Session weather: Bleak, cuts likely

Legislators predict gloomy season in Annapolis due to lagging economy

Friday, Nov. 6, 2009

The prediction, made by several lawmakers at a legislative preview more than two months before the 90-day session begins in January, is an acknowledgement that the state must still navigate rough fiscal seas, despite signs of an improving economy.

And with the 2010 elections likely to power the agenda, the session's intensity will be particularly high.

"It's going to be a very tumultuous time, the politics combined with the economic times," Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. told about 150 people who attended the breakfast reception hosted by prominent Annapolis lobbyist Gregory Steve Proctor on Wednesday at the College of Southern Maryland's La Plata campus.

Gov. Martin O'Malley recently told local school superintendents that the state faces a $2.5 billion budget shortfall for fiscal 2011, a more grim outlook than nonpartisan legislative analysts have projected.

As such, officials are warning recipients of state aid to have low expectations.

"If you're flat-funded, you're doing very well in this climate," said Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, a featured speaker at the Nov. 4 breakfast.

In fact, Del. John L. Bohanan Jr. named several state government agencies — juvenile services, human resources, public safety and state police, environment, agriculture and natural resources — that have seen budget reductions in the current budget year.

County governments that enjoyed double-digit percentage funding increases in 2005, 2007 and 2008 but have sustained deep cuts this year and should brace for more of the same, he said.

"There's some tough years ahead in terms of how much aid the state is going to be able to give to counties," said Bohanan (D-St. Mary's), a member of the House Appropriations Committee and a key budget decision-maker.

But Maryland has continued to invest in education, transportation and its workforce — things that will help it flourish once the economy rebounds, Bohanan said.

However, Brown (D) said the severity of the budget deficit could make cuts to education unavoidable since it accounts for 39 percent of state spending.

"Right now, we don't know how we're going to get there," he said of the reductions O'Malley (D) will need to make before submitting his budget proposal in January.

He also did not rule out more layoffs, furloughs or base salary reductions for state government employees.

Although the budget may overshadow all else and dictate the pace of the session, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Thomas "Mac" Middleton said the legislature will tackle numerous other issues, including continued discussions about how to improve the state's helicopter medevac system, the proposed re-regulation of the state's electricity industry and possibly the details of federal health care reform that will be left up to the states.

"We're sort of in a holding pattern right now," Middleton (D-Charles) said of the prolonged debate on Capitol Hill.

abrody@somdnews.com