News Corner

By Peter Huessy

Many in the Maryland legislature want Maryland to emulate California and adopt its policies and laws. Each week we will thus bring you information about what California has accomplished.

The annual deficit according to the Budget Committee Chair in the State House in Sacramento is $78 billion in addition to the $24 billion owed to the Federal government for erroneous unemployment payments. This compares to an overall state budget of $467 billion, or a deficit of 21%. This compares to the Federal debt of $1.5 trillion projected for FY2024 which is 23% of all spending.

By Amy Waychoff

As of this writing, we are two days from the end of a Maryland legislative session that has seen its share of good news and bad.

First, the good news: bad bills that fortunately did NOT pass:
• The End-of-Life Option Act, which would have allowed a mentally competent adult to request “aid in dying”
• The massive sales tax bill
• Ranked Choice Voting bills that were put forward by the Montgomery County delegation
• A bill that would have required anyone carrying a firearm to have $300,000 in liability insurance