Hogan Calls For Relief From Mandated Spending

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- Republican Gov. Larry Hogan on Tuesday urged Democrats who control the legislature to pass a measure to reign in state spending mandates, but Democrats said Maryland's governor already has strong budget powers to do that.

Hogan, who campaigned on bringing greater fiscal accountability to state spending, noted that 83 percent of Maryland's budget is mandated. While the economy has improved, Hogan said the state is still vulnerable to serious financial problems in such unforeseen economic events as a federal government shutdown.

"This drives unsustainable spending and puts our budget on autopilot for massive spending increases that we simply can't afford when times are tough," Hogan said.

But Democrats pointed out that Maryland's governor already has unusually strong powers to make sweeping cuts to mandated spending by submitting a companion spending bill with the governor's budget plan. That's what was done almost every year in the last decade during the recession and its aftermath.

"It changes policy," said Del. Maggie McIntosh, a Baltimore Democrat who chairs the House Appropriations Committee. "It changes the budget. It brings the budget into balance, so that we pass -- as we are constitutionally told to -- a balanced budget every year."

This is the first time in years that the governor's budget plan covers all mandated spending, without a companion budget reconciliation measure to cut spending already enacted in the law.

David Brinkley, Hogan's budget secretary, said using a budget reconciliation measure to balance the books is flawed, because it can lead to changes in policy and spending without needed transparency. He also said lawmakers are proposing 85 new spending mandates this session, totaling $3.7 billion.

The governor's proposal would start in fiscal year 2019. It would hold mandated spending to fiscal year 2018 levels. Spending on K-12 education, pension contributions, the rainy day fund and debt service payments would not be affected. The bill would restrain mandated spending elsewhere by allowing increases only in fiscal years in which revenue growth is 2 percent higher than the prior year. The measure also would not allow new spending mandates, unless lawmakers decide to repeal a mandate elsewhere.

Hogan, who has high poll numbers, said he believes voters are on his side. He said legislative leaders are "ignoring more than two-thirds of all Marylanders."

"It's about voting against most people in Maryland, and people aren't going to stand for that," Hogan said.

House Speaker Michael Busch told reporters lawmakers "don't govern by public opinion polls."

"If we had to govern by every time we thought someone was popular or not popular, you know, we would be changing positions every 15 seconds," said the speaker, an Anne Arundel County Democrat.

(Copyright 2016 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)