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May 9, 2025

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News Maryland News

Maryland has reported high child fatalities for years. Now they say they’ve overreported.

March 4, 2025 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

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Maryland childhood fatalities due to neglect or abuse have been well above the national average in recent years, but state officials now say they have been accidentally overreporting the numbers, which are closer to the national average. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

 In recent years, Maryland has reported notably high child fatalities related to mistreatment and abuse — well above the national average. But state officials now say that Maryland has been reporting incorrect numbers for the last five years, and the number is far lower than initially reported.

“It was really just us not checking our homework and not double-checking our work,” said Alger Studstill Jr., the executive director of the Social Services Administration in the Maryland Department of Human Services.

“Our highest priority in this work is to ensure that children across the state of Maryland are safe and well,” he said. “We’ve been working with national consultants to look at how we are reviewing our child maltreatment fatalities, but also looking at our data to ensure that these types of reporting errors don’t happen again.”

Studstill said that “one fatality is one too many,” and the department will be incorporating the new data into future efforts to improve child welfare services in the state.

Meanwhile, advocates and child welfare experts say the time it took to investigate the Maryland’s soaring child fatalities is indicative of the lack of attention the issue gets.

Emily Putnam-Hornstein, with the School of Social Work at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the organization Lives Cut Short, hopes that the corrected data can serve as a “wake-up call” for states to pay closer attention to the issue.

“I don’t think Maryland is alone in not having a great handle on exactly what these maltreatment fatality counts consist of,” she said. “If we’re trying to prevent them (child maltreatment fatalities), we have to know exactly what we’re trying to prevent.

“These data matter so much from a public health and prevention standpoint. That’s why I would love to see not just corrected numbers but to see much more transparency and disclosure of the specifics of the deaths that occurred, not just in Maryland but all over the states,” Putnam-Hornstein said.

The child maltreatment fatality update is part of a data overhaul for the department that was spurred by recent reporting in the Baltimore Banner that pushed the problem of child fatalities to the forefront for state officials.

“Once we were made aware of the problem, we got to work to address it,” Studstill said.

Every year, states report information on child maltreatment to the federal Children’s Bureau, overseen by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which get published in the annual Child Maltreatment report.

The most recent report, in January, published data from 2023. That year, Maryland reported to federal officials that 83 children had died due to maltreatment, resulting in a rate of 6.09 fatalities per 100,000 children from birth to 17 years old. The national rate was 2.73 fatalities per 100,000 that same year, when just under 2,000 children died due to maltreatment.

But Studstill said it appears the department included any case in its report where a maltreatment investigation was opened, not just those where maltreatment, neglect or abuse were confirmed. As a result, the state overreported deaths for 2023, when it now says there were 47 deaths.

“They (the federal agency) are looking for child fatalities where there was child maltreatment that was ‘indicated’ — meaning that the fatality was a direct result of abuse or neglect,” Studstill said in a recent interview. “What Maryland has done previously is we’ve been reporting all fatalities.”

“We operate an abuse hotline, so whenever we receive a call, we have screening-in criteria that we will review,” he said. “If the fatality is alleged to have been caused by a parent or caregiver, then we screen that report in.”

Studstill said the 83 cases reported in 2023 were “all of the cases that got screened in,” while the corrected 47 cases are those where “there was an indicated finding – meaning that the fatality was a result of neglect or abuse by a caregiver.”

A chart showing the number of child fatalities in Maryland reported to federal officials and new data showing what the state believes the accurate numbers are. Courtesy of the Maryland Department of Human Services

The department now believes the 285 fatalities it reported from 2020 to 2023 were actually 173 — with 30 in 2020 instead of the reported 50; 56 in 2021 instead of 84; and 40 instead of the reported 68 in 2022. It asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last month to correct the data. The letter to HHS said some of the inaccuracies resulted from the state transitioning to a new data system to report child welfare cases, and “are as a result of not conducting validation or reconciliation.”

The state said that of the lower number of deaths where neglect or abuse was indicated, a “significant portion of child fatalities during this period resulted from co-sleeping, unsafe sleep, infant/toddler drug ingestion, suicide and drowning.”

While national data for 2024 won’t be available until next year, state officials say Maryland will report 46 child fatalities in the next edition of Child Maltreatment.

“Every preventable death is a tragedy. It is particularly tragic when that death occurs at the hands of a parent,” Putnam-Hornstein said. “When I read the letters and the statements that were circulated in terms of how these errors occurred, as someone who works with data, I totally understand how this could have happened.”

‘Collective failure’

Putnam-Hornstein and other social services experts say that despite the lower reported fatalities in the state, there is still work to be done to improve child welfare and reduce the number of child deaths overall.

A graph showing the number of child fatalities Maryland reported to federal officials the number of deaths the state now believes occrred. (Chart courtesy Maryland Department of Human Services)

“I think the good news from the public standpoint is we now know what baseline we are working from, as we try to protect more children and prevent more fatalities,” Putnam-Hornstein said. “I continue to think that there’s tremendous room for improvement in how we investigate potential child maltreatment fatalities … and then what we do with that information to try to improve system coordination.”

Richard Barth, professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, said the corrected data is not necessarily a comfort to those in his field, as he believes there are issues with the national reporting system at large.

“I don’t think any of us feel that the numbers we have really represent the risks to kids,” Barth said, noting that there are often few differences between child fatalities where abuse and maltreatment is indicated and those where the mistreatment is unsubstantiated or ruled out.

Barth says that the new data is “a good wake-up call” for the state to bolster data on kids in the welfare system to better understand the factors that lead up to child mistreatment fatalities.

“Families that are involved in child welfare are often involved for quite some time,” he said. “The more that we know about the accumulating risks for them, the better.”

