The body language seemed to convey the lingering hostility. Senate President Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael Busch stood stiffly behind their chairs, waiting for Gov. Martin O’Malley to arrive at Tuesday’s bill signing. The usual celebratory atmosphere after the 90-day session was muted by the failure to enact the tax hikes the night before, forcing the implementation of a budget with another $500 million in budget cuts.
Before bill signing, Gov. Martin O’Malley called the cuts to education “really a damn shame.” Senate President Mike Miller says “the issue is a lack of trust.”
A judicial pension bill came down to the wire Monday night and passed the General Assembly just minutes before the official end of the 2012 legislative session. Judges will now pay 8% of their salaries, up from 6%.
The members of the General Assembly passed a $35.6 billion balanced budget as they were required to do by midnight Monday. But without the income tax hike they failed to enact, it is the doomsday budget that contains $512 million in additional cuts, much of it to education.
Duane Keenan talked to Speaker of the House Mike Busch and different members of the legislature about the abrupt ending of this year’s legislative session and what may come next.
Despite a Republican filibuster attempt in the Senate, the General Assembly successfully passed legislation that would implement a stormwater pollution fee to raise revenue to cleanup the Chesapeake Bay.
After a long afternoon of negotiations behind closed doors, a new version of a bill that could bring a sixth slots casino to Prince George’s County and table games to all of the state’s casinos could have made its way to the floor of the House of Delegates hours before the end of the legislative session.
As members of the General Assembly began their last day of the 2012 session on Monday, they reflected on the session, what has been accomplished, and what is still left undone. Duane Keenan filed this podcast.
NOW WITH VIDEO
It’s called Sine Die — without a day — but it actually might be doomsday, with budget cuts substituting for the tax hikes House and Senate refuse to agree on.
With the end of the legislative session 10 hours away, members of the Senate and House of Delegates met again and decided not to compromise.
Most Marylanders will see their flush tax bill double from $30 to $60 beginning July 1, but the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund will remain vulnerable to raids that have climbed to $290 million since 2010.
The Senate approved the fee increase in 28-18 vote late Saturday, with an amendment that exempts residents far western Maryland and the Ocean City area that are not part of the Chesapeake Bay drainage area.
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