Here are a couple updates from Maryland Chamber Vice President of Government Affairs Ron Wineholt:

• The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee held bill hearings Friday afternoon on additional tax bills and a work session Saturday on the Governor’s revenue package. Combined reporting may be turned into a study. The Committee is also reviewing additional budget cuts to add to the Governor’s Budget Reconciliation Act.

• The Ways and Means Committee held a 6 hour marathon hearing Saturday on 36 tax and revenue bills that will form a shopping list of additional revenue options that could be substituted for parts of the Governor’s revenue package. Chairman Hixson instructed Committee members to await further instructions for possible subcommittee meetings Monday. The House Appropriations Committee and its subcommittees will hold hearings Tuesday on additional budget cuts and mandate reductions, with a target of $180 - $200 million in further cuts. The full House reconvenes Tuesday at 10:00 a.m.

As you can see, there was a lot of activity over the weekend. There are a lot of moving parts, and keeping track of everything can be difficult. In a post on his Legislative Insider Blog, Maryland Association of CPAs Executive Director and CEO Tom Hood did a great job of summarizing what we’re hearing from many of our members who are in Annapolis for the special session:

I know the State needs to solve our deficit problem, but I get the sense that many of our representatives are trying to use this special session to go beyond the $1.7 billion needed and get whatever they can get while they can. The issue I have is that this is not done in the normal legislative process - less time for hearings and almost no public input. In fact the three bills we sent out yesterday were scheduled for hearings before the bills were available to read - that is scary!

One such bill, HB 55, would increase the annual filing fees for businesses from $300 to $1,000. The bill was heard Saturday. To date the fiscal note reads, “Due to time constraints, an analysis and fiscal estimate for this bill could not be completed in time for the bill hearing. A revised Fiscal and Policy Note will be written and issued at a later date.”

We hope to email Chamber members additional special session updates later this afternoon.