House Appropriations Committee

Nine months ago, state Del. Howard P. "Pete" Rawlings set out on a mission to find a replacement for three-term Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke. He looked over the field of candidates and in a sweeping analysis called them "frightening to people."Then, he tried to pick his own candidate, lobbying NAACP President Kweisi Mfume and other Baltimore County residents to move to the city and run, urging a 70-year-old retired police chief to join the race, and flirting with a mayoral bid himself.In the end, Rawlings backed City Councilman Martin O'Malley, an unlikely prospect for the influential state leader to support, in particular because O'Malley is white and Rawlings is black, in a predominantly African-American city.

Maryland lawmakers have slashed $825 million from the state budget for this fiscal year and next, making for the leanest spending proposal in at least 50 years, according to the leader of the House of Delegates. "We've come up with a very fair and effective budget without raising taxes or fees during these tough economic times," said House Speaker Michael E. Busch, an Anne Arundel County Democrat. His chamber's budget committee signed off Friday night on an operating budget for next year of just under $14 billion - less than this year's and less than Gov. Martin O'Malley proposed in January.

Today's highlights: Senate meets, 8 p.m., Senate chamber. House of Delegates meets, 8 p.m., House chamber. House Appropriations Committee hearing on bond bills, 1 p.m., House office building, Room 130.

Some Maryland delegates voiced skepticism yesterday about proposals for cutting at least $500 million in projected state spending as part of a comprehensive package to close the $1.7 billion fiscal shortfall expected next year. And dozens of groups that oppose the proposed cuts - interests ranging from higher education to the film industry - sought to convey the effect of each suggested reduction, whether it be economic hardship, tuition increases or even a possible cure for painful diseases.

In Annapolis Today's highlights 11 a.m. Senate meets, Senate chamber. 11 a.m. House of Delegates meets, House chamber. 1 p.m. House Appropriations Committee, budget briefing onhomeland security, Room 130, Lowe House Office Building.

An article in Wednesday's editions of The Sun provided an incomplete description of Republican opposition to a plan by Democratic House leaders to reduce the state property tax earlier this year. All but one Republican voted against the tax break in the House Appropriations Committee, when it was amended onto to a larger omnibus budget-balancing bill. However, the omnibus bill later received a unanimous vote from the full House.

WASHINGTON -- Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon joined the mayors of New York, Washington and other cities yesterday in urging Congress to make federal gun-trace data more readily available to local police departments. "Our cities our bleeding," Dixon said during her visit to Capitol Hill. "Having this kind of data is imperative." The mayors are targeting restrictions on the information that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives may share with other law enforcement agencies.

Price tag blocks changes in federal benefits Federal workers have generally viewed Democrats as more attentive to their needs than Republicans. But since Democrats took over Congress in November, groups that represent workers, executives and retirees are split when it comes to the age-old question: What have you done for me lately? Legislative directors for groups that represent retirees and senior executives have identified two roadblocks. For the senior executives, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by California Democrat Henry A. Waxman, has shifted staff resources from drafting legislation to investigating wrongdoing in the executive branch, said Bill Bransford, general counsel of the Senior Executives Association.

Two of Howard County Executive Ken Ulman's new hires haven't been publicized, but they are toiling away. Former campaign manager Arthur E. McGreevy, a former assistant state's attorney in Baltimore County, is now an assistant solicitor in the Howard County Office of Law. McGreevy, 32, who ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Baltimore City Council in 2003, will be responsible for legal advice to the county Police Department and on Liquor Board cases....

House panels likely to OK stem cell bill Two House committees are expected this week to approve a stem cell research proposal passed by the Senate that allows the governor to put money for research in the annual budget but doesn't demand funding. "We definitely want to do this sooner rather than later," said Del. Kumar P. Barve, a Montgomery County Democrat who sits on the Health and Government Operations Committee, which is scheduled to vote on the bill today. "We support the Senate bill.

An article in Wednesday's editions of The Sun provided an incomplete description of Republican opposition to a plan by Democratic House leaders to reduce the state property tax earlier this year. All but one Republican voted against the tax break in the House Appropriations Committee, when it was amended onto to a larger omnibus budget-balancing bill. However, the omnibus bill later received a unanimous vote from the full House.

A House Ways and Means subcommittee gave preliminary approval yesterday to a $225 million package of tax and fee increases and tax loophole-closing measures that would provide more than enough money to balance the House version of the state budget. The proposal goes significantly further than increases endorsed late last week by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., and the administration would not immediately say whether the ideas were acceptable. "Nothing has been taken off the table at this time," said Henry Fawell, a spokesman for Ehrlich.

Today's highlights 10 a.m. Senate meets, Senate chamber. 10 a.m. House of Delegates meets, House chamber. 1 p.m. Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, briefing by the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, 2 East Miller Senate Office Building. 1 p.m. House Appropriations Committee, briefing on construction projects at Morgan State University, Room 130 Lowe House Office Building.

State officials are scrambling to restructure what would be the second-largest land preservation deal in Maryland history, hoping to make it more palatable to skeptical politicians facing the worst budget crunch in a decade. Department of Natural Resources Secretary J. Charles Fox told lawmakers yesterday that a plan to protect 25,000 acres of forest in Southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore has been altered so Maryland would pay $4.34 million in cash at the outset -- barely half of the project's initial $8 million cash outlay.