League of Women Voters of Maryland

Because an adequate and progressive system for raising revenue to meet government’s obligations has long been a priority of the League of Women Voters of Maryland, we took an active role attempting to shape the results of the debate about how to resolve Maryland’s fiscal crisis. Early Spring - November Representatives from LWVMD were members of the steering committee of the Alliance for Tax Fairness, a coalition that was formed to advocate for a revenue system that generated sufficient funds to take care of unmet needs in areas such as health care, environmental protection, education, affordable housing and public safety and to do it in a way that was not onerous on low-income families and seniors. Our involvement included weekly planning meetings, organizing and participating in several press conferences/rallies and organizing a gathering of concerned individuals and organizations in Howard County before the Special Session and a Town Hall Meeting in Annapolis during the Special Session. September A key strategy was to educate members about the current fiscal situation and how it came to be. A fact sheet, which was prepared for the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County, was slightly revised to give it a statewide perspective and was posted on the LWVMD web page and shared at various League events. Some legislators used it to educate their constituents. October The LWVMD Board reviewed various options that had been proposed as likely ways to raise additional revenue. The positions reached by the Board on these options were sent to all legislators and shared widely with the League membership. League representatives were present at the opening full days of hearings and briefings on October 29th and 30th. November LWVMD presented written or oral testimony on the following topics: Income Tax Rates and Exemptions, Video Lottery Terminals (Slots), Health Coverage Legislation, Funding for K-12 Public Education, Corporate Taxes, Sales Taxes, Transportation Funding, Alcoholic Beverage Tax-Rates and Tobacco Taxes. The testimony can be found on the LWVMD web page at lwvmd.org. Five Action Alerts were sent out during the Special Session. Three had to do with the general goals of the League which was a sufficient and progressive revenue stream that did not include slots. Two other alerts specific to slot machine gambling were also issued. In addition, members were asked to contact their legilsators regarding protection of funding for k-12 education. The Senate was the first chamber to pass a revenue package. It didn’t meet the progressive standards nor the adequacy level for which we had been advocating. Therefore 141 hand made memos with eye-catching graphics were personally delivered to the offices of all members of the House of Delegates just before their first attempt to adopt a comprehensive solution to the fiscal crisis. November – 2008 Regular Session LWVMD will continue to analyze the impact of the new legislation that was adopted and the budget cuts that were proposed during the Special Session. LWVMD will continue to be a presence in Annapolis as opportunities to further enhance the ability of the state to fund the programs and policies that the League endorses emerge. As always, members will be called on to use their clout as constituents to affect the decisions of their representatives.