Governor's power to cut spending target of bill, Baltimore Sun, 3-16-04

The Baltimore Sun

Governor's power to cut spending target of bill
Seeking to curtail authority of Board of Public Works, House Democrats propose public hearings, 10% limit for emergency cuts

By Gretchen Parker
The Associated Press

March 16, 2004, 4:04 PM EST

ANNAPOLIS -- The House of Delegates, over the objections of Republican lawmakers, approved an emergency bill today that would strip the governor's authority to make deep, emergency cuts in state spending.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. still could make cuts in the budget as head of the powerful state Board of Public Works. But the bill requires the three-member panel to hold public hearings first and forbids cuts of more than 10 percent.

Delegates voted 90-48, mostly along party lines, to approve the legislation. A companion bill is being negotiated in a Senate committee.

"The legislature and the governor together make the laws, not the Board of Public Works," said Norman Conway, a Wicomico County Democrat, Appropriations Committee Chairman and the bill's sponsor.

The board, made up of Ehrlich, State Treasurer Nancy Kopp and State Comptroller William Donald Schaefer, has broad power to make cuts with no notice. It used the authority last summer to cut $208 million from the 2004 budget.

Democratic lawmakers, who were already adjourned, accused the governor of bypassing the usual budget process to make the cuts. Although the General Assembly had approved a balanced budget, Ehrlich said he was trying to get a jump on cuts that would have to be made in next year's budget.

"If you don't pass this law, we will allow any governor to cut $5 billion from the budget with two votes on the Board of Public Works, without the benefit of public notice, without public input, without any semblance of daylight," said House Majority Leader Kumar Barve, a Montgomery County Democrat.

House Republicans assailed the legislation as partisan, saying the Democrat-controlled body is trying to tamp down the power of the state's first Republican governor in 34 years. The process of holding public hearings before making cuts also would keep the governor from acting quickly in a budget emergency, they said.

"Here we are taking another cut at the governor's power," said Del. Michael Smigiel, a Cecil County Republican. "We do not enhance our power by weakening the governor. We weaken the state of Maryland."

The bill requires the board to give three weeks notice and to advertise in newspapers before making any cuts. The board would then be required to hold a public hearing and prepare an analysis of the effects for legislators. Plus, the board could only make cuts when facing a budget deficit.

The bill reflects the legislature's growing frustration with its minimal budget powers, which are the weakest of any state in the country.

Last week, the Senate nearly approved a constitutional amendment to give the General Assembly the power to increase items in the governor's budget and move money from one program to the other. Currently, the legislature has the power to do neither.