With a week to go, the group leading the effort to repeal in-state tuition for illegal immigrants said they have enough valid signatures to meet the first benchmark of 18,579 signatures by May 31. Plus there are 10,000 to 15,000 more where it is asking voters to fix minor problems with the petitions.
While the governor and legislature this year raised what state workers and teachers pay into their pension plans and cut benefits for future employees, the state’s most generous retirement plan survived completely unscathed – the pensions for judges. The 351 retired judges (or their spouses) get an average pension of $68,000 a year, and 113 of the judges, who must retire at 70, can also earn up to a third of the annual salary by continuing to process cases around the state.
There are no slot machines planned at Pimlico Race Course but the Baltimore City neighborhoods surrounding the storied venue are winners nonetheless. Starting July 1, they will receive the first of the state-wide slots revenue — $2 million – allocated to them by law.
The governor Thursday signed legislation creating a Joint Committee on Transparency and Open Government that specifically notes that “Maryland’s overall rankings on government transparency by prominent national organizations continues to lag behind other states.” Just before the bill signing, Del. Heather Mizeur, the lead sponsor, handed House Speaker Michael Busch and Senate President Mike Miller a memo giving an overview of proposals for the new committee to take up.
While unusually heavy rains are causing minor flooding in Maryland and overwhelming dams and levees along the Mississippi River basin, Maryland Department of the Environment officials assured the Board of Public Works Wednesday they are working to ensure that the more than 400 dams across the state stay solid.
While most of the focus on pension reform for public employees has been on the state as a whole, counties are also finding themselves with growing unfunded liabilities, according to a new interactive chart launched on Tuesday by the Maryland Public Policy Institute.
The pension map plots out the amount that each county and Baltimore City spent on pensions – both in benefits paid out and in the employer contribution – in the last fiscal year.
Edited version.
The final chapter in federal efforts to enforce water regulations at construction sites in Maryland was written in February when Beazer Homes USA finalized a civil consent degree with the Environmental Protection Agency for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act. Beazer is one of six homebuilders in the state that the EPA charged with violations of the act.
Large increases in tolls on Maryland’s bridges and tunnels were proposed last week, but Transportation Secretary Beverley Swaim-Staley said angry motorists should not be directing their blame at the new Intercounty Connector. They should look around at the state’s other toll roads, bridges and tunnels, and see the maintenance that needs to be done on them.
Steep toll hikes proposed; Gov. O’Malley’s brother Peter becomes new Rawlings-Blake chief of staff; computer mapmaking tools could aid in redistricting; in-state tuition petitioners say they are on target to get the issue on the ballot; Speaker Busch predicts blue Frederick County; Ted Dallas gets Human Resources post.
There was more than the usual hubbub at the bill signing ceremony Tuesday when more than 100 people crowded behind Gov. Martin O’Malley for four sets of photos as he signed a bill granting in-state college tuition rates to illegal immigrants who graduate from Maryland high schools. From senators and clergymen to high school students in T-shirts who wouldn’t give their last names, the mood was joyous as the crowd celebrated years of struggle, phone banks and lobbying.
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