The state is facing a deficit of nearly $3 billion.
Frederick County Delegate Jesse Pippy
Frederick, Md (KM) The 2025 Maryland General Assembly will gavel into session on Wednesday, January 8th at 12:00 noon. Frederick County Delegate Jesse Pippy says the biggest issue facing lawmakers this year is the budget.
“The Maryland General Assembly is required to pass a balanced budget per the constitution. And we’re facing a $3 billion budget deficit that is actually going to balloon to $6.2 billion by 2030. So I think that is the most important issue we will face this year,” he says.
Related to that, Pippy says some changes need to be made in the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future which is an education reform plan. He says it’s too costly. “We have been saying this from the very beginning that that Blueprint is an unfunded mandate. It should have never been passed,” he says. “And we believe that this year that the funding mandates in that law will be stopped. We are going to be pushing for that. It’s my understanding that the Governor is pushing for that.”
“That legislation needs to be changed. The funding mandates need to be withdrawn because we do not have the money as outlined in that bill,” Pippy continues.
Some legislators, including Senate President Bill Ferguson, say the Blueprint is fully funded as anticipated and predicted through fiscal year 2027. He said what is fueling the deficit is entitlement spending which is above projections.
The Governor is expected to release his budget on January 15th.
Delegate Pippy says he and other legislators will be pushing for funding to widen US Route 15 in Frederick. The funding for that project was there a few years ago, but it has since disappeared. “So this has been our number transportation priority for going on a decade now,” he says. “Both Republicans and Democrats alike have supported this unanimously from local officials to federal officials.”
Pippy says he will also be sponsoring several bills this year, including one dealing with the criminal justice system. He says this legislation will allow the most vulnerable in our society, such as children who are victims of sex abuse, to testify against their abusers in a remote location. “So what this legislation will do is it would give these victims an opportunity to share their story and not necessarily in front of the abuser. And in that way, justice prevails.”
If child victims have to face their abusers in person in court, and they’re afraid to testify, Pippy says then the abuser gets off “scot free.”
He says the remote location can be similar to a courtroom, but without the defendant. “What ends up happening is the attorney for the accused is actually present with the victim, as well as the attorney and the prosecutor for the victim, and the judge is present. It’s not directly in front of the abuser. It might in an adjacent room, or remotely,”: says Pippy.
This legislation was passed last year by the House of Delegates, but it didn’t make it out of the State Senate.
By Kevin McManus