Gov. Martin O'Malley Wednesday urged lawmakers to pass his offshore wind bill and find more money for transportation projects—though he offered no details on a gas tax initiative.
In his seventh State of the State speech, the Democratic governor also used his 35-minute address to remind legislators of what he sees as his major accomplishments since taking office in 2007.
In many ways, the speech seemed to lay the groundwork for what many expect will be a run for President in 2016.
Choice was a major theme in O'Malley's speech.
"Better choices. Better results. The proof is in our progress," O'Malley said.
[Read O'Malley's speech as prepared or watch it.]
O'Malley's Legislative Wish List
On the top of O'Malley's wish list are the passage of a bill creating a subsidy for an electricity-generating windmill farm off the coast of Ocean City, MD as well as stricter gun laws, the repeal of the death penalty and funding for transportation projects.
"There’s another important thing we can do this year to create jobs and that is off-shore wind," O'Malley said "Moving forward with off-shore wind could make Maryland, the new manufacturing hub for wind turbines. We will create jobs and we will generate abundant, clean, renewable energy, but only if we choose. Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, member of the General Assembly, let’s get this done this year."
O'Malley also urged lawmakers to deal with the growing list of unfunded transportation projects.
"There is no reason why we should be content with living with the worst traffic congestion in the country," O'Malley said.
Local jurisdictions have seen some of the biggest cuts in state transportion funding. Since 2007, most local governments have seen the amount of state money for road construction and repairs cut by 90 percent.
In his State of the State speech last year, the governor proposed a gas tax increase to fund those projects. O'Malley offered no such initiative this year.
Instead, he thanked Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller for his work on the issue.
Miller has called for a 3 percent tax on the wholesale price of gas in addition to the 23.5 cents per gallon Marylanders already pay.
The Senate president has also called for regional transportation authorities in the Baltimore and Washington areas that would oversee funding and construction of additional mass transit project such as the red and purple lines.
Miller's plan would also allow local jurisdictions to add a tax of 5 cents per gallon of gas to help fund local roads projects.
In the wake of shootings at schools in Newtown, CT and Perry Hall, MD, O'Malley is seeking stricter gun laws in the state.
"I ask you to ban the sale of military assault weapons in Maryland," O'Malley said. "I ask you to require a license for the purchase of all handguns but not hunting rifles."
The governor is also calling for the repeal of the death penalty in Maryland.
O'Malley said the death penalty is not an effective deterrent and "cannot be administered without racial bias."
"The death penalty is expensive and it does not work and we should stop doing it," he said.
Maryland has not executed an inmate since Wesley Eugene Baker in December 2005. Five inmates remain on death row but the state has had a moratorium on executions since the Court of Appeals ruled that execution protocols were not properly adopted.
Those protocols have not been updated because one of the drugs used in the three-drug cocktail is no longer available.
Republican Disapproval
O'Malley's speech was met with strong disapproval from House and Senate Republicans.
"He took credit for a lot of successes that don't exist," said Del. Anthony O'Donnell, House Minority Leader. "The people I know are all hurting and he wants to raise their taxes."
O'Donnell took issue with O'Malley's claim that job creation must be a top priority.
"It's all lip service," O'Donnell said. "He says that but then pushes policies that hurt businesses."
Rather than focusing on the specific needs of Marylanders, the policies O’Malley spelled out in his speech had more to do with Democrats’ national agenda of taxes and gun control, said Sen. E.J. Pipkin, an Upper Shore Republican and Senate Minority leader.
“He’s coming for your money…he’s coming for your guns,” Pipkin said.
White House Aspirations
For some, the speech was a prelude to O'Malley's expected run for President in 2016.
“Today wasn’t just a State of the State speech, it was an ‘I want your (presidential) nomination’ speech,” said Todd Eberly, assistant professor of political science and public policy at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
As O’Malley, 50, enters the last half of his second term as governor, major speeches like the State of the State address can take on added significance.
O’Malley, who just completed two years as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association and was prominently featured at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, is widely believed to have national political aspirations.
His name has been mentioned along with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as possible 2016 candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination.
"When he runs for President he's going to be the best thing that's ever happened to the Maryland Republican party," said O'Donnell. "He's going to make Republicans look like mainstream moderates. This guy is to the left of [President Barack] Obama."
Capital News Service reporter Lucas High contributed to this report.
What a freakin sheep. What, think Solyndra because some conservative nut told you to? Because Solyndra has exactly nothing to do with anything in this article. What on earth does a freaking windmill have to do with a private solar company? I can't stand people who are so uneducated that they just regurgitate whatever talking point they heard 3 years ago and pretend like it was ever relevant, much less to this situation.
Furthermore, why should the United State's continue to lag behind our developed counterparts in 'other' energy? Can you please provide me with a concrete example of a new technology or energy sector where you think the United States should lead the World? It used to be NASA, for a penny on your dollar, led the United States from manufacturing marvel to technological haven. Now you want to cut their budget, while not reinvesting that money elsewhere. What do we put those funds into? Do we just spend now and forget investing in our future? Isn't that how we got to where we are now?
