THE REGION
2nd Public Meeting on Metro Performance
Metro plans to hold its second community meeting next week to allow the public to comment on the performance of the transit system.
The meeting will be 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday in the cafeteria at George Mason High School, 7124 Leesburg Pike, in Falls Church. The session is one in a series of meetings designed to make the transit agency's leadership more accessible to the public.
The public will be asked to submit questions for Metro board members on comment cards, which will be collected before and during the meeting. Spanish- and sign-language interpretation will be available.
The first such session, in November, attracted several hundred people and drew many questions about the quality of train and bus service.
MARYLAND
Ehrlich Vetoes Bills to Curb His Power
Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) vetoed two bills yesterday that Democratic legislators had pushed to curb his power.
One bill would have altered the appointment process for the State Board of Elections, forcing Ehrlich to name Democratic members preapproved by the party's central committee. The bill also would have made it more difficult for the board to remove the state elections administrator; the current administrator is a Democrat.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) vowed to override the veto in his chamber as early as today. House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) would not say what his chamber will do.
The other bill vetoed by Ehrlich would have required him to get input from the legislature before stating Maryland's posture on international trade deals.
2006 Budget Advances in Assembly
Budget negotiators from the Senate and House of Delegates wrapped up most of the work yesterday on the state's nearly $26 billion budget for fiscal 2006.
House members formally ended their bid to cut the state property tax by nearly 5 cents per $100 in assessed value. In exchange, Senate leaders agreed to accept the House's plan to spend $250 million next year on public school construction. The agreement paved the way for negotiators from the two Democrat-led chambers to reconcile dozens of other differences.
Lawmakers hope to give final passage today to two budget bills. A third bill, outlining the state's capital budget, probably will be passed Monday, the final day of this year's legislative session. Negotiators have differences to resolve in that bill, which includes funding for school construction.
THE DISTRICT
