Senate Budget

Highlights in Annapolis todaySenate convenes at 11 a.m., Senate chamber.House of Delegates meets at 11 a.m., House chamber.Senate Budget and Taxation subcommittee hearing on budget for Developmental Disabilities Administration, 1 p.m., Room 100, Senate office building.Pub Date: 2/20/98

Highlights in Annapolis today:House of Delegates meets at 10 a.m., House chamber.Senate convenes at 10 a.m., Senate chamber.Senate Budget and Taxation Committee hears SB 614 to increase tax on cigarettes, 1: 30 p.m., Room 100, Senate office building.House Judiciary Committee hears HB 214 to help adopted children make contact with their birth parents, 1 p.m., Room 120, House office building.Pub Date: 3/04/98

Highlights in Annapolis today:Senate convenes at 8 p.m., Senate chamber.House of Delegates meets at 8 p.m., House chamber.Senate Budget and Taxation Committee hears dozens of bills to provide bond money for construction projects around the state, noon, Room 100, Senate office building.House Environmental Matters Committee hears HB 172 to ban vending machine cigarette sales, 1 p.m., Room 160, House office building.Pub Date: 3/16/98

Highlights in Annapolis today:Senate convenes at 10 a.m., Senate chamber.House of Delegates meets, 10 a.m., House chamber.House Environmental Matters Committee hearing on Pfiesteria bills, 1: 30 p.m., Joint Hearing Room, Legislative Services Building.Senate Budget and Taxation Committee hearing on bond bill to finance construction of Ripken Stadium in Harford County, 11: 30 a.m., Room 100, Senate office building.Pub Date: 2/11/98

Highlights in Annapolis today:House of Delegates meets at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., House chamber.Senate convenes at 8 p.m., Senate chamber.Senate Budget and Taxation Committee hears bill to designate weeks when purchases of clothing and lodging would be free of sales tax, 3 p.m., Room 100, Senate office building.Pub Date: 3/30/98

Gov. Parris N. Glendening's proposed $16.5 billion state budget -- including significant initiatives for K-12 education, Maryland colleges and the developmentally disabled -- won preliminary approval in the Senate last night and is expected to move essentially unscathed through the General Assembly.With the state enjoying unexpectedly strong revenue growth, legislators have overcome concerns about the affordability of the governor's proposals raised when they were announced in December and January.

Highlights in Annapolis today:House of Delegates meets, 11 a.m., House chamber.Senate convenes, 11: 30 a.m., Senate chamber.Senate Budget and Taxation Committee considers budget of state lottery agency, 1 p.m., Room 100, Senate office building.Senate Economic and Environmental Affairs Committee hears bills dealing with Pfiesteria outbreak, 1 p.m., Joint Hearing Room, Legislative Services Building.Pub Date: 2/13/98

Highlights in Annapolis today:Senate convenes at 11 a.m., Senate chamber.House of Delegates meets, 11 a.m., House chamber.Senate Budget and Taxation Committee subcommittee hearing on Department of Human Resources budget, 1 p.m., Room 100, Senate office building.Pub Date: 2/06/98

Highlights in Annapolis today:Senate convenes at 7 p.m., Senate chamber.House of Delegates meets at 4 p.m., House chamber.Senate Budget and Taxation Committee hears HB 987, to improve pension benefits for state workers, 3 p.m., Room 100, Senate office building.Pub Date: 4/06/98

Highlights in Annapolis today:Senate convenes at 8 p.m., Senate chamber.House of Delegates meets at 8 p.m., House chamber.Senate Budget and Taxation subcommittee holds hearing on the budget of the state Division of Correction, 1 p.m., Room 400, Senate office building.Pub Date: 3/02/98

Efforts to reduce the influence of big-money special interests in state elections suffered a setback late last week with the decision of a federal judge to throw out Connecticut's landmark campaign finance law on the grounds it put third-party candidates at a disadvantage. The ruling has significant implications for Maryland, where legislators have been seriously considering a similar approach to publicly financed state-level political campaigns for the past five years. The proposal has won support in the House of Delegates and has gotten as far as the floor of the Maryland Senate - until a procedural move late in this year's legislative session forced it back into committee.

