Reducing violent crime in one of the most dangerous states in the nation is “one of our highest priorities this year,” Gov. Martin O?Malley said in his annual State of the State address Wednesday to the General Assembly. He called it “the most fundamental priority and responsibility of any government.”
“We have allowed our One Maryland to be degraded by violence for far too long,” O?Malley said. He listed seven initiatives his administration has taken on guns, violent predators, gang intelligence and DNA testing, and then asked the lawmakers to support his requests for hiring 50 more parole officers, building new juvenile facilities, expanding use of GPS tracking of young offenders and increasing community drug-treatment programs.
He urged the legislators to back his proposal to take DNA samples from anyone charged with a violent crime “so that we can solve more violent crimes more quickly and put murderers and rapists behind bars before they murder or rape again.”
With the special session to raise taxes and fix a deficit behind him, O?Malley emphasized maintaining the gains made on education funding, including holding the line on college tuition.
The governor promised to “move forward with a more balanced plan of action for the next generation of mass transit,” including dedicated funding for Metro and “the next steps” for building the Purple Line and Interstate 270 corridor transitway and the Red and Green lines in Baltimore.
“I?m glad that he had made the commitment before all of us” on moving forward on the new Metro lines, said Sen. Rona Kramer, chairwoman of the Montgomery Countysenators.
“These are all major initiatives on public safety,” said Sen. Bobby Zirkin, a Baltimore County Democrat. And they don?t cost a lot of money because they involve changes in policy, Zirkin said. Those that do cost money, such as the new juvenile facilities, save money in the long run.
Del. Curt Anderson, chairman of the Baltimore City delegation, said the focus on reducing crime “needed to be more solution-oriented,” such as providing more than the additional $5 million O?Malley has put in his budget for drug treatment.
“I?m stunned that the governor didn?t make any reference to the economic downturn,” said Sen. Andy Harris, R-Baltimore-Harford, though the governor did mention it briefly. Comptroller Peter Franchot, a Democrat, was also surprised that “measures to protect the state economy were not addressed.”
O?Malley did talk about the burdens on families whose real wages have increased 1 percent in the past seven years while the price of milk is up 30 percent, a loaf of bread is up 20 percent, health insurance is up 78 percent and gasoline is up 100 percent.
