More News

ANNAPOLIS — Bad economic times have hit Maryland before, but this time is likely to be different, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. said this week.

"In 1990, there was a greater degree of cooperation between the political parties. There was less partisanship. There were people coming together to solve problems," Miller said Tuesday.

The GOP, then led by Minority Leader John A. Cade, agreed to a temporary tax increase, and Republican senators helped to broker an alternative tax cut during the Glendening administration that Democrats could find acceptable.

"What Newt Gingrich did in 1994 affected the politics in the country and in the states for a long, long time," said Miller (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach. "Hopefully, we can get back to the era of good feeling that we had in the '80s and '90s, but it's a long time away. Since then the parties have become more hardened in their views.

"I miss those days, because their guidance and assistance in the past has always been very helpful."

Not surprisingly, Senate Minority Leader Allan H. Kittleman sees things differently.

"When one party has ruled for so long in the legislature with such overwhelming numbers, it's really bad to blame the minority," Kittleman said. "How in the world are you going to blame a group of lawmakers that make up one-third of the legislature?"

Democrats, he said, cut off debate on the Senate floor and refuse to allow bills to receive committee votes.

The November 2007 special session, Miller noted, proceeded without Republican votes. Kittleman replied, "I'm sorry we disagreed, but that's what we're supposed to do."

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will have their work cut out for them, based on the depressing economic news delivered Tuesday at a meeting of the Spending Affordability Committee, a panel made up largely of legislators that offers guidelines on state spending.

At the meeting, a report from the General Assembly's nonpartisan Department of Legislative Services showed Gov. Martin O'Malley likely will have a $1.2 billion hole to plug when he presents his fiscal 2010 budget to the legislature.

O'Malley also likely will have revenue totals lower than projected when the legislature passed large increases in sales, income, tobacco and corporate tax rates during the November 2007 special session.

And a "same services" budget with no program expansions would cost 6 percent more, said Warren Deschenaux, director of the Office of Policy Analysis, who led Tuesday's briefing.

The committee will pass its spending guideline next month. Although just a suggestion, it comes from lawmakers who will play key roles in passing O'Malley's budget, so it's considered a forceful suggestion.

Miller and House Speaker Michael E. Busch said the legislature would not pass any tax increases.

"I don't see that taking place at all," Busch said.

Maryland residents, however, might see some fees increased, said Del. Sheila Ellis Hixson, chairwoman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Fee increases would not be used to help plug the $1.2 billion gap, but to help preserve programs, she said.

Busch said the passage of the slot machine referendum this month meant lawmakers could dip into the $800 million in the "rainy day fund" with the assurance that the money can be replaced with slots revenue, when those collections start in 2011.

He also looked forward to the U.S. Congress passing a national stimulus package.

"The important thing is to keep people employed," said Busch (D-Dist. 30) of Annapolis. "Even if we have to furlough people, it's better than laying them off. That just exacerbates the problem."

Miller said part of the budget solution will fall on the shoulders of state employees, who might not receive merit or cost-of-living pay raises, and also might face furloughs.

Instead of tax increases, the legislature is likely to "level fund" budgets, he said.

"I don't intend to support any cuts in education," Miller said. "There might not be the level of increases we promised in the past, but we're not going to, in my opinion, blow anything we've done."

But his definition of cuts to education did not include looking at state pension contributions to teachers or the geographic cost of education index, or GCEI. Pensions are keyed to salaries, which the state has no control over and which vary greatly from county to county.

The GCEI funnels education aid to counties in which schools cost more, and Baltimore city and suburban counties have been fighting for it for years. It finally passed during the special session, and $76 million, including $18.4 million for Montgomery County, was included in the fiscal 2009 budget.