Democrats say much of Hogan's agenda will have trouble
Democrats who control the Maryland General Assembly said Thursday they doubted much of Republican Gov. Larry Hogan's legislative initiatives would be able to pass this year - a day after his agenda was outlined in a State of the State speech that irritated Democrats.
State of the State: Watch full address | Read transcript
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael Busch said many Democrats were frustrated by the tone of Hogan's speech, when he painted a dire picture of Maryland's economy that Democrats say is unfounded.
"Hopefully we can bounce back," Miller said. "Let's say it's a bad day and we can recover and move on and get about the business of governing, because right now that was not a governing speech. It was just a raw campaign speech that was apparently written by people from South Carolina or Texas or somewhere, but it was not a Maryland speech."
The Maryland Senate has 33 Democrats and 14 Republicans, so measures backed by the new governor will need Democratic support to reach the 24 votes needed for Senate passage.
Miller expressed interest in a measure Hogan plans to push to expand charter schools in the state.
"But other than that, I see very, very little in that speech that is going to become law," Miller said.
Busch, D-Anne Arundel, said he is committed to working on addressing rising problems from heroin addiction that the governor noted in his speech. The speaker also said House Democrats are willing to work with the governor to replenish a fund for public campaign finance that has been depleted down to less than $1.1 million without a mechanism in place to add money to it. Hogan became Maryland's first candidate to become governor while using public campaign financing, and he supports a voluntary taxpayer check-off to replenish the fund.
The two presiding officers have been critical of some tax-relief proposals Hogan is advocating, at a time when Democrats are unhappy about less-than-expected funding for public education in Hogan's budget.
"As many times as the Republicans stood up and as enthusiastic as they might have been at some parts of the speech, you still don't get to 71," Busch said, referring to the number of votes needed to pass a bill in the House, where there are 91 Democrats and 50 Republicans.
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Democrats say much of Hogan's agenda will have trouble