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Panel Supports Most of O'Malley's Budget Plan
Gov. Martin O'Malley addresses the legislature Monday as Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. listens.
(By Gail Burton -- Associated Press)
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The House, which is holding off sending bills to the floor before the Senate votes, also had a busy afternoon. The Appropriations Committee labored through proposed spending cuts to trim about $500 million from the budget for the fiscal year that starts in July.
Delegates appeared unwilling to eliminate a 2 percent cost-of-living wage increase for state employees, a cut that legislative analysts said would save about $62 million.
Lawmakers from both parties said that the state government is losing employees to higher-paying jobs in federal and local governments and the private sector.
But they seemed supportive of a proposal to require local governments to split next year's increase in retirement costs of teachers, librarians and community college faculty, a burden that has historically been covered by the state.
The House is also considering cuts in state funding for several student programs, school transportation grants and school improvements.
And it weighed eliminating $3.3 million from the State Board of Elections, which was to be used to replace the state's Diebold electronic voting machines with a system that provides paper receipts.
Lawmakers on a House Appropriations subcommittee considering the cuts did not vote, but some delegates said they think the machines do not need to be replaced in the near future.
Prince George's County Schools Superintendent John E. Deasy testified before another House Appropriations subcommittee yesterday, saying that education cuts would harm local school systems.
"Do we need to do more with less? Absolutely," Deasy said. But, he said, state funding is crucial for urban school systems like Prince George's.
Del. John L. Bohanan Jr. (D-St. Mary's), chairman of the subcommittee that Deasy addressed, said that the state has been increasing education funding for years and that it is time for local governments to invest more in public schools.
"At some point, we've got to figure out what's a fair and equitable balance between the counties and the state."
