Big issues for the 2007 General Assembly

Friday, Jan. 12, 2007

During the 2007 session, the General Assembly faces many problems, some old, some new, but all of which urgently need solution.

Structural budget deficit

The structural budget deficit will be in excess of $1 billion in each of the next five fiscal years and total $7.6 billion. Structural deficits result when incoming state revenue from taxes is not enough to cover state expenditures. The state constitution prohibits deficit spending and requires that the budget be balanced. Fiscal experts say new revenue will not be needed to cover this year’s budget shortfall. However, some action must be taken to cover the $1.3 billion budget deficit in fiscal 2008.

Slots

With 61,000 slot machines slated for operation in Pennsylvania, legalizing slots in Maryland continues to be an option to produce needed revenue and sustain Maryland’s racing industry and its 18,000 jobs. Gov. Martin O’Malley shows no great inclination to push for slot machine legalization.

Health care coverage

Expanding health care insurance to Maryland’s 780,000 uninsured citizens will be a high priority. Medicaid expansion is a favored option because the federal government matches every dollar the state contributes to Medicaid.

While Maryland provides Medicaid coverage to children in families whose annual income is three times the federal poverty level, it only provides assistance to adults whose annual income is 40 percent of the poverty level.

Helping small businesses to offer health insurance to employees is another option being considered. About 60 percent of Maryland’s uninsured work. However, only 40 percent of small businesses offer employee health coverage. State help to small employers to provide employee health coverage could come in the form of tax breaks, direct premium subsidies or the establishment of a state reinsurance pool, which would lower premiums by paying a portion of the tab for high cost patients.

Another plan would impose a $1 increase in the state cigarette tax to expand health coverage to 62,000 of the uninsured. Still others favor a version of the Massachusetts coverage plan, which requires all adults to carry health insurance or pay tax penalties.

Voting

There is general agreement that Maryland’s e-voting process will have some type of paper verification in time for the 2008 presidential election. The legislature also will consider a constitutional amendment to allow Maryland voters to vote as early as 10 days before an election.

Death penalty

A state-sponsored study of the death penalty raised serious concerns of racial and geographic bias in Maryland’s use of the death penalty.

In December, the Maryland Court of Appeals ordered a halt to executions, declaring that procedures for putting prisoners to death were never submitted for public review. The court also ruled that the legislature could change the law by approving legislation to exempt the execution procedures from the review process. The court ruling has placed the whole death penalty issue before the General Assembly for debate. Repeal of the death penalty probably will be debated in this session.

Clean Cars Act

Although it has failed several times to gain legislative approval, support is growing among legislators to adopt strict car emission standards approved by California and 10 other states, including neighboring Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Ulysses Currie, a Democrat from Forestville, represents District 25 in the state Senate, where he also is chairman of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee.