(Charles Dharapak/AP) - Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, right, and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley speak to reporters after meeting with President Barack Obama Oct. 13 to discuss economic issues.
House Minority Leader Anthony J. O’Donnell (R-Calvert) said O’Malley appears to be playing to a national audience of liberal activists key to his future ambitions.
“He might be able to force this agenda through in Annapolis, because he has a lot of tools at his disposal,” O’Donnell said, “but the citizens of Maryland are not going to look kindly at who-knows-what tax and fee increases and a very liberal social agenda.”
Maryland Schools Insider
Even in a legislature with lopsided Democratic majorities, few of the high-profile issues O’Malley plans to push are sure things.
A possible increase in the gas tax offers a case in point. A blue-ribbon commission has recommended raising the 23.5-cents-per-gallon tax by 15 cents over three years, citing a state transportation system “on the verge of financial collapse.”
O’Malley stopped short of embracing that plan but said “we’ve got to do something.” He said he is looking at “the fairest way” to raise additional dollars to maintain Maryland’s roads, bridges, tunnels and mass transit.
“None of these, I would suggest, are slam-dunks,” House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) said when asked about a possible gas tax increase and high-profile issues O’Malley is pushing.
O’Malley said he is also considering an increase in the state’s “flush tax,” a fee on both sewer and septic users that now amounts to $30 a year. Legislation passed in 2004 under O’Malley’s Republican predecessor earmarks the funds for upgrades of Maryland’s larger wastewater treatment plants. Forecasts by state analysts suggest that the fee needs to be more than double to generate enough money to finish the work.
“As Marylanders, we have a tradition of leading by example,” O’Malley said. “There are a lot of jobs that can be produced by repairing our infrastructure.”
In 2007, O’Malley expended a great deal of political capital pushing a broad range of tax increases, including that of the sales tax rate, to help close a $1.5 billion budget shortfall.
Since then, the governor has relied far more on spending cuts to balance a succession of recession-battered budgets. But he said he is looking at “a whole range of options, both cuts and revenues,” to close next year’s projected gap.
O’Malley also said he is likely to bring back, perhaps in amended form, two bills on which he suffered defeats last session. One sought to spur the construction of offshore wind farms by requiring the state’s utilities to enter into long-term agreements with providers of that clean-energy source.
O’Malley said he is open to considering another approach, modeled after New Jersey’s, which provides incentives for offshore wind generation but requires less of an upfront commitment from the utility companies. Maryland provides incentives for solar energy in a similar fashion.
O’Malley said an effort to limit new residential septic systems “remains very much on the agenda.” His embrace of such legislation several weeks into the last session caught lawmakers off guard and drew staunch opposition from those from rural areas.
He said he was awaiting the work of a task force before deciding how to amend his proposal.
The governor also said two priorities of the state’s gay rights lobby will have his full support: a bill expanding protections for transgender people, which failed in the Senate last session; and the same-sex marriage bill, which fell short in the House.
O’Malley, whose lobbying on the gay nuptials bill was largely limited to closed-door meetings last session, has pledged to sponsor the legislation in the coming session. His announcement in July closely followed passage of a bill in New York, championed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, another Democrat whose star is rising nationally.
O’Malley said he and his aides have focused on about 15 delegates whose votes are in question.
Busch, who supports the bill, suggested that the number of delegates in play may be smaller than that, but he said he welcomes O’Malley’s efforts. “We worked very hard last session,” Busch said. “I think having the full force of the governor’s office behind it makes a big difference.”
The Post Most: LocalMost-viewed stories, videos and galleries int he past two hours
Loading...
Comments