The Maryland General Assembly gave final approval Friday to a $52.4 billion budget that House Appropriations Chairwoman Maggie L. McIntosh (D-Baltimore City) said is worthy of a moniker: “I call this The Recovery Act,” she said.
The budget plan — dramatically expanded from the $49.35 billion budget originally introduced by Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) in January thanks to a rebounding economy and federal stimulus funds — provides increased financial assistance to the most vulnerable Marylanders, expands education funding to get children back to school and address pandemic-related learning losses, and replenishes depleted state savings accounts.
Just this week, after the budget passed through both chambers, Hogan and lawmakers added nearly $1.5 billion in federal stimulus money to the funding plan, which takes effect July 1, and $1.3 billion to the current year’s budget.
“When you have that kind of money, there’s a tendency to want to spend it all,” McIntosh said.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Danielle E. Gaines over at Maryland Matters
