Legum’s New Line

The state budget has an enormous impact on many of the things that our central to our lives — our schools, our roads, our waterways — but is usually presented in a way that makes it very difficult to understand. The Maryland Budget and Tax Institute pulls back the curtain with a new document called “The Regular Person’s Guide to the Governor’s Fiscal Year 2011 Budget.”

It’s an incredibly useful document for anyone who is interested in where Maryland’s revenues come from and how they are spent. Here’s the top line information from the first page:

Size: $32.1 billion
Decrease from this year: $0.2 billion (-0.8%)

3 biggest items:

1. Health $8.7 billion
2. K-12 Education $6.9 billion
3. Higher Education $5.1 billion

3 biggest revenues:

1. Federal Funds $9.3 billion
2. Individual Income Tax $6.3 billion
3. Sales Tax $3.9 billion

So about 2/3 of the Maryland budget goes to health care and education.

I believe that there are many places in the budget where we can reduce spending. But it’s also important to be aware that much of the budget goes towards providing services that are broadly popular.

I encourage you to check out the whole thing, which is available below: Continue Reading »

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There’s a major new effort underway to ramp up the use of solar energy in Maryland. The ambitious goal of the program is to create 100,000 solar rooftops in 10 years. If successful, the initiative could reduce air and water pollution, create jobs and save consumers money.

A coalition of legislators and business owners promoted the plan at a press conference held yesterday in Annapolis. Environment Maryland provides the details:

First, Governor O’Malley has introduced legislation that would require a quicker ramp-up of the solar portion of the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS). This would mean that utilities would have to get a greater percentage of their energy portfolio from solar power sooner, which would jumpstart job creation and cut down on our emission of greenhouse gases.

Second, Delegate Hecht and Senator Middleton are leading an effort to introduce legislation that would give municipalities the means by which to loan people money for solar and other clean energy projects at very low interest rates, resulting in more homeowners taking advantage of the clean, reliable electricity that solar energy generation provides.

Finally, Delegates Pinsky and Hecht are working on “net-metering” legislation, which would require utilities to pay customers back for surplus energy they create with the solar panels on their roofs.

In a related development, Constellation Energy – the state’s largest electricity producer – announced “said Tuesday it would invest $90 million to support the development of solar power systems for commercial customers…for customers that begin construction before mid-2010.”

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We are fortunate to have a President who understands to importance of restoring the Chesapeake Bay, even in difficult economic times. Early in his first year, President Obama issued an executive order, committing the federal government to improving the health of the Bay. Now, he’s backed up that commitment:

President Barack Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal 2011, released yesterday, includes $63 million for the Chesapeake Bay Program – a $13 million increase over the current year.

…Lisa Jackson, the EPA administrator, said her agency’s money for the bay is intended to help carry out Obama’s executive order from last year for the federal government to do more for the bay.

In a conference call with reporters, Jackson said it’s important for the EPA as well as the states to make headway in reducing pollution from stormwater runoff, which she called “primarily the intractable problem for the bay.”

The money also will help the EPA come up with new rules for controlling stormwater and pollution from large farms with animals if the states don’t design their own rules.
“We need people to see that we’re serious,” Jackson said.

Governor O’Malley also doubled funding to Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay Trust Fund.

Funding alone, however, will not solve the Chesapeake Bay’s problem. We need to use these resources more effectively. More on that topic soon.

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