Every year, the grunt work reviewing the state’s $31 billion spending plan is done during long hours of subcommittee hearings in obscure rooms often attended only by state bureaucrats and a few lobbyists.
This year the House of Delegates acts on the budget first. Here are some of the key players in the process — all are Democrats, since their party controls both the House and Senate by wide margins and all leadership posts.
Del. Tawanna Gaines
The Prince George’s delegate chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee on transportation and the environment.
“I don’t think people always understand what the role of the chair is,” Gaines. Chairmen “have to understand, they have to study, and the expectation is that you actually make decisions” on the budget.
The full Appropriations panel usually affirms subcommittee decisions.
“We try to work in conjunction with the policy committees” in reviewing programs, Gaines said. “It appears to be very boring” and “we don’t get a lot of citizens coming in” to witness the process.
During the interim after the session is over in April, the committees continue to review programs, along with the staff of the Department of Legislative Services and make site visits to state programs.
More than half the state budget is driven by “mandates,” laws requiring the governor to fund certain programs by certain amounts. The legislature enacts the mandates to give themselves more control over the budget, since under the Maryland Constitution, the legislature can only cut the governor’s budget, not add to it.
This session, Gaines said, “We’re going to take a real strong look at mandates to see where we can make some adjustments.
“This is absolutely where the real work of oversight gets done,” Gaines said.
Del. John Bohanan
Bohanan, of St. Mary’s County, chairs the subcommittee on education, where the state spends more than $6 billion. He is also this year’s chairman of the Spending Affordability Committee, which advised the governor to grow the budget by less than 1 percent.
The appropriations the subcommittees approve are “almost always less than what the governor has submitted, because we can’t add to it, we can’t shift the money around,” Bohanan said. “I’m sure the revenue outlook will change and we’ll have to make some additional cuts.
“So much is driven by how you spend the money,” Bohanan said. “We look hard and try to scrub the budget to be sure we get a good return on the amount being invested by taxpayers. That’s how we view our job. And that typically involves: ‘Is this program working or not?’
“We’ve cut programs, we’ve eliminated agencies, and ultimately altered their scope and activities through the budget process,” he said. This session, “We’re going to be taking the global look at how can we do more with less in every single corner of state government.”
Del. Mary-Dulany James
The Harford County delegate chairs the subcommittee on health and human resources.
“We do a lot, but we don’t make the headlines,” James said. The subcommittee chairs “work as a team. It’s a collaborative effort with the chairman, the speaker and the Spending Affordability Committee.”
“They rely on us to make recommendations,” she said. “We all have some expertise” in areas of the budget.
James hopes that this year, “We don’t have to cut dramatically” in health and human resources. “You’re talking about vulnerable populations here.
“This is not the time to be cutting back on major health care providers,” James said.
Sen. James “Ed” DeGrange
In the smaller Senate, there are only two subcommittees on the operating budget. DeGrange of Anne Arundel chairs both the subcommittee on transportation and public safety as well as the capital budget subcommittee, which approves major bond bills and building projects.
“At the subcommittees, we’re looking at the nuts and bolts of state agencies,” DeGrange said. “We listen and really look into every detail of agency’s budgets.”
“We are trying to stay away from [cutting] correctional officials or people in challenging positions because we already have a hard time filling those positions,” he said. DeGrange said the hardest part of subcommittee work, especially this year, is handing down cuts severe enough to cause job reductions.
“We may have to say, ‘OK, you’re going to reduce by 10 jobs in this department.’ Those will be difficult decisions,” DeGrange said. “Of course, when you’re getting into public safety, you still need to maintain that police officer or state trooper.”
Staff writer Jason Flanagan contributed to this story.