Putnam-Hornstein agreed.

“Hopefully this is a wake up call that will lead to improvements in data collection, not just in Maryland but other states. And hopefully corresponding improvements in how our systems respond to child safety concerns,” she said.

Putnam-Hornstein said the data collection issues are “arguably a collective failure on the part of many of us.”

“I could argue that researchers should have been looking at that data and asking questions of Maryland and other states, sooner. I could argue that if the federal government is collecting that data and publishing data … one would presumably hope that there’d be some additional policies done and some questions raised,” she said.

“And then of course, most locally, one would hope that Maryland would have been looking closely at those trends and the comparisons across states,” she said.


by Danielle J. Brown, Maryland Matters
March 3, 2025

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected].

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: Maryland News

Delegates renew medical aid-in-dying bill, but Senate hurdle remains

March 4, 2025 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

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Judicial Proceedings chair says there likely isn’t enough support to move the bill on in the Senate

A decade-long fight over whether to let terminally ill patients hasten their deaths with physician oversight returned Monday in a two-hour House hearing,  but lawmakers again said the Senate is likely to be the stumbling block this year.

“The votes aren’t there. Not in committee and not on the floor,” Senate Judicial Proceedings Chair Will Smith (D-Montgomery) said Monday evening.

His comments came just hours after a joint hearing by the House Judiciary and the Government and Operations committees on House Bill 1328, the End of Life Option Act, which would allow certain terminally ill patients to request medical aid in dying with the help of a physician.

In order to qualify under the bill, patients would have to have the capacity to make their own medical decisions and have less than six months to live. The legislation requires both an oral request and written request with two witnesses and a required wait time to ensure that the patient wants to go through with the measure, among other restrictions.

Debate on the bill is  often emotionally charged, a challenge to lawmakers’ moral values that does not cut cleanly on party lines. But the bill’s main sponsor, Del. Terri Hill (D-Howard), says it provides “compassion and autonomy to those facing imminent death.”

Medical aid-in-dying has had a dramatic history in the General Assembly over the past decade. In 2019, the bill failed on a 23-23 tie in the Senate after one senator opted to not vote, saying he “could not bring myself” to vote one way or the other. In 2024, advocates and Senate leadership thought it would come to the floor, but it stalled Judicial Proceedings amid concerns that there were not enough votes to pass it out of committee.

Smith, who is sponsoring the legislation in the Senate this year, said changes in the membership of the Senate and his committee do not appear to have improved its chances this year. It will still have a hearing next week in Judicial Proceedings, Smith said, giving lawmakers a little time to consider the legislation. But Smith says medical aid-in-dying is not an issue you can “twist arms on.”

“It’s a vote of conscience. You’re either there or you’re not,” he said.

The moral dilemmas the bill presents were on display during Monday’s joint House hearing.

Supporters say the bill grants dying patients the ability to set the terms of their deaths, rather than waiting for the end to come — possibly in severe pain due to their illnesses.

“I ask you all, yet again, how many more Marylanders have to die without this option?” asked Brandi Alexander, an advocate with Compassion and Choices, a nonprofit advocacy group pushing for aid-in-dying legislation across the U.S.

“We sit here year after year, debating opinions and statistics and facts, but this is about people – dying people that, frankly, deserve more from their leadership,” said Alexander, a Prince George’s County resident.

She referenced a survey of Maryland voters last year on the issue that found nearly 70% of Marylanders supported medical aid-in-dying options. The poll was conducted by Annapolis-based Gonzales Research & Media and commissioned by Compassion and Choices.

“Yet and still, we continue to spend hours and now years actually pontificating while dying people are suffering,” Alexander said.

Del. Brian Chisholm (R-Anne Arundel) noted the reappearance of the bill over the years, but said he held “the same reservations about this bill” this session as he has in the past.

“There are a lot of vulnerable people. There are people who are disabled … there’s people who can’t communicate,” he said. “And that’s always going to be my concern with this legislation. People with Alzheimer’s, starting to lose their mind, people who are elderly who are not all the way there.

It’s a vote of conscience. You’re either there or you’re not.

– Sen. Will Smith (D-Montgomery)

“I just don’t know if there are enough protections that could ever be put in place to make sure that the most,” he said.

Laura Bogley, executive director for Maryland Right to Life, worries that passing the current bill would snowball into bigger issues.

“A procedure that begins with safe, legal and rare can quickly become an unregulated monopoly that deprives patients access to life-saving alternatives,” she said. “We urge you to put patients over profits and keep assisted suicide in criminal codes where it belongs.”

The disability community were split on the issue Monday.

Nicole LeBlanc, a resident from Silver Spring who is on the autism spectrum, opposes the legislation. She fears people with disabilities would consider medical aid-in-dying options because they “don’t want to be to be a burden to their families.”

But Seth Morgan, who has multiple sclerosis and also advocates for Compassion and Choices, supports the bill because “disability is not a terminal illness” and he believes there are enough protections in it to protect the disability community from widespread misuse of the bill.

Hill assured that those who are not mentally capable of making their own medical decisions would not be eligible to receive medical aid-in-dying options.

But without support from the Judicial Proceedings Committee, the fight could continue for another year, to the disappointment of advocates who support of the legislation.

“If I sound angry, it’s because we’ve worked for 10 years and it’s usually some kind of political pandering that doesn’t let this bill see the daylight,” Edna Hirsch said in support of the legislation Monday. “Please, I beg you, let this get to the General Assembly. Let it get out of committee and let it get voted on.”

 


by Danielle J. Brown and Bryan P. Sears, Maryland Matters
March 4, 2025

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected].

