Commentary

The Maryland General Assembly is a bit like two parents who gave the kids every toy they wanted for Christmas, charging everything on credit cards. Now, they are wondering how they will pay the bills. It is always easier to spend than to pay, just as it is easier to vote for spending than it is to vote to tax people to get the money. The problem is rearing its ugly head now in the General Assembly, with the House of Delegates and the state Senate at odds.

Our legislators have a chance this session to dramatically reframe the choices for more than 50,000 Maryland families coping with planning funerals each year. The “Green Death Care Options Act” — cross-filed as House Bill 1168 and Senate Bill 1028 — would respond to an estimated two-thirds of funeral consumers looking for new choices. It also carries a no-nonsense promise to reduce greenhouse gas emissions without spending a dime of Maryland taxpayer money.

It shouldn’t be controversial to think that absolutely no one deserves to lose their home or be evicted due to an unpaid water bill. Yet, Maryland lawmakers are trying to return to a practice that disproportionately impacts and displaces Black people, who are already underrepresented as homeowners and disproportionately impacted as renters.

Students’ federal financial aid data has begun slowly trickling out to U.S. colleges and universities. That means our University System of Maryland (USM) schools — 12 public universities across the state — should finally get their hands on the amount of federal aid their prospective and returning students will qualify for. Normally, this information would have come in January, but the problematic rollout of a “new” federal financial aid form, the simplified FAFSA, caused significant delays.

In a notable twist of political dynamics, Governor Wes Moore, a fellow Democrat, finds himself at odds with members of his own party in the Maryland House of Delegates over budget priorities. Moore, who has consistently pledged not to raise taxes, now faces the daunting prospect of vetoing a budget bill proposed by fellow Democrats that would do just that. This predicament underscores a deeper rift within the party and raises questions about the alignment of fiscal policies with Democratic principles.

Since the Republicans reclaimed a majority of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in the last election cycle, a recurring issue has been the impact of conservative Republican members (notably the Freedom Caucus) on efforts by the House Republican leadership to reach consensus on such issues as government spending, debt limits, aid to Ukraine, and southern border security.

Lobbyists for a small number of immensely powerful multinational corporations are working overtime this week to protect a loophole that makes Maryland’s corporate income tax virtually optional for their clients. They’re worried because the House of Delegates’ just-released revenue package wisely includes a rule — called “worldwide combined reporting” — that will close this gaping loophole and make long-time abusers of corporate power pay their fair share of Maryland taxes.

Imagine for a moment that you are an individual of means who wants to — and let’s be blunt about it — bribe a government employee. There are any number of circumstances where you might find it a profitable, if unethical, act. You might be a contractor seeking preferential treatment on a public works project, for example. Or maybe you have pending legislation that just needs a crucial vote or two to get over the hump.