Because of the $1.2 billion in cuts and spending reductions, and because of the other difficult choices on revenues, we are able to protect the priorities of our people - the priority of public education and school construction; the priority of public safety; the priority of ... affordable health care.
And because you had the courage to restrain spending and restore fiscal responsibility, we can stand up this year to end the fast track to foreclosure in Maryland and help thousands of families that are already slipping into foreclosure....
This problem of ours, this problem of Maryland's, is not the concern of one race or one city or one county. It is everyone's problem. ... In the year ahead, I ask for your support to:
FOR THE RECORD - An article in yesterday's Maryland section about Gov. Martin O'Malley's State of the State address incorrectly reported Comptroller Peter Franchot's criticism of the governor's legislative package from last fall's special session of the General Assembly. Franchot said the governor should not have pushed for tax increases in that forum.
THE SUN REGRETS THE ERROR
Add 50 additional officers to more closely and intensely supervise those in communities who are on parole or probation
To embark on a long overdue rebuilding of a minimal number of modern regional facilities for our long-ignored juvenile justice system
To expand the utilization of modern GPS technology to track very at-risk young offenders in some of our most violence-plagued neighborhoods in order to save their lives and rescue them from the clutches of hit-men and drug dealers
And to increase the availability of drug treatment programs as well as community based programs like Operation Safe Kids, so that we can better partner with local governments and their health departments to save young lives.
But most importantly, I urge your support for legislation that is supported by virtually every prosecutor and police chief in our state - and that is an expansion of our state's DNA-fingerprinting efforts so that we can solve more violent crimes more quickly and put murderers and rapists behind bars before they murder or rape again. ... Given the level of violent crime in our state, there is no justifiable reason that Maryland should not be in the forefront of using this modern crime-solving tool, rather than lagging behind.
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For the health of the bay, we must continue searching for ways to make farming more profitable, to upgrade water and waste-water treatment plants, and to fulfill our obligations in the bay watershed....
In the coming weeks, months and years ahead, we will be undertaking a number of efforts - legislative, regulatory - and legal if need be - to secure fair and reasonable energy rates while also ensuring an adequate supply for our future. Deregulation has failed us, ... , and we cannot allow our future to be determined by that mistake.
