Taxation Committee

Frustrated by lawmakers' recent suggestions that Morgan State University has received its fair share of state capital funding, the school's president yesterday invited the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee to campus to show that many needs remain unmet. All but a few members of the committee - which helps approve funding for Maryland's public colleges - went on the two-hour bus tour of the Northeast Baltimore campus, led by President Earl S. Richardson. Richardson showed them new buildings constructed with state support - including the new arts center and engineering complex - and buildings that he said badly need to be replaced or renovated.

ANNAPOLIS -- The Schaefer administration's proposed 5 percent gasoline tax appeared in deeper trouble yesterday as the chairman of the Senate's budget committee said he would not pass the bill unless he had indications that the House would approve it.Senate Budget and Taxation Committee Chairman Laurence Levitan, D-Montgomery, said he personally favors the gas tax. However, House Speaker R. Clayton Mitchell Jr., D-Kent, has repeatedly said he does not...

ANNAPOLIS -- The General Assembly sounded the death knell yesterday for the Schaefer administration's mammoth $800 million tax proposal, but in doing so promised to study the plan and fashion an alternative for next year.Gov. William Donald Schaefer's proposal to restructure the state's tax system and direct more money to Baltimore and other poor jurisdictions was soundly rejected by both the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee.But Delegate Tyras S. Athey, D-Anne Arundel, who chairs the Ways and Means Committee, said the bill is a basis for legislators to address Maryland's needs.

A bill that would increase the fees motorists pay for driver's licenses and vehicle titles appears likely to pass the Maryland Senate, but it could face a rocky road in the House of Delegates.The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee passed the bill yesterday, and its chairman, Sen. Laurence Levitan, D-Montgomery, predicted the legislation will "fly through" the full Senate.The bill would generate $42 million a year for now-stalled highway and other transportation projects by substantially increasing about 60 fees charged by the state Motor Vehicle Administration.

Democracy in action is a beautiful thing.The Constitution of Maryland, Declaration of Rights, Article 1, states, "That all Governmentof right originates from the People."It continues, "That the right of the People to participate in theLegislature is the best security of liberty and the foundation of all free Government; for this purpose, elections ought to be free and frequent; and every citizen having the qualifications prescribed by the Constitution, ought to have the right of suffrage."

With surprisingly little opposition, the $150 million plan to expand the Baltimore Convention Center yesterday won the approval of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee.Last week the vote count in the committee was considered too close to call. But the final tally, 11-2, had only two senators from Montgomery County voting against the project, which would more than double the size of the 14-year-old building.In passing the bill, the Senate panel amended the measure already approved by the House.

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.

The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee put the finishing touches on its version of the state budget yesterday, cutting slightly less than the House of Delegates did from the proposal by Gov. William Donald Schaefer.The Senate committee called for $208 million in cuts from the administration's $12.7 billion budget, while the House, in the spending plan it approved on Thursday, asks for a $220 million reduction.Though there are some significant differences between the two proposals, there is much more similarity, setting the stage for a smooth resolution after three years of often heated budget-balancing battles.

Members of the Maryland General Assembly demanded answers from officials of two state departments yesterday about the debt owed by the partly closed Columbus Center in Baltimore.The center's $7.5 million debt includes $2.5 million to NationsBank, $2.3 million to the city, $1 million to the University of Maryland and $1.2 million to vendors."The Columbus Center is named appropriately," said state Sen. Robert R. Neall, an Anne Arundel Republican. "Christopher Columbus didn't know where he was going when he left, or where he was when he got there, and he did it all on Queen Isabella's money."

Key committees in the Maryland Senate and House of Delegates failed to agree yesterday on a major provision of the Baltimore City schools deal -- money for the rest of the state.Two committees in the House -- Appropriations and Ways and Means -- indefinitely postponed a scheduled vote on the bill because leaders could not muster support for it without including school aid to other jurisdictions that they believe is unaffordable.A House plan proposed Monday included an additional $26.8 million for education aid next year to the state's 23 counties.