House and Senate negotiators are taking their time resolving a limited number of differences between their versions of the state’s $31 billion budget as they wait to see if a repeal of the computer services tax forces them to make even more cuts.
“We made progress on the small issues,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Ulysses Currie said after the second morning of negotiations.
A key sticking point is a $10 million difference in funding for stem cell research. The House set aside $15 million to continue the second year of state support for Maryland researchers; the Senate allocated $5 million.
The Senate passed net reductions of about $300 million in Gov. Martin O’Malley‘s spending plan, and the House cut the budget growth by another $100 million, setting aside most of that for a larger surplus in case of a more severe economic downturn.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Norman Conway was passionate about maintaining funding for stem cell research. It has “the potential I don’t think any of us can understand,” Conway said. “Some medical research can help tremendously.”
The House argues that cutting the funding too much undermines ongoing research, even though the Senate made its cut based on the fact that last year’s grants have not been completely given out.
“People watch for us to make a commitment,” Conway said. But Senate negotiators were not budging. They wanted to use the money to raise reimbursement rates by 3 percent for community providers of care for the disabled. The House had increased the rates by 2 percent, and O’Malley had recommended they go up just 1.5 percent.
Both House and Senate wanted to cut the new Chesapeake Bay 2010 Trust Fund passed in the special session from $50 million to $25 million in fiscal 2009, but the Senate put in language to keep the funding at $25 million for the following year as well.
“We wanted more flexibility,” Conway told his Senate counterparts in a conference committee meeting.
“We will be working on the bill Monday” to repeal the computer services sales tax, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Ulysses Currie. Lawmakers might need reductions in the Bay fund to offset loss of the $200 million in revenue from the tech tax.
