Maryland lawmakers on Tuesday proposed measures that they say will increase transparency in how state transportation money is spent, but a spokesman for Republican Gov. Larry Hogan questioned where their calls for accountability were when the preceding administration shifted hundreds of millions of dollars away from transportation for years to balance the budget.
Leaders of the Democratic-led legislature discussed several measures they contend will better steer money to places where smothering traffic congestion has become an economic development concern. Democrats contend they passed the state’s first gas tax hike in two decades in 2013 — over the objections of Republicans — to pay for badly needed infrastructure upgrades, only to have the Republican governor pull the plug on a light rail plan called the Red Line in Baltimore. Hogan also shifted greater costs for another rail plan in the Washington suburbs known as the Purple Line to local governments.
In June, two months after lawmakers adjourned from their 90-day session, Hogan announced his decisions on the two light rail proposals — and that he would spend nearly $2 billion on roads and bridges throughout the state.
Hogan campaigned against the transportation funding transfers his predecessor, then-Gov. Martin O’Malley, used to fill budget holes during the recession. Hogan also campaigned against toll hikes, and he announced toll reductions in May. That decision further angered Democrats, who say the money is needed for infrastructure.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Brian Witte over at the Washington Post