Civil engineers rate Maryland’s transit, roads, water systems as mediocre

Click to read The Baltimore Sun story from February 8, 2011

January 27, 2011

The 2011 legislative session began Wednesday January 12th with the swearing in of the members of the Maryland General Assembly. We are ready to tackle the hard work ahead in the next 90 days.

With the 428th session of the Maryland General Assembly underway, a number of issues will be addressed during the 2011 legislative session.

Budget Deficit:
Secretary Eloise Foster of the Department of Budget and Management, and Joe Bryce, Governor O’Malley’s Chief Legislative Officer, briefed us on what to expect from the FY 2012 budget. The Governor’s proposal will have to address the estimated $1.6 billion deficit along with a capital budget that is nearing the sustainable debt ceiling. Under Maryland law, the state’s budget must be in balance (in contrast to federal budgets which may continue under deficit conditions). Maryland has an executive-driven budget process, wherein the Governor’s budget is presented to the General Assembly, which may only make cuts to the proposed budget. The legislature is not able to add additional funds to the proposed budget, and may move monies from one fund to another on a limited basis. The Governor’s budget must be submitted by January 21.

Pension Shortfall:
We also heard from a panel presenting on the growing crisis within Maryland’s pension and other post-employment benefits (OPEB) funds. Maryland’s pension obligation is only 64% funded, leaving us $19 billion short of where we need to be. Additionally our OPEB obligations, which include things like health insurance for retirees, stand at $16 billion.

While our $1.6 billion budget deficit gets a great deal of attention and needs to be eliminated, our massive pension shortfalls must be dealt with.

Redistricting:
The redistricting process begins this year. Across the nation, new legislative district boundaries are drawn every ten years, following the census. When census information has been processed and forwarded to the Governor’s office, the multi-part process of creating new district maps for both Congressional and state legislative districts begins. This process is critical to ensure that all Maryland citizens have fair and equal representation at all levels of government.

The Congressional and Legislative plans follow separate processes – the Congressional plan will be dealt with in a Special Session this fall and the Legislative Plan being introduced next year during the 2012 Legislative Session.

But that’s not all…

While each of these issues is expected to be a major focus of the 2011 General Assembly session, there are many other important issues for us to deal with. Social issues such as the death penalty, illegal immigration, same-sex marriage, and tighter regulation of abortion clinics will all have significance this year. While the Governor has said his budget will not contain tax increases, the General Assembly’s thirst for new revenue cannot be taken for granted. We will keep you informed as to the progress of these and many other issues as we move through the 90-day session.

Please keep me informed of your views and opinions.

Very truly yours,
Susan L.M. Aumann

Maryland faces tough challenges in job creation, the budget and taxes, education, the environment and transportation in the next four years. In making endorsements for the House of Delegates and state Senate this year, The Sun sought pragmatic candidates with a record of putting progress over partisanship. Although many candidates fit that description, we’ve chosen to highlight five Democrats and five Republicans in competitive races whose accomplishments and ideas set them apart.

Read the full article…

On August 17, 2010 Delegate Susan Aumunn was appointed the House of Delegate designated representative to the Maryland Commission on Suicide Prevention.  View appointment letter

Delegate Susan Aumann Receives Maryland Chamber PAC Endoresment.

View Endorement Letter

Delegate Aumann attended and spoke at Comptroller Franchot’s Shop Maryland Tax-Free Event at Towson Town Center on
August 3, 2010.

Click on image to view story / video from ABC NewsChannel 2

Delegate Susan Aumann receives the Endorsement of the Baltimore County Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge #4.

View Endorsement

The Baltimore County Professional Fire Fighters Association has recently released the list of candidates they are endorsing for the 2010 election.

Click to read more

John Shaw Award recipients have scored at least 70 percent over a minimum four-year period, based on Maryland Business for Responsive Government’s annual evaluation of the Maryland General Assembly.

Click to see this year’s evaluation, the 25th Anniversary Edition of Roll Call.

Join Delegate Susan Aumann for a

Family Farm Picnic
Saturday, May 22nd, 2010
2 PM to 5 PM
Land of Promise Farm
4603 Long Green Road
Glen Arm, MD 21057

Click to download more information and registration form