HOGAN WITHHOLDS $80M: With state revenue lagging behind projections, Gov. Larry Hogan’s budget chief said Wednesday the governor would not spend $80 million the General Assembly authorized him to use this year to reduce violence, renovate older schools and fund other programs, reports Michael Dresser for the Sun. Budget Secretary David Brinkley said, it would be “shortsighted” to spend money that should go into the state’s savings account.

• Maryland’s Board of Revenue Estimates projected in March that the state would collect $51.4 million less than expected for fiscal years 2016 and 2017. The difference is small relative to the state’s $17 billion general fund, but it could disrupt the anticipated $360 million surplus for the current budget cycle, Josh Hicks reports in the Post.

• Hogan earlier this year drew a line in the sand, saying he would let the $80 million revert to the general fund and be used to build the state’s surplus. And Brinkley on Wednesday accused the legislature of playing politics with important programs. He cited concerns about a recently announced budget deficit in Virginia as well as concerns about what he said was lower than expected tax collections in Maryland as reasons for the administration’s caution, Bryan Sears reports for the Daily Record.

• Rachel Baye of WYPR-FM also reports the story.

TRANSIT PROJECTS DEADLINE: Maryland jurisdictions have two weeks to submit new information about major transportation projects seeking state support or else those projects could lose funding, according to a recent directive from the Maryland Department of Transportation, writes Amanda Yeager of the Annapolis Capital. The request was necessitated, said MDOT Deputy Secretary of Operations Jim Ports, by a contentious transportation project scoring law passed this year by the General Assembly and opposed by Gov. Larry Hogan.

KEEP OYSTER SANCTUARIES: In urging the state to continue with its oyster…

 

 

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State Roundup, August 4, 2016