Both Maryland Democrats and Republicans are stressing "affordability and accountability” this legislative session, but the caucuses have some staunch differences on how they would like to achieve these goals.
Republicans have a minority in both chambers of the General Assembly, often making it tough for their policy priorities to gain traction, but GOP leadership hopes some of their initiatives will be bipartisan.
One issue they hope to gain consensus on is bringing more accountability to state agencies after a series of recent audits, some with scathing findings.
A September audit of the Social Services Administration (SSA) found the Department of Human Services (DHS) procedurally failed to ensure registered sex offenders did not have access to children in the state’s care.
The report also found that SSA did not ensure foster care children received required medical and dental exams.
Days after the audit was released, 16-year-old Kanaiyah Ward’s body was found in a hotel while she was in DHS’s custody. Investigators ruled she died from an intentional Benadryl overdose.
DHS announced it would stop placing foster children in hotels after Ward’s death, but House Minority Leader Jason Buckel (R-Allegany County) says his caucus will push for the passage of Kanaiyah’s Law to codify this change.
“We hope that that's taken up as a nonpartisan issue. It should be. There's nothing partisan or political about how to appropriately manage foster children in the care of state government,” he told members of the press earlier this week.
House and Senate Republican leadership raised various concerns around other audit findings, like Maryland’s overpayment of $807.4 million in unemployment benefits — $760 million of which is unrecoverable because the state did not act in time — and the State Highway Administration’s (SHA) overcharging of $360 million in unauthorized expenses to federal fund projects.
“I think it's our responsibility to make sure that we see resolution to those audit reports and what's happened — not it being a two day story, as the governor would like it to be, but actually making sure that government is running in a cost effective and efficient manner,” Senate Republican Leader Stephen Hershey (R-Caroline, Cecil, Kent & Queen Anne’s Counties) said.
House GOP leadership said they asked House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Anne Arrundel and Prince George’s Counties) to create an investigation committee with subpoena power to further explore the audit findings.
While Peña-Melnyk did not directly reference Republicans’ request in her opening remarks on the first day of legislative session Wednesday, she did express desire for further accountability.
“How can we provide stronger oversight to ensure that agency audits are addressed and that taxpayer funds are wisely protected? Think about that,” she said to her colleagues on the House floor.
Republicans are also calling for deeper budget slashes next fiscal year as lawmakers prepare to close a projected $1.2 billion structural deficit.
Democratic leadership intends to dip into reserves and make some cuts to fill the gap — promising not to raise taxes — but Buckel says Democrats should get more strategic with large state spending buckets like Medicaid and education.
“There's not a single person standing up here who wants anything but better public schools, but simply spending more and more money and throwing money at the problem has not produced real results, and we can't afford it,” Buckel said. “We have an organic economy that cannot sustain the type of government spending that Maryland's Democrats want us to spend.”
Buckel wants to incentivize the construction of more power generation to curb rising utility costs, arguing Democratic policies encouraging renewable energy sources over the years are at the root of soaring energy prices.
He also wants to see more private sector activity in Maryland with the hopes of increasing job opportunities for recently displaced federal workers,
“We want to make it affordable for everybody. We want to make it affordable for when people leave federal work, they have ample commensurate jobs in the private sector, and that's a big thing. In the DC area, there's a lot of federal contractors that do similar work on the private side. We're not able to offer that because of the policies,” said House Republican Whip Jesse Pippy (R-Frederick County).
Although the decision will ultimately fall on the Democrats due to their supermajority, Republicans are also gearing up for a potential redistricting proposal to reach the House floor within the next couple of weeks.
Gov. Wes Moore continues his push for redrawing Maryland’s Congressional map before the 2026 election, however Senate Democrats appear to be the primary hurdle in trying to oust the state’s sole republican seat.
“Senate President Ferguson has, as we've said, very often been the adult in the room when it comes to this issue. He's recognized that the majority of people don't want to see mid-cycle redistricting, that the rules are what they are and you live and abide by those,” Hershey said.
The next Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Commission meeting to review publicly submitted maps is Thursday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
