League of Women Voters of Maryland

First, there were Maine and Arizona. Now Connecticut has joined the states that publicly fund legislative campaigns. Will Maryland be next? The 2008 General Assembly will determine that in the next few weeks. The Connecticut system came on line in October, 2007, for elections in one legislative district. Both candidates received public funding. The Connecticut system, like those in Maine and in Arizona and the one we support for Maryland, is voluntary. Those candidates who qualify by raising small amounts of money from many voters receive public funding and agree to abide by campaign spending limits. The Connecticut system is funded by the sale of abandoned property devolved to the state. The Maryland system would be funded from the same source. We’ll need your help when our public funding bills come before the General Assembly committees. A House bill passed in 2006 with the Senate bill coming out of EHEA too late in the Session to be considered on the Floor. A Senate bill came within one vote of success in 2007. So stay tuned. SB 593 has been introduced and, we hope, the House bill will be out very soon. Kay Terry