Some local governments in Maryland are having difficulty preparing adequate financial statements and getting passing grades from their outside auditors, state auditors found in an annual review of local audit practices for the fiscal year ending June 2013.
But the report found that the City of Baltimore’s financial statements are improving, and it also stated the overall financial condition of three cities, including Cumberland, is improving.
The fruits of the General Assembly’s 2014 session will come into full effect on Oct. 1 as a number of bills passed in the spring become law in Maryland.
Pot decriminalization law takes effect tomorrow, drawing praise from criminal attorneys; tougher gun laws put crimp in handgun sales; state considers banning self-selected lifetime gambling ban; feds OK exporting LNG from Cove Point; new FEMA floodplain maps could mean more costly insurance; campaign for Circuit Court judge in Frederick heats up; U.S. Rep. Edwards works hard to lead more women into politics; Hillary Clinton in Potomac tonight to raise bucks for Brown; and state, local politicians call for heightened scrutiny of Baltimore City police in brutality complaints.
State Elections Board Vice Chairman David McManus wants to set the record straight. The board did not find a campaign violation had occurred when it investigated a finance complaint filed against Larry Hogan Jr., the Republican nominee for governor, he said.
The state elections board voted Thursday to waive a $50 fine in the case. McManus, one of two Republicans serving on the five-member state election board, said he wanted to set the record straight after reading several media reports indicating Hogan and his grassroots organization Change Maryland had run afoul of campaign finance regulations.
State auditors found that the state Mental Health Administration found that the MHA failed to keep documentation showing patients who received over $16 million in mental health services were eligible and failed to maintain adequate security over computers and sensitive patient data.
Chunk of 328 new laws to take effect on Wednesday; Amazon to begin charging Maryland consumers 6% sales tax; stormwater fee opponents now advocate tax cut in lieu of repeal; teachers accused of wrong-doing languish in paid limbo during long probes; After decades with Norm Stone, Baltimore County’s eastside to get a new state senator; daughter says Hogan backs OTC birth control, for women’s rights; Brown, Hogan split over Bay cleanup solutions; O’Malley portrays self as younger, hipper than Clinton; elections board says Montgomery Exec Leggett misused campaign funds; Leggett grounds test drones; and Arundel Exec Neuman pushes slew of agenda items before leaving office.
OUCH! That’s the sound coming from Anthony Brown’s campaign headquarters after hearing of a $405 million drop in expected state revenue over the next 21 months.
This is bad news for the lieutenant governor’s gubernatorial drive.
The shrinking revenue forecast not only buoys Republican Larry Hogan’s campaign, it powerfully reinforces Hogan’s central theme: Maryland’s budget is out of kilter and in need of serious overhaul.
Former U.S. transportation secretary Ray LaHood urged leaders to consider following Virginia’s lead and rethink transportation funding at a panel discussion in Baltimore last week. LaHood proposes a higher federal gas tax to fund nationwide projects, but also suggested that the solution for a broken transportation system could be something like what Virginia did when it moved from a gas tax to a wholesale sales gas tax.
State prisons are turning to veterans in looking for corrections officers; move-over law expansion takes effect next week; new surveillance network used to combat oyster poachers; Hogan seeks probe into health exchange contracts, political donations; Board of Election says Hogan did not account for pre-run poll properly, but won’t fine him; benefits of publicly financed campaigns are mixed; Watson attacks Kittleman in Howard exec race; and Harford council overturns veto of raise for next county executive.
Persistent critics of the investment performance of Maryland’s $45 billion pension fund for state teachers and employees are again slamming the fund for failing to match the performance of other state pension systems, even though its 14.4% return was nearly twice as high as the fund’s target.
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