The 427th Legislative Session of the Maryland General Assembly opened today at noon. I believe this will be a hard session due to the issues that have to be tackled and the real concerns of our constituents.
In opening day activities, Senator Mike Miller was re-elected President of the Senate for his 24th year of service. Senator Miller is the longest-serving Senate President in the history of the Maryland and the United States. Delegate Michael Busch was re-elected Speaker of the House of Delegates to begin an eighth year in that office.
As of opening day, 238 bills and resolutions have been pre-filed and will be introduced and assigned to principal standing committees for hearings in order to solicit public testimony.
Among the issues to be considered this year are:
- Balancing the State Budget equitably in a tough recessionary period with a projected deficit of $2 billion.
- Creating jobs and promoting employment with tax credits and incentives for businesses.
- Strengthening laws related to sex offenders, drunk drivers, and gang-related criminal activities.
- Examining ways to capture additional federal education money including the Race to the Top program.
- Reducing costs related to health care including Medicaid reimbursement rates.
- Working through the problems associated with the State’s distribution of aid to local jurisdictions and with granting waivers for the maintenance of effort law that requires local jurisdictions to provide at least the same level of education funding as the previous year.