; U.S. Rep. Bartlett begins running commercials; former State Police Chief Larry Tolliver takes over Arundel Police Department; and MoCo police seize guns in psychiatric cases.

Md. Housing Department audit finds late paperwork, misplaced funds

The Housing and Community Development Department filed reports on escrow accounts six months late and $194,000 supposed to go to housing was sent to the wrong state agency by a bank without efforts to recover it, state auditors found. Similar audits in past years had found the same problems with the escrow accounts.

State Roundup, July 26, 2012

Gov. O’Malley is expected to call a special session but the outcomes are uncertain, especially after months of bullying by Senate Pres Miller and reluctance on the part of the House; O’Malley appoints work group to address utility reliability; high-tech septics for new construction are a requirement under new regs; education department to ban zero-tolerance policies; and O’Malley launches a federal PAC.

Analysis: Lots of good reasons not to hold a special session on gambling

Gov. Martin O’Malley seems hell bent on having a special session of the legislature next month to expand gambling, perhaps the week of Aug. 6, but there appear to be lots of good reasons not to bring the General Assembly back to Annapolis. They include interrupted vacations, long delayed jobs and revenues, sticky details yet to be worked out and the continuing lack of votes in the House of Delegates.

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