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: Maryland News

State ramps up effort to bring fired federal employees into the state fold

March 3, 2025 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

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Gov. Wes Moore (D) called on his own state agencies, as well as the private sector and nonprofits, to step up and hire federal employees and contractors purged by President Donald Trump (R).

Moore, in a Friday afternoon press conference, said his administration will look for ways to streamline state hiring and cherry-pick displaced federal employees and contractors.

“Now my background is, I was a soldier, and I know that in the Army they teach you, if you get attacked, you don’t just sit there and take it,” Moore said. “You mobilize and in Maryland, this is our moment to mobilize.”

The announcement is on top of an online public servants resource hub launched two weeks ago by the state after the U.S. Office of Personnel Management advised federal agencies to sack probationary employees. Moore said as many as 10,000 probationary employees in Maryland could be on the chopping block.

The governor on Friday announced a series of agency directives, resource websites and workshops and information sessions. The aim is to match state jobs with well-qualified federal employees.

On the list is an effort to fill more than 1,600 vacant teaching positions across the state.

The initiative includes a website to match federal employees with teaching vacancies in the state. Federal employees with post-secondary degrees and subject matter expertise may be able to use existing programs to obtain teaching certifications and licensing.

Moore also directed the Maryland Department of Transportation to develop a Federal Workers Navigation webinar and guidebook.

The effort will focus on helping federal employees match their experience to state jobs. That effort will launch in March.

Hiring a new state employee can be time consuming, often taking four months. Department of Budget and Management officials said Friday that they hope to shorten that timeline to 30-45 days.

State officials were not able to say Friday exactly how many state positions are vacant right now, but they acknowledge that there will not be enough openings to absorb every displaced federal worker and contractor. There were also no estimates on how many displaced federal employees might actually be able to find a job with the state.

“I’m not issuing the rule of saying, ‘You must hire x and you must hire y,’” Moore said, adding that each department will have its own needs.

“I can tell you that this is the moment when Maryland is going to get creative,” he said. “That’s why the announcement today wasn’t just a callout to our state agencies and our departments.

“It was a callout to the private sector, saying we have some really talented people who I’m sure you want to know more. It’s a callout to our nonprofit organizations who are doing the work right now to serve and support the people of our state, who are saying there is a lot of talent and people who are true public servants and true patriots, who are ready to do the work, and who are ready to continue their mission,” Moore said.

There are roughly 160,000 federal employees in the state. It’s a number that does not capture the full reach of the effects of Trump’s federal budget clear-cutting.

More difficult to count are employees at agencies such as the National Security Agency. Contractors and those who receive federal grants are not typically included in the federal employee counts.

Moore told House and Senate fiscal committees this week that they know of about 1,300 employees in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties who have already lost their jobs.

So far, more than 450 federal employees or contractors have applied for unemployment benefits, according to administration officials. The governor said he expects the number of displaced workers to grow.

Officials said they will look to “recruit top talent” starting with a March 7 “Join Team Maryland” virtual information session. In-person job fairs will be held in Prince George’s County and Baltimore City later in March.

There will also be a series of local hiring fairs.

Other state resources for federal workers:

The state Department of Labor also offers displaced federal workers and contractors:

  • A website with information on unemployment and career transition for federal employees and contractors.
  • Frequently asked questions to help fired federal employees file for benefits.
  • A free virtual workshop for former federal employees and contractors seeking new jobs. The workshops are held each Wednesday and participants can register by email.
  • Two other websites — the state American Job Centers and the Professional Outplacement Assistance Center — offer resumé workshops, career guidance, mock interviews, skills assessments, job search strategies, and support services.

 


by Bryan P. Sears, Maryland Matters
February 28, 2025

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected].

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: Maryland News

CMS waiver approval process could be a hurdle for proposed Developmental Disabilities cuts

February 25, 2025 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

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It’s a good thing state leaders found money to defer cuts to the Developmental Disabilities Administration, and not just because it will allow services to continue.

Turns out the state may not have had permission to make some of the cuts they were proposing to start on April 1.

State analysts said last week that the Moore administration “was not accounting for” required approval from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services when it unveiled plans in January to cut the DDA by as much as $200 million by the end of this fiscal year.

Budget and Taxation Chair Sen. Guy Guzzone (D-Howard) said the failure to account for CMS approval for the initial proposal was “clearly a mistake.”

“It shouldn’t have happened. They should have known. They should have known that it would have been an issue to try to make that apply in (fiscal) ’25,” he said at a Friday press conference. “There’s no other answer to that.”

The issue may be moot for fiscal 2025: Gov. Wes Moore (D) and legislative fiscal leaders said in a joint statement last week that they had found funding to defer most of the fiscal 2025 cuts from April 1 to July 1.

But it could still apply to cuts the administration has discussed for fiscal 2026, which also have yet to receive the needed waivers amendments from CMS.

In briefing papers last week, the Department of Legislative Services said that state officials had not even applied for CMS waiver amendments for some of the cuts being proposed. Requests for such amendments typically include a 90-day review period and a 30-day public comment period.

One of the biggest cuts for fiscal 2025 that would need approval is the proposal to do away with the “geographical differential,” which boosts pay for providers of developmental disability services in Calvert, Charles, Frederick, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.

“A waiver amendment has not yet been submitted for any of the items that require CMS approval,” according to DLS’ Feb. 20 report. “Since the geographical differential elimination is not able to go into effect in fiscal 2025, the savings of $28.0 million ($14.0 million in general funds) for this item in fiscal 2025 will not be included in the cost containment reductions.”

When asked if the timeline for the geographical differentials was a “mistake,” a spokesperson for the governor said in a prepared statement that “The Moore-Miller Administration is working closely with legislators and stakeholders to identify paths forward on DDA funding.”