A state Senate committee approved more than $300 million in preliminary reductions to Gov. Martin O'Malley's budget yesterday, and some lawmakers said the weakening economy will force the General Assembly to cut hundreds of millions more. While legislators worried about sagging tax revenues, a plan to rescind the $200 million-a-year computer-services tax that they approved in November's special General Assembly session appeared to be gaining momentum. The idea of replacing the levy with a temporary income tax surcharge on the wealthy is in its early stages, but Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, who had previously rejected overturning the computer tax, hinted that it might succeed.

State senators slashed Gov. Martin O'Malley's spending plan for stem-cell research to less than one-fourth of last year's funding level, eliciting an outcry from advocates, who say that such a budget cut would cripple the pioneering work in Maryland. The belt-tightening during an early round of the budget process reflects growing concern in the General Assembly that a slowing economy might undercut the state's finances. The latest revenue projections are not expected until next week, but lawmakers are already considering how to cut $300 million or more from O'Malley's $15.2 billion general fund budget.

There's no doubt about it. From a hatchet job on the state fisheries and parks budgets to an amateurish effort on behalf of a group of watermen who really need a hand, the people who do the people's business have to be closely watched. In Annapolis, where the General Assembly has 90 days to give state government an annual allowance and enact laws, mischief is condensed like a best-seller in Reader's Digest. And, as we all know from playground rules, it's the little guys like the Department of Natural Resources and its customers who take a beating.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush sent to Congress yesterday a record $3.1 trillion budget that would bolster funding for national security while squeezing domestic programs, including sizable cuts that would affect local and state law enforcement in Maryland and efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. The spending plan, the first federal budget to exceed $3 trillion, would increase funding by 7 percent for defense and by 11 percent for homeland security, not...

House of Delegates convenes at 11 a.m. Senate convenes at 11 a.m. Hearings of interest: Subcommittees in the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee begin voting on cuts to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s budget for fiscal 2007 to bring the plan in line with a legislative spending guideline. The decision meetings begin at 1 p.m. in rooms 4A and 4B in the Miller Senate Office Building.

House of Delegates convenes at 10 a.m. Senate convenes at 10 a.m. Hearings of interest: The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee considers a bill (SB 218) that would provide tax credits for biotechnology companies. The hearing beings at 1 p.m. The Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee will consider legislation (SB 536) to reduce city powers of annexation. A hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m.

House of Delegates convenes at 10 a.m. Senate convenes at 10 a.m. Hearings of interest: The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee conducts a hearing on legislation (SB 8) that would offer a 15 percent business income tax break to bars and nightclubs that voluntarily prohibit smoking. The hearing takes place at 2 p.m. in Room 3 West in the Miller Senate Office Building. Several committees meet to discuss the Maryland Stem Cell Research Act, which would provide $25 million yearly in state funds for embryonic stem cell research.

Maryland Senate leaders are refusing to accept a House of Delegates plan for a statewide property tax cut, leading some lawmakers to question whether a budget stalemate has been artificially created so that slot machine revenue can emerge as the solution. Budget negotiators met for just a few minutes yesterday morning, and it quickly became clear that senators would not approve the House tax-cut initiative. With talks aborted, the Assembly missed a midnight deadline for passing a $26 billion spending plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1. Under the state constitution, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. must now issue a proclamation extending the Assembly session beyond its scheduled April 11 adjournment, but a resolution is expected before then.

Both houses adopt drug discount for uninsured residents About 40,000 uninsured Marylanders would receive lower cost prescription drugs under legislation unanimously adopted by the House and Senate. The Senate gave approval this week to the plan that would allow individuals earning up to $19,140 a year or a family of four making $38,700 to buy drugs at the Medicaid price, which is lower than retail. The bills (SB 728 and HB 1143) require the state health department to seek a waiver from the federal government that would allow the program.