Earlier this week the General Assembly gave final approval to the fiscal year 2024 operating budget. The $63 billion budget includes nearly $1 billion to go towards the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future fund, the account that will go towards on-going ten-year education reforms (Kirwan) and places $2.5 billion in the State’s rainy day fund. The budget also includes $200 million in tax relief primarily to lower-income people who were otherwise scheduled to see a reduced Earned Income Tax Credit next year.
As reported by Maryland Matters,
The approval caps the first year that lawmakers were empowered with budgetary authority approved by voters in 2020. For more than 100 years, the General Assembly had been limited to reducing appropriations set by Maryland’s governors; this year, they were able to increase, decrease and move money around Gov. Wes Moore’s proposed budget.
All told, legislators made about $1.45 billion in budget reductions, balanced with $1.13 billion in additions.
Finalizing the budget came on the heels of the State Board of Revenue Estimates reducing its estimate of incoming revenues by 1.6% effectively changing the amount of revenue the General Assembly could appropriate in the fiscal year.
As reported in the Washington Post,
Democrats who chair the budget committees lauded themselves and their colleagues for trimming spending, given the economic conditions.
“Even with the significant write-down, we were able to … accomplish, I believe, our major goals and protect our values — all those that we hold dear, from education to the environment and public safety,” Senate Budget and Taxation Chair Guy Guzzone (D-Howard) said.
Conference Committee Documents are listed below. The final enrolled version of the budget incorporating these changes is not yet available.
HB 202 Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act of 2023 – Enrolled Bill
Conference Committee Report on House Bill 200 – the Budget Bill
Conference Committee Summary Report on HB 200 and HB 202