The DDA helps support those with developmental disabilities, usually through a Medicaid waiver that uses state and federal funds to help provide services to some 20,000 Marylanders.

In January, Moore presented his budget proposal, which included a $200 million cut to the DDA at the end of the fiscal year 2025 and to continue into fiscal 2026.

Even though those cuts have now been deferred until fiscal 2026, time is running out for the state to get CMS approval to cut the geographic differential, along with other proposed DDA cuts, in time for the July 1 start of the fiscal year, DLS said.

“The timeline for CMS approval of waiver changes includes a 90-day review period and a 30-day public comment period. Considering this timeline, the earliest that DDA could receive approval for cost containment actions approval for cost containment actions is July 1, 2025,” the report said.

“This would require DDA to submit a waiver amendment by February, 26, 2025. Because of the timeline required for CMS approval, it is unclear whether the geographical differential … will be fully implemented in fiscal 2026,” it said.

Two other cost-containment efforts planned for fiscal 2026 also require CMS approval.

One would place a $5,000 cap on items purchased through the Individual and Family Directed Goods and Services program, for those who self-direct their developmental disabilities services. If approved by CMS, the cap would save the state around $14.5 million in general funds in the next budget year, or $29 million once federal funds are included.

The other proposed cut that would need federal approval is a plan to direct new DDA participants away from self-directed services and toward community group programs. The state education system supports students with developmental disabilities until they are 21, which is when the DDA takes over their services.

Those who self-direct their DDA services hire their own staff to help them in their day-to-day lives, opposed to those who join an established program through an organization such as the Arc of Maryland. Officials at the Department of Health say the self-directed services program has had “unsustainable” growth in recent years, which has contributed to higher-than-anticipated spending.

The department is hoping to nudge more transitioning youth to community services, potentially saving the state around $9.2 million.

But Guzzone says that while the cuts originally intended for FY ’25 have been pushed off until July 1, there is still a lot of discussion ahead on which cuts will actually stick around to the final budget for fiscal ’26.

“We’ve still got a long way to go, hundreds of millions of dollars at issue for ’26 that we have to go through,” Guzzone said Friday. “This is a very complicated department, complicated formulas. You may have heard the director of Legislative Services saying this was a ‘black box’ … that’s because it’s confusing.”

“The (fiscal) ’26 part is really uncertain. We will do what we can as we move along,” he said.


by Danielle J. Brown, Maryland Matters
February 24, 2025

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected].

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: Maryland News

Senate warns of $500 million more in budget cuts, ahead of likely ‘disastrous’ federal action

February 22, 2025 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

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 Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) said lawmakers are attempting to craft a state budget even as they expect cuts to federal aid before the end of the 2025 legislative session. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters)

Senate leaders said the legislature is preparing for as much as $500 million in additional cuts to an already strapped fiscal 2026 budget, as they brace for federal reductions and look to rework Gov. Wes Moore’s tax proposals.

“We do believe in the next couple of weeks we will get a better picture as to the extent of the, honestly, disastrous cuts that are likely going to be shifted to the states ahead of the March 14 shutdown date,” Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) said during a weekly meeting with reporters.

Ferguson said he is hopeful that when other states start seeing cuts from a Republican-controlled White House and Congress, “be it Medicaid, FEMA, public education — that they speak to their congressional representatives and explain the pain that would be ahead for cost shifts. But we don’t know where that’s going to land yet, and so that’s a big uncertainty.”

In addition to uncertainty about the federal budget, Senate Budget and Taxation Chair Guy Guzzone (D-Howard) said fiscal committees in the House and Senate are looking at a full range of options, which he predicts could include $200-$500 million in cuts to offset likely changes to unpopular parts of the governor’s budget.

“Some of it will be a backfill of cuts that have already been made that we disagree with that are in the governor’s budget,” Guzzone said in an interview. “Some of it will be some changes in the tax policies.”

Guzzone said lawmakers in both chambers are interested in restoring cuts Moore made to mental health, the Victims of Crime Act and cancer research. The are also trying to restore $235 million in cuts to the Developmental Disabilities Administration.

“There are things that we have very common beliefs in,” Guzzone said. “We see it as our responsibility.”

 Budget books for the fiscal 2025 budget proposed by Gov. Wes Moore (D). (File photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters)

Guzzone said he and his committee continue to eye Moore’s plan to eliminate itemized deductions in income taxes — a key element of his effort to clear what was already projected to be a $3 billion budget deficit for the coming year.

“There’s a middle-class component — although a higher middle-class component — that is still of concern to people, particularly in the overall context of inflation, energy prices and mortgage rates,” Guzzone told Maryland Matters. “You put all that together and we’re very, very sensitive to thinking about how Marylanders, at multiple income levels, are surviving right now and whether or not they’re thriving.”

When asked about possible changes to the governor’s tax plan, Moore spokesperson Carter Elliott said in a prepared statement Friday eveninig that the governor “will continue to work in partnership with the dedicated leaders of the General Assembly to pass a balanced budget that makes Maryland safer, more affordable, more competitive.”

Moore in January proposed a revamping of the state tax code that he said would cut taxes for roughly six in 10 taxpayers. Those taxpayers would get an additional $173 on average, according to a report earlier this month from the Board of Revenue Estimates.

The board said nearly two in 10 would pay more — $1,458 more on average — and high-income taxpayers would pay $20,800 more on average.

The board also warned that eliminating itemized deductions would mean higher taxes even for those “with modest income.”

Moore’s plan also adds a 1% surcharge on capital gains for high earners — which the board described as “volatile” source of revenue. The board has become more cautious in the recent past about projecting capital gains revenue, and has urged lawmakers to keep expectations modest because of volatility in capital gains.

