Miller, Busch give hints of General Assembly session at Annapolis chat
The Baltimore Sun posted the article below about possible legislation at the upcoming General Assembly session:
Miller, Busch give hints of General Assembly session at Annapolis chat
Wed 02 Dec 2009
By Brian Witte
Associated Press
The state won't cut teachers to help deal with a $1.5 billion budget
deficit next year, but school administrators and public relations
employees may need to go, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said
Tuesday.
Miller spoke along with the Maryland General Assembly's
other presiding officer, House Speaker Michael Busch, during a forum in
Annapolis that included members of the public and about 60 midshipmen
from the U.S. Naval Academy.
"We're not going to cut teachers as they're doing in California, New York and some other states," Miller said.
Maryland
has largely protected education from budget cuts during the recession,
particularly kindergarten through 12th grade. Gov. Martin O'Malley, who
will submit the state's fiscal year 2011 budget to lawmakers in
January, put superintendents on notice in October that they won't be as
lucky this time, and he asked them to find ways to save money.
Miller, a Calvert Democrat, echoed that theme, but he was more specific in mentioning job cuts.
"We
don't want to cut public education, so we're going to have to go to
superintendents of schools and say: 'Listen, you've got to find us some
administrators, some bureaucrats, some public relations people that we
can cut, because we're not going to furlough teachers," Miller said.
Miller
also said there won't be tax increases -- a politically perilous move
because lawmakers raised taxes by $1.4 billion in a 2007 special
session, and 2010 is an election year. Consequently, Miller said
lawmakers will be forced "to do less with less" as the state recovers
from the recession.
"We're going to have to make those tough decisions because we've cut everything else," Miller said.
Miller
also named tax credits for historical buildings and stem cell research
as areas the state may not be able to afford next year.
Stem
cell research money has often come up as a target for budget cuts amid
fiscal strains in recent years, but the funds have largely been left
intact. In July, the Board of Public Works voted to cut $3 million in
stem cell research money, leaving $12.4 million.
Miller and
Busch, an Anne Arundel Democrat, both were asked about the chances of
legislation to change Maryland law to allow wineries to ship directly
to Maryland consumers.
While Busch noted a chance could come
"this year or next year or in the future," he underscored that it has
been "a contentious issue for years."
Miller said he believed it will pass "sometime in the future," but not necessarily this session.