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Spending should be part of session talks

Editor, Howard County Times

October 18, 2007

Gov. Martin O'Malley might have the right idea in calling for a special session to address a solution to the predicted budget crisis.

Trouble is, he's only thinking about half of the equation.

The other half -- state spending -- is the proverbial elephant in the room.

O'Malley has called the special session so that legislators can address a tax package he's proposed as necessary to filling a $1.7 billion deficit. But lawmakers cannot truly grapple with a budget deficit without a budget.

Passing any version of O'Malley's revenue-raising measures in advance of a spending plan amounts to handing the governor a blank check.

By calling legislators to Annapolis now to pass tax measures -- which he wants implemented Jan. 1 -- without spelling out how he intends to disburse the new revenue, O'Malley is essentially saying, "Trust me."

The voters trusted O'Malley to follow through on his campaign promise to stop Baltimore Gas & Electric from imposing a crushing rate hike. They're still waiting, and winter's on the way.

If the state's fiscal situation is anywhere near as dire as O'Malley says it is -- and we don't doubt there is a significant problem -- a special session to fix it is the right move.

Taking up to 30 days to deal exclusively with systemic budget holes should focus lawmakers' attention sufficiently to address them in ways more substantial than might be possible during the regular session, when the budget is just one issue among many.

However, the General Assembly cannot effectively deal with these issues in a vacuum.

To do this right, the governor and the legislature have to take a hard look at spending while they consider slot machines, hikes in the sales tax and changes in state property taxes.

Two governors and the legislature have waited far too long to reform the education initiatives known collectively as Thornton, a set of costly measures the legislature approved in 2002 without figuring out how to pay for them.

The mandated Thornton spending has a lot to do with the state's budget woes.

Determining which pieces of Thornton the state can live without must be the first order of business, followed quickly by a top-to-bottom review of other state expenditures.

A special session actually offers a great opportunity for tough and honest debate about core issues, conducted under a degree of public scrutiny it might not otherwise get.

But to truly fix a broken budget system, the governor and legislature must look at both sides of the big picture.

Unless they are willing and able to do that, a special session would be a sham.