Assembly digest
Senate budget approval
is expected Friday
Gov. Larry Hogan's budget for next year received preliminary approval in the Senate on Wednesday with little fuss and minimal debate.
The Senate's action clears the way for what is expected to be final approval Friday. It would then go to the House of Delegates.
Republican senators offered only two amendments to the $43.2 billion budget, which had been revised and approved by the Budget & Taxation Committee.
One sought to restore $53.5 million in highway aid to counties and municipalities proposed by Hogan but diverted by the committee into state projects.
Another sought to strip language allowing a woman to receive medical assistance for an abortion if her mental health was determined to be at risk.
Both amendments were defeated on largely party-line votes.
Senators criticize administration no-shows
Several state senators criticized Gov. Larry Hogan and his administration Wednesday for being frequent no-shows in committee hearings.
Sen. Paul Pinsky, a Prince George's County Democrat, said on the Senate floor that state agencies have submitted “letters of information” that don't take a firm position backing or opposing a bill. Agency heads also do not often appear at bill hearings to answer questions, Pinsky said.
“It seems that this is a coordinated effort from the second floor to not offend anyone, I guess. I don't know why they don't put on their big-boy pants and take a position,” said Pinsky, who is vice chairman of the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee. The second floor refers to the location of Hogan's office in the State House.
Pinsky said senators — regardless of whether they agree with the administration — are working with their hands tied behind their backs because they are without the executive branch's expert opinion.
“One, we don't know where they stand, and two, they're not there to help us in our deliberations, and I find that disrespectful to all 47 of us,” Pinsky said.
Pinsky, who has been in the General Assembly since 1987, said senators immediately look to see where the administration stands before voting, whether the governor is a Republican or Democrat.
“It's one thing to be pragmatic,” he said. “It's another thing to be AWOL.”
Hogan's spokesman, Matthew A. Clark, called lawmakers' criticism “baloney.”
“The administration and state agencies have provided detailed testimony on hundreds of bills during the session and has been working at full speed evaluating almost 3,000 bills introduced by lawmakers,” Clark said.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, who has been in the General Assembly since 1971, said governors take different approaches, with some being more hands-off with lawmakers than others.
But Miller said the governor can't avoid participating in the legislative process and then criticize lawmakers for the decisions they make.
“Let us be clear: We're not asking the governor to come and testify at all,” Miller said. “But just the department heads who have the expertise, who have the staff people who have expertise, to give us their opinion.”
Bill would limit governor's appointment power
The Senate approved a constitutional amendment Wednesday that would curb the governor's discretion in filling the offices of comptroller and attorney general if the offices become vacant.
The 30-14 vote to approve the measure fell largely along party lines. If the House of Delegates agrees, the proposed amendment would go on the ballot in the November election.
Earlier this year, the Hogan administration identified the measure as one of many it objected to as an infringement on the power of the chief executive.
The governor now has wide discretion in filling a vacancy in the two positions, the only two non-federal statewide offices for which candidates run independently of the governor. The replacements currently would serve out the balance of the elected official's four-year term.
The amendment says that if the vacancy occurs early in the comptroller's or attorney general's term, the position would go on the ballot in November of the presidential election year.
It would also require that interim replacements come from the same party as the official whose position became vacant. The party state central committee would forward three names to the governor, who would choose from that list.
The replacement process is similar to that used for legislative vacancies, where local central committees choose replacements for lawmakers of their party and send recommendations to the governor.
The governor's replacement power for the offices was last exercised in 1998, when Comptroller Louis L. Goldstein died. Democratic Gov. Parris N. Glendening replaced him with Democrat Bobby Swann.
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