The End of the Session
College students across Maryland can expect to save a few hundred dollars on this fall's tuition bills. By next year, bartenders in all regions of the state should be serving drinks in smoke-free establishments. And many low-wage employees doing contract work for the state should soon see a bump in their paychecks.
In ways big and small, the 90-day session of the General Assembly that drew to a close Monday at midnight will affect the lives of everyday Marylanders.
The session marked the return of one-party rule in Annapolis, as Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, took over the governor's mansion from Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., the state's first Republican governor in a generation, whom he defeated last fall.
O'Malley campaigned on "kitchen-table" issues affecting working-class Marylanders, and much of the agenda he pushed through the heavily Democratic legislature during his first session was intended to benefit them.
That included a freeze next year on in-state tuition at public universities and the nation's first statewide "living wage" law, which will require state contractors to pay their employees significantly better than the minimum wage.
O'Malley also pushed for a record $400 million in school construction funding, a move that could result in fewer students across the state attending classes in what the new governor dubbed "temporary learning shacks" -- a reference to the growing number of trailers popping up on schoolyards in the Washington suburbs and elsewhere in the state.
The biggest disappointments of the session came in the area of health care.
Leaders of the House of Delegates fell short in their drive to double the state's tax on cigarettes to $2 a pack to help fund the state's largest expansion of subsidized health insurance in years.
And on the final night of the session, a deal between state and county officials collapsed to save the financially troubled Prince George's County hospital sysytem, a failure that could result in the relocation of hundreds of patients through the Washington region.
John Wagner
By Phyllis Jordan |
April 10, 2007; 10:04 AM ET
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Posted by: Robin Ficker | April 10, 2007 2:26 PM
Phyllis, I assume that the Post will be sending a reporter over to Ireland to cover Gov. O'Malley's historic speech on resolving the conflict with Northern Ireland. If not, please explain?
Posted by: Anonymous | April 10, 2007 3:17 PM
Just wait till the grateful `working class` family finds out their next car is going to cost an extra $3,000 to $5,000 because of action taken by these Democrats.
Posted by: gitarre | April 10, 2007 4:09 PM
We'll send our Ireland correspondent:)
Posted by: Phyllis Jordan | April 10, 2007 4:12 PM
would this line be better placed in an editorial or do reporters generally determine for the rest of us that not having a massive tax increase on generally lower income people and then having the government take over the most successful health care system in the world is a "disappointment"
The biggest disappointments of the session came in the area of health care.
Leaders of the House of Delegates fell short in their drive to double the state's tax on cigarettes to $2 a pack to help fund the state's largest expansion of subsidized health insurance in years.
Posted by: media bias? | April 10, 2007 4:53 PM
I assume Maryland state employees will not be getting raises?
Posted by: Joe Davis | April 11, 2007 8:30 AM
Why hasn't the Post done an in-depth article about why visitors to the P.G.Hospital aren't paying their bills and why efforts to collect those funds are so futile? The call for more state and county funding is not enough.
Posted by: Robin Ficker | April 11, 2007 12:00 PM
Does anyone have any experiences to share about their interactions with the MoCo delegation?
Posted by: Kevin | April 13, 2007 8:31 AM
The comments to this entry are closed.
I read the above article and I don't see a single step taken by the Legislature to avoid huge tax increases next year. Yet there are several measures passed which will require an increase in state spending.