Kate Ryan, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley met with leaders of the General Assembly on Tuesday, but it’s still not clear whether they will agree to come together for a special session.
Maryland Senate President, Thomas Miller, said everyone was smiling at the breakfast meeting in Annapolis, and that a special session will be held in mid-May.
But, House Speaker Michael Busch would not commit to that.
“I have to take the opportunity to sit down with the leaders of the House and start to see if there’s a coalition we can build to, in fact, come back to a special session,” Busch says.
O’Malley say he has a late May deadline to settle on $130 million budget cuts. In an audio posting on his blog, O’Malley said he preferred to separate the budget issue from the gaming issue in Prince George’s County, and that he’d prefer to settle the question of putting a sixth casino in Prince George’s County during the summer. O’Malley said if the legislature settled the gaming issue by then, there would be time to put the gaming question to voters in a November referendum.
Miller has denied budget and tax agreements collapsed over the issue of gaming. Busch has tried to steer clear of the issue, saying he’s most concerned about the Maryland state budget.
Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker has lobbied hard for putting a casino at National Harbor, saying gaming could bring $69 million in revenues to the county — which currently depends on property taxes for 70 percent of its budget.
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