Climate change must be on top of the General Assembly agenda this year

The state budget is likely to be foremost in the minds of Maryland lawmakers, as they head back to Annapolis for their annual 90-day legislative session Wednesday. Not simply because state lawmakers, unlike their counterparts in Congress, are required by law to approve a balanced budget, and increased spending is expected to outpace tax revenue growth, but because so many other popular initiatives are linked to the state’s fiscal health, including Blueprint for Maryland’s Future K-12 education spending and the state’s transportation budget (which faces a potential $3.3 billion imbalance all by itself).