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-12-21/news/bs-md-census-population-20101228_1_hispanic-population-maryland-population-population-shifts Ironically since O'Malley has been in office there was another 9% increase in the number Maryland residents in poverty as the numbers show from 2007 to 2011. So I do not think your misguided claim is all that incorrect, Maryland's population is growing but it is growing with the wrong people to help increase revenues through the tax base.
"Rich" might equal two standard deviations beyond the average household income of approximately $50,000 per year in Maryland. Stimulus in order to avoid sudden, massive deflation is indicated. Education is viewed as a function of government not as an industry. Basic healthcare is a right, not a commodity on sale to the highest bidder. Firearms purchased in the open (transparently,eh?), registered and used for hunting or for sport is legitimate. And, yes, we need to hang together or hang severally. Life is tough in a hard world with diminishing natural resources. Predatory individualism will be the death of nearly all of us.
I just think we have the opportunity to do both.
A. the wind legislation has been pushed for years by O'Malley - pick up a newspaper, guy. B. "NOT ONE SINGLE TIME have I seen a person who purchased a handgun legally use it to commit a crime" This quite possibly is the dumbest statement ever uttered and also completely misses the entire point of the reforms O'Malley is pursuing. "That is just sad..." indeed.
"Spain stops wind turbines to balance supply Spain had to shut down some of its wind turbines on Wednesday as wet and windy weather caused a surge in green electricity generation at a time of low demand, grid operator Red Electrica said. The country's thousands of wind turbines supplied a new record of 54.1 percent of demand early on Wednesday, forcing gas- and coal-fired power plants to run at minimum output to avoid system overload as hydropower companies drained brimming reservoirs." http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/12/30/us-spain-wind-record-idUSTRE5BT2K620091230
Spain halted subsidies for renewable energy projects to help curb its budget deficit and rein in power-system borrowings backed by the state that reached 24 billion euros ($31 billion) at the end of 2011. “What is today an energy problem could become a financial problem,” Industry Minister Jose Manuel Soria said in Madrid. The government passed a decree today stopping subsidies for new wind, solar, co-generation or waste incineration plants. The system’s debts were racked up as revenue from state- controlled prices failed to cover the cost of delivering power. Costs have swollen in the past five years because of an increase in regulated payments for the power grid, support for Spanish coal mines and subsidies for renewable energy plants. http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/44251
That's the entire point of govt. investment. Why do you think the "traditional sources" are affordable? First, generations of public investment, subsidization that still exists today on a massive scale. Second, over the years the cost of anything comes down as efficiency naturally goes up. Solar is already a fraction of the cost is was even 5 years ago. In another 5 years it might very well be cheaper than drilling, shipping, refining, transporting, distributing oil/coal. That's the entire point of investment and progress (I know that's a bad word in your circles, but it's true).
And that would do what to small business with 3 or 6 trucks on the roads every day? What would that do to the price of food? What would that do to the coat of EVERYTHING delivers by the use of fossil fuels?
We will still need to drill for oil if for nothing else but the thousands and thousands of products we use daily that use oil in their manufacture. One 42-gallon barrel of oil creates 19.4 gallons of gasoline. The rest (over half) is used to make things like: http://www.ranken-energy.com/Products%20from%20Petroleum.htm
When the price of gas rises so does the price of diesel. Regurgitate that!
Though, to argue with myself, that certainly isn't necessarily the case with non-renewables. Obviously, setting up a massive rig many miles offshore because all the easy-to-reach oil is already out of the ground is extremely expensive compared to the good ol' days.
There is not much that I want to do that I am prevented from doing. I guess my only limits are my lack of ambition and drive to be something other than what I am. I feel badly for poor people who need a better cut of the action. I hate institutional racism that carves the republic into pieces. I do not like the fact that I am despised in some circles because I am an American.
Thanks for putting your life on the line every day as a law enforcement officer. I am sure you never know what you are going to be confronted with on a daily basis. Having previously worked with government on many levels, you are absolutely correct in saying that they are the problem. Unfortunately, a lot of time and money is wasted on trying to work around the needless barriers concocted by government "lifers" who were in their positions by virtue of connections not intelligence or skill. Folks are a little misguided about the gun issue. What they really need to be talking about is having appropriate access to quality mental health services. Our mental health system in this state is deplorable due to managed care and cost-cutting. We also need to be screening troubled youth at a much earlier point in their lives, versus turning a blind eye to what is seen coming in the school doors each and every morning. Teachers and school administrators can and must do better. We need to create a better safety net for our youth. Keep in mind that during O'Malley's tenure, he has consistently cut funding for services to children and families.
Look up the amendment Representative Jose Serrano from New York is proposing to the 22nd Amendment of our Constitution.