In recent years, Maryland has raised its sales tax, income tax, corporate tax and cigarette tax; added a surcharge called the "millionaires' tax"; and created taxes on electronic bingo, tip jars and even water and septic systems -- the "flush tax." But lawmakers have not touched alcohol taxes.
Women lawmakers angrily protested Thursday to House Speaker Michael E. Busch about the way a committee that handles sensitive crime legislation treats those who come to Annapolis to testify. In particular, the head of the women's caucus said, Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph F. Vallario Jr.'s "tyrannical leadership" has become intolerable.
A state Senate budget panel is poised to make deep cuts to Gov. Martin O'Malley's budget for next year, with some lawmakers discussing state spending reductions of $500 million to $600 million.
Maryland's revenue slide continues to slow, spurring both optimism and caution in government officials who see either the beginning of a recovery or just the realization of low expectations.
The General Assembly has been reluctant to raise taxes in an election year, but 39 legislators across both chambers are cosponsoring an act that would place a 5-cent tax on disposable carryout bags.
Opponents of a casino at Arundel Mills mall appear to have enough signatures to force a voters' referendum in November that could block the largest site of the state's fledging slots effort.
Although former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has yet to officially enter the race for his old office, Gov. Martin O'Malley is eager to take him on, according to the governor's campaign manager, Tom Russell.
Maryland prosecutors could use fingerprints or photos to link a defendant to a murder in death penalty cases under legislation being considered by a Senate panel Wednesday.
Both political parties are taking tea party activists seriously and are wary of offending them – if they are not already actively wooing them for state races this fall. Just look at the governor’s election in Ohio. Republican gubernatorial candidate John Kasich openly touts his tea party credentials in his bid to defeat incumbent Democrat Ted Strickland. “I think I was in the tea party before there was a tea party,” Kasich famously told a Columbus crowd earlier this year. “This is a real movement with a real message about people’s frustrations by broken promises that leaders on both sides of the aisle would be foolish to ignore,” he went on to write in a blog posting.