“The proposal on net shifts tax burdens to a smaller number of high-income taxpayers who have a greater share of volatile nonwage income,” board Chair Robert Rehrmann wrote in a Feb. 6 letter to state Budget Secretary Helene Grady and Department of Legislative Services Executive Director Victoria Gruber.

Rehrmann said the surcharge on capital gains means revenues “will increase more in good years and grow more slowly or decline by a greater amount in recessions and/or stock market corrections. As such, the revenue gained from the proposed changes likely will vary from year-to-year as we go from booms to busts.”

Guzzone said he and others are concerned that eliminating itemization will create a disincentive to donate to charities who fill gaps in government services.

When asked if there is a chance the governor’s plan could be shelved this session, Guzzone said lawmakers “may end up there easily.”

Senate Budget and Taxation Chair Guy Guzzone (D-Howard) said lawmakers are watching for federal budget cuts and eyeing changes to the governor’s budget proposal. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters)

“If nothing else, by nature, legislative bodies tend to be more slow moving, more deliberative,” he said. “I tend to be that myself. I’m not one to jump into things quickly.”

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has moved quickly to act on his campaign promise to slash the federal workforce, which could cut into ‘exrevenues for Maryland, with its high number of federal workers.

The Republican-controlled Congress could follow suit with budget proposals in the coming weeks, further complicating Maryland’s budget picture.

Lawmakers will get an updated look at revenue projections when the Board of Revenue Estimates meets March 6, its last meeting before the April 7  end of the legislative session.

A week after that meeting, the federal government could shut down, when a continuing budget resolution expires March 13. Democratic lawmakers in Annapolis believe at this point that a government shutdown is more likely than not.

The uncertainty has scrambled the schedule for the budget: Instead of the House sending the budget to the Senate by March 5, that handoff has now been pushed back to March 18 or 19.That means lawmakers will likely miss a March 31 deadline to complete the budget, triggering an automatic letter from the governor ordering the General Assembly to stay in session until a budget is done.

Ferguson downplayed that scenario, saying such orders are not unusual.

“That is a mandatory message. It always causes a lot of angst,” Ferguson said earlier this week. “We are making a note: That message will come out this year, but it is anticipated, and we’re adjusting and accounting for it in the budget now, so that we can figure out what happens after March 13 at the federal level, and try — to the degree feasible — to take that into account.”

He called it “exceedingly, exceedingly unlikely” at this point that the General Assembly will have to remain in session past April 7, its scheduled last day for 2025. But a government shutdown as the session ends could change things.

“It’s hard to predict anything right now given the level of uncertainty that’s out there,” Ferguson said. “I can’t imagine us extending session. I think we’ll have a general idea of where things stand in the case the shutdown is still going on for weeks and weeks. We may have to readjust at a different time in the year.”

There is growing talk of a special session later this year to address budget issues, possibly before the federal fiscal year starts on Oct. 1.

Before then, the Board of Public Works — consisting of the governor, the comptroller and state treasurer — has the ability to cut up to 25% of the budget. The last two governors — Larry Hogan (R) and Martin O’Malley (D) — used the board to make budget cuts during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Great Recession, respectively.

The board in July approved nearly $150 million in changes to the current budget, which Moore characterized at the time as cuts. Reductions then in some areas of the budget were used to offset higher-than-expected costs to Medicaid and other programs.

Guzzone said House and Senate lawmakers have adjusted the budget schedule to allow the House “to hear or receive the results of what may happen” with a possible government shutdown. “Obviously, that could dramatically change everything in one second.”

Guzzone and others are hoping the change will give decision-makers the time and information, “whether or not it becomes a government shutdown or not.”

“We hope we will at least be able to glean some information from the intent that’s implied, if there is a new CR [continuing resoution], to what will be happening in the future.,” he said.


by Bryan P. Sears, Maryland Matters
February 21, 2025

 

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected].

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: Maryland News

How did we get here?: Analysts, officials unsure how disability agency overspent

February 10, 2025 by Maryland Matters 1 Comment

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 Health Secretary Laura Herrera Scott (right) and DDA Deputy Secretary Marlan Hutchinson on a panel during a Budget and Taxation Committee hearing. (Photo by Danielle J. Brown/Maryland Matters)

Gov. Wes Moore’s proposal to slash $200 million in funding for a state administration that supports residents with developmental disabilities sent shockwaves into the community that relies on those supports.

It’s one of the largest cuts in the governor’s attempt to fill a $3 billion budget deficit this year — particularly notable given that the agency only serves about 20,500 Marylanders.

While Moore’s proposed budget funds the Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) at $1.3 billion in fiscal 2026, officials say cuts are necessary to contain growing costs for the DDA, which has seen unsustainable increased expenses and enrollment in recent years.

But how did Maryland get to a point where the agency is over $200 million in the hole? Analysts and legislators are still trying to piece together details.

“I don’t think any of us want to cut DDA – we certainly don’t want to cut DDA more than we need to,” Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Anne Arundel and Howard) said in a recent interview.

“I am curious as to how our forecasting hasn’t predicted the need would increase this significantly,” he said. “Any cuts, particularly in services for those in need, are difficult. We are obviously facing a very difficult budget situation currently, so fiscal decisions need to be made.”

State analysts are combing through details for future budget discussions but have found some factors that contributed to the unanticipated shortfall.

DDA’s ‘black box’ budget

In a recent hearing in the Senate Budget and Taxation committee, David Romans, a budget analyst for Department of Legislative Services, said that the General Assembly budgeted just over $1 billion in general funds for the current fiscal year for DDA’s community services, which is 97% of the agency’s expenses.

But actual spending has overshot by some $450 million, “about 42% higher than what was originally appropriated and thought to be the correct amount for the fiscal 2025,” according to Romans.

