Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration is refusing to provide Maryland lawmakers with a plan for how he will resolve the state’s structural deficit next year.
Maryland faces a $700 million shortfall in fiscal 2019, and the General Assembly’s budget committees had given the Hogan administration a July 1 deadline for submitting a report on how it will fix the gap. In a letter responding to the request, Secretary of Budget and Management David R. Brinkley declined to provide a plan and said the legislature’s request skirts the state’s budgeting procedures.
“…The Department of Budget and Management would like to advise you that the administration’s response to your request will be submitted as part of the fiscal year 2019 budget proposal on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018,” Brinkley wrote. “We believe that the July 1 deadline for the submission of this report conflicts with the executive budget process established under Maryland’s constitution.”
The legislative committees requested the report based on recommendations from the state’s Spending Affordability Committee last December.