Johns Hopkins Institutions



Legislative Hotline




Volume 12, Number 19 December 2004



During the session interim, the Legislative Hotline will be distributed monthly.  In addition to state issues, we will include relevant information on federal and local affairs.  The Legislative Hotline will return to a weekly distribution when Session resumes in January of 2005.

To view the legislative information below, click on the subject of interest to go directly to that area or scroll down to view the entire document.

STATE
 Spending Affordability Recommendations
Medical Liability Reform

CITY
 Baltimore City Election


STAFF CONTACT INFORMATION


STATE ISSUES

Spending Affordability Recommendations

On December 9, the State Spending Affordability Committee issued its recommendations for fiscal 2006. The Committee approved a 5.7% increase in state spending for next fiscal year which equates to $850 million. However, even with the increase in spending, the Governor will still have to cut over $500 million from the budget to fall within the guidelines established by the Spending Affordability Committee due to increases in mandated funding for programs already in place. An additional recommendation made by the committee is that any fund created to help pay for medical malpractice reform should be exempt from spending affordability. The committee also authorized the state to borrow $670 million for capital projects. The $670 million in capital borrowing does not include a recommendation to raise the debt ceiling by $100 million for school construction as proposed by State Treasurer Nancy Kopp. Additionally, the committee approved a $50 million transfer from the General Fund to partially repay the Transportation Trust Fund, and that all options need to be considered in funding the Inter County Connector in Montgomery County.


 Medical Liability Reform

While deliberations on medical liability reform continue on the state level it is unclear as to whether a special session to address this issue will occur. The Senate Special Commission on Medical Malpractice concluded its deliberations on December 1, however legislative recommendations discussed by the commission fell far short of appropriately addressing the crisis. The Governor, President of the Senate and Speaker of the House have met a number of times over the last few weeks, but it appears they have been unable to agree on legislation as of yet. There has been some discussion that if emergency legislation is passed by December 26, Medical Mutual, the largest insurer of doctors in the state, would be able to turn around new medical liability bills in five days. Doctors must provide proof of insurance by January 1 in order to continue practicing in the State of Maryland.


CITY ISSUES

Baltimore City Election

Incumbents retained the three top citywide offices. Martin O'Malley returns as Mayor; Sheila Dixon as City Council President, and Joan Pratt as City Comptroller. Incumbents also won eleven of the fourteen city council seats. The recently held election was the first time residents were voting for council members under the single member district plan which created fourteen single member districts in place of the six districts of three members each.

Johns Hopkins Institutions are located in the following councilmanic districts:

Communities in close proximity to Hopkins where we provide support are represented by James Kraft - District 1 (South East Baltimore); Bernard Young - District 12 (west of EBDI), and Belinda Conaway - District 7 (Remington area and south of Homewood). Baltimore City officials will continue dealing with the same major issues: public safety, education, economic development and funding shortages.


STAFF CONTACT INFORMATION
Please contact the Government Relations staff if you would like additional information. Your input assists us greatly in evaluating and formulating the position of Johns Hopkins on all legislation.

Government, Community, and Public Affairs
Johns Hopkins Institutions
901 S. Bond Street, Suite 540
Baltimore, MD 21231
phone 443-287-9900
fax 443-287-9898

FEDERAL
Maggy Huson		 mhuson@jhu.edu
STATE
Heather Barthel		 hbarthel@jhmi.edu
Sheila Higdon shigdon@jhmi.edu
Jim Kaufman jkaufma@jhmi.edu
Bret Schreiber bschreiber@jhu.edu

Mickey Geisler

 mgeisler@jhu.edu
Cathy Ximenez cximenez@jhmi.edu
CITY
Joseph Smith		 josephsmith@jhu.edu

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ACRONYMS

© 2004 The Johns Hopkins Institutions. Baltimore, Maryland.
Office of Government, Community and Public Affairs.
Last updated 04December 17