It’s not the first time the DDA overspent its budget.

The DDA began overspending its annual budget in 2021, with significant spending increases in 2023 and 2024. But state analysts are not entirely clear why costs are rising for the agency.

State analysts say expenses for the Developmental Disabilities Administration has outpaced annual budgets since 2021. Courtesy of the Department of Legislative Services 

Romans said that part of the challenge has been an ongoing lack of transparency from the DDA — along with inadequate probing from state oversight agencies.

“The DDA budget has always been a little bit of a black box … It’s never been easy to tease out what is driving changes in the budget, and that’s been true for decades,” Romans told the committee in January. “That makes it very hard for DLS, DBM [Department of Budget and Management], any of these oversight groups to be able to understand what’s going on. It puts a lot of reliance on getting information from the health department.”

Romans said responses from the department were “vague” and “in retrospect, incomplete” whenever DLS followed up on changes in the budget and expenses.

“They do provide numbers that add up to the allowance,” Romans said. “You can’t easily figure out what are the rate increases — and in recent years there’s been a lot of unusual things related to COVID and some of the federal flexibilities that the state received that the DDA took advantage of. But you couldn’t pull that out of the data that was being submitted so you had to go back to the department and ask for information.”

Budget and Taxation Committee Chair Guy Guzzone (D-Howard) asked if the shortfall was due to “essentially an accounting failure — it’s not at a sophistication of accounting that other agencies have provided.”

“I think that’s fair,” Romans said. He wished his department pushed harder for answers.

“It’s really important … to have more transparent DDA budget process,” Romans said. “I wish we had asked more questions than we did. Sorry that we didn’t – and that we didn’t raise more concerns … about the somewhat vague answers.”

New payment schedule for providers

While the DDA’s spending has exceeded its annual allocated budget since 2021, the 2024 fiscal year showed the largest difference between the actual spending and the DDA’s appropriated funds.

That year, the DDA community service expenses exceeded its allotted $1.8 billion budget by $865 million. Some cost increases were expected due to provider rate increases that year.

But some cost increases emerged during a transition on how providers were paid by the state, according to analysts.

“We knew that the payments under the new system were going to be larger than under the old system, and that was by design, that wasn’t a surprise,” Romans said. “But we weren’t quite sure how much larger they were going to be.”

The DDA administers Medicaid waivers that allow Marylanders with developmental disabilities to receive a wide variety of services, from live-in caregiver supports to transportation, respite care, employment services and more. The Medicaid waivers primarily are split between state and federal funding, and the state health department issues payments to providers for their work with waiver recipients.

Prior to 2019, the DDA used a prospective payment model meaning that providers were paid in advance and costs were reconciled later.

The state moved to a fee-for-service model starting in 2019, called the Long Term Services Support System (LTSS), where providers would be reimbursed after services were provided. Most providers switched the new payment model in 2023 and 2024, and as of September 2024, all providers were using the fee-for-service payment model.

But as more providers transitioned into fee-for-service, costs appeared to have increased by about $300 million, though DLS is not completely sure why that happened.

“The LTSS seems to be the big driver here,” Guzzone said. “Is it your impression that $300 million more services were provided? Or the same services, costing $300 million more?”

“I believe that it’s the same services, though there could also been an increase in utilization,” Victoria Martinez, DLS policy analyst, responded.

Despite apparent increasing costs under the fee-for-service model, Secretary Laura Herrera Scott says that the new system is more stable and predictable.

A graph showing Developmental Disability Administration expenses under two payment systems. The orange line represents prospective funding that would be later reconciled, while the green line represents a fee-for-service model. Courtesy of the Maryland Department of Health. 

 

“Under the prospective model payment system, providers received payments that would be reconciled at a later date,” she told the committee. “As claims and expenses came in, they would have to be reconciled against that large upfront payment … it was difficult to predict expenditures moving forward because you were always reconciling advanced payments with the services that were rendered after the fact.

“The current system reimburses providers based on claims as they’re rendered. So you can match the payment to the actual services that were rendered,” Herrera Scott said. “We can track the expenses, so given the transition into the new system, payments are now relatively stable and easier to project … That’s not something that DDA had ever prior to transitioning.”

Growing costs of self-directed services

An ongoing concern for the health department is an “unsustainable” growth in enrollment and costs in the state’s self-directed services.

In 2024, there were 16,827 Marylanders who selected a community model Medicaid waiver, where people join an established organization for disability care. But 3,632 waiver recipients elected the self-directed model, where the waiver recipient or their family hires individual employees for services.

According to the health department, enrollment for self-directed services have increased over 30% in both 2023 and 2024, particularly among young people who transition into the Medicaid waiver from school.

Annual enrollment increases for Developmental Disabilities administration, showing a greater increase in self-directed services. Courtesy of Maryland Department of Health. 

The Maryland school system oversees students with developmental disabilities until they age out at 21. Herrera Scott said that up until 2024, most transitioning youths would choose to join a community service provider, but now they’re more likely to choose the self-direction option.

“In prior years, about 80% of our transitioning youth chose traditional services over self-directed services, and this year, that number flipped that we saw about 75-80% of our transitioning youth selecting self-directed services.”

The governor’s budget proposes a $13 million reduction to eliminate certain wage increases for self-directed service staff. The budget also proposes a cap on certain goods and services that a self-directed waiver recipient can buy with Medicaid funds.

Those proposals have led to led to an outcry from self-directed Marylanders with disabilities who feel that their model is being unfairly targeted compared to the total budget concerns.

Department of Budget and Management Secretary Helene Grady told the Budget and Tax committee in January that there is “still more work to do … to understand what level of data we need on an ongoing basis to understand what’s happening within these costs and how best to optimize general funds across this universe towards the best outcomes for the clients.”

“We did not have a solid understanding … of the precise cost drivers, how much of the cost increase was true structural recurring costs, verses temporary costs related to the transition in reimbursement models and billing systems,” Grady said. “Those are key questions for us.”

“But this work is not done,” she said.


by Danielle J. Brown, Maryland Matters
February 10, 2025

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected].

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: Maryland News

Moore delivers State of the State address that lays out ‘tough choices’ for lawmakers

February 6, 2025 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

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 Lawmakers listen as Gov. Wes Moore (D) delivers his third State of the State address Wednesday. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters)

Gov. Wes Moore used his third State of the State address to call for bipartisan cooperation from lawmakers to solve the mounting fiscal challenges facing the state.

While his previous addresses to a joint session of the House and Senate tended to be focused on promise, Moore’s address Wednesday was focused on problems. The first-term Democrat also tried to make the case for why his plan, focused on changes to the tax code and on growing the state economy away from its reliance on the federal government, is the right medicine, even if it seems unpalatable.

“Many Marylanders are scared,” Moore said, in closing his 49-minute speech. “They’re trying to figure out where things are and how things are going for them and their families. They’re looking to us to provide solutions, to know they’re going to be OK.”

Marylanders are looking for elected officials “to make the tough choices,” Moore said.

“I know we’re not going to agree on everything, but I want us to agree on this: Let’s stand united in our commitment to working together, Democrats and Republicans, to do what is required in this moment,” Moore said. “Let’s put the politics to the side. Let’s answer this crisis with courage. Let’s rally together as one state and as one people, and let’s render these two storms, as we always have and as we always will, together.”

For the most part, Moore’s speech was a recitation of proposals already made public, including a desire to grow the state economy.

“Growth will continue to be our north star, because a growing Maryland leads the rest of the nation and has the resources and the willpower to deliver the results for the people that we serve, no matter the obstacles that are,” said Moore, noting a focus on “lighthouse industries” — information technology, life sciences, aerospace and defense.

“I want Maryland to be the capital of quantum and AI [artificial intelligence] and clean energy and biotech, and I want to make sure that all the sectors that will define the economy of tomorrow will be housed right here in the state of Maryland,” he said.

Moore called out Harry Coker Jr., his new secretary of Commerce, who he said would bolster those efforts.

“He is widely regarded as one of America’s most respected leaders in defense, intelligence and cyber security,” Moore said. “So, at a time when Maryland is ready to make some big bets on industries and the future, it is a very big deal that Harry Coker is going to help.”

Moore also touched on a newer proposal focusing on men and boys — reducing suicide and incarceration rates while increasing labor participation and college attainment.

“I want to be clear; this administration remains steadfast in our support for all Marylanders, regardless of their gender or their background,” Moore said. “As the father both a son and a daughter, I want both of my children to grow up with all of their God -honoring and God-given opportunities. But if we want to truly unleash the power of Maryland’s labor force, we need to make sure that our men and boys are all right and … are not continuing to fall behind.”

Part of the solution to the state’s budget problem is a spending plan that cuts 1% of the general fund budget (the total budget including federal funds grows by 1%), and adjusts the tax code.

“You cannot look at the system we have right now and say it makes sense,” Moore said.

Moore said his proposed changes would mean 82% of taxpayers would pay less or see no change in their taxes. The remaining 18% — Moore among them — would see increases.

“We’ll be asking people that have done exceptionally well to pay a little bit more so we can invest and grow our economy,” he said.

The governor did not directly declare the state of the state, leaving that to the audience.

When asked, House Majority Leader David Moon (D-Montgomery) said the state of the state “can only go up.”

“I think a good portion of the governor’s remarks were highlighting some of the challenges that Maryland is facing, both in terms of its budget and in terms of the onslaught of changes from the Trump administration that both affect our budget and our residents,” Moon said.

Moon said neither the “hard-nosed reality” nor the solutions presented Wednesday were “necessarily moments for applause.”

Republicans had tougher characterizations.

“Dire,” said House Minority Whip Del. Jesse T. Pippy (R-Frederick)

“I really, truly think we’re at a crossroads,” House Minority Leader Del. Jason Buckel (R-Allegany) said after Moore’s address. Buckel delivered a Republican view of the state in a broadcast speech taped a day before Moore’s address.

But Republicans make up less than 30% of the General Assembly. In previous years, the Democratic supermajority lavished Moore with thunderous applause, but this year — beleaguered by federal politics, stark budget realities and, in some cases, dissatisfaction with the executive — those same lawmakers were less effusive, more sober, more subdued.

Privately, some Democrats characterized the governor’s proposals as bolstered with fake cuts. Those that were real, such as reductions for services for people with developmental disabilities, were seen as a way to force tax increases.

Some cuts were flatly opposed. Dels. Vanessa Atterbeary (D-Howard) and Ben Barnes (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) — chairs of the House Ways and Means and the Appropriations committees, respectively — vocally opposed the administration’s proposed changes to the education reform plan, the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.

Publicly, other Democrats praised Moore’s speech.

Judicial Proceedings Chair Sen. Will Smith (D-Montgomery) called the speech a “great effort” to encourage lawmakers and Marylanders amid the budget shortfall and the “unsteady head” of the federal government.

“It was a very encouraging speech … in tremendously uncertain times,” Smith said.

Former Gov. Parris Glendening has been in Moore’s shoes. Glendening, who was governor from 1994 to 2003, said Moore did “a good job” balancing what the state does well with problems it faces. But he said the address also has to represent bipartisanship and while supporting your political base.

“When you put all that together, it’s tough,” Glendening said outside the State House. “It’s always a challenge because the State of the State is a mixture to help people feel good, no matter what.”

Glendening said one of Moore’s toughest challenges is “the total chaos” from the Trump administration, including his push to slash the number of federal federal workers, more than 160,000 of whom live in Maryland.

“He must wake up every morning and say, ‘What the heck is going to hit us today?’” Glendening said. “[Moore] did his part in trying to pull people together, and at the same time, expressing total concern about the chaos of the national government.”

Del. Jheanelle K. Wilkins (D-Montgomery), chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, called it Moore’s best and most substantive State of the State speech yet.

“He did a great job of characterizing the challenges we’re facing, but also how we’re working together to address them,” she said.

That doesn’t mean the Black Caucus agrees with all of Moore’s proposals. It has particularly criticized his call to limit the Blueprint’s plan to expand community schools, which provide a range of services beyond classroom teaching in some of Maryland’s poorest neighborhoods. That’s likely to be a topic of conversation Thursday morning, when Moore will host the caucus for a breakfast at Government House.

“I don’t view that as a move forward,” Wilkins said.

The governor  has also proposed slowing the  growth of per pupil funding and delaying funding for “collaborative time” in the Blueprint.

But the administration has also included $134 million for a four-year program to increase the number of teachers, another four-year, $48 million grant program to let schools start implementing collaborative time, programs to develop principals and other school-based leaders, and a national campaign to attract out-of-state teachers to Maryland. Moore said the Blueprint remains vital to the state’s future.

“But if history teaches us anything, it’s that laws of enormous consequence must be adjusted in order to endure changing times,” he said of the law the created the Blueprint three years ago. “Working together to make the Blueprint more successful and sustainable does not mean we are backing down. It means we are stepping up.”

Atterbeary said she and Barnes disagree “100%” with the governor’s “cuts” to per pupil and collaborative time funding.

“As far as we stand right now, we are not changing the Blueprint,” Atterbeary said after the speech.

She said Moore’s plan to cut community schools funding affects students in most need.

Gov. Wes Moore (D) delivers his third state of the state address on Wednesday. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters.)

Howard county Executive Calvin Ball (D) in the State House for the 2025 State of the State address. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters.)

Del. Robbyn lewis (D-Baltimore City) before the 2025 State of the State address. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters.)

Former Gov. Parris Glendening and Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich talk before the 2025 State of the State address. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters.)

Del. Karen Simpson (D-Frederick) had one of the biggest reactions to Gov. Wes Moore’s speech when Moore highlighted highway projects in her county during his State of the State address. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters.)

House Ways and Means Chair Del. Vanessa Atterbeary (D-Howard) said she disagrees with Gov. Wes Moore’s budget proposals that would delay implementation of portions of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform plan. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters.)

House Appropriations Chair Ben Barnes (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) chats in the House chamber before the 2025 State of the State address. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters.)

Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) addresses a joint session of the House and Senate. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters.)

Sen. Stephen S. Hershey Jr. (R-Upper Shore) hugs Del. Stephanie Smith (D-Baltimore City). (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters.)

Del. Diana M. Fennell (D-Prince George’s). (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters.)

House Environment and Transportation Committee Chair Marc Korman (D-Montgomery). (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters.)

“That is not what we should be doing, particularly in this climate with the federal government erasing help to those in need financially, getting rid of DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion programs], getting rid of anything related to LGBTQ+ plus communities,” she said. “We need to be more supportive of those populations and that is not what he’s proposing.”

Her and Barnes’ committees plan to hold a joint hearing on the House version of the Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act, which includes the proposed changes to the Blueprint. Atterbeary challenged Moore to testify on behalf of his proposal, saying “it’s his bill. I think he would.”

Senate Majority Leader Nancy J. King (D-Montgomery) said the governor did well in his speech with a focus on helping the business community, but also acknowledging concerns about the budget and the uncertainty of new leadership in the federal government in nearby Washington, D.C.

“I think he’s on the right track,” King said about Moore.

She agrees with his proposal to pause funding to expand collaborative time – out-of-classroom time for teachers to do planning or work with students – because the state has a teacher shortage, especially with up to 15,000 teachers needed to make it work next school year.

“Even if it is 1,000 teachers, where are we going to get them?” King asked. “That’s the problem. If you look at how much the Blueprint costs, we don’t have the money to do all that yet, and we don’t have the people.

“You can’t just snap your fingers and have that come about,” she said. “We’ve got to be cultivating and inducing people to go into teaching. We all have the right direction in mind with the Blueprint, but we’ve got to use common sense along with it.”

King is a co-sponsor of the Senate version of the Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act. The Senate’s  Budget and Taxation and its Education and Energy and the Environment committees are scheduled to hold a joint hearing on the bill on Feb. 12.

House Environment and Transportation Committee Chair Marc Korman (D-Montgomery) said Moore’s address fit the current national political dynamic appropriately.

“It was a sobering speech because it is a sobering moment, especially with what’s going on in Washington,” he said. “He accurately characterizes the storm from Washington. I think he was a little gracious. I would have used another four-letter word before the word storm.”

But Senate Republican leaders said the governor’s speech lacked specifics on how the state will pull itself out of the budget shortfall.

“I think if the Maryland public were going to listen to this, they’d want to hear a little more of the details on how we’re going to get out of the most important issue that we face this session, and that’s the budget,” said Senate Majority Stephen S. Hershey Jr. (R-Upper Shore).

“I don’t think the governor gave a lot of solutions there,” he said. “We did not hear one thing about energy. And if you talk to legislators down here outside of the budget, that is the most important issue that we’re dealing with.”

Hershey also believes that Moore’s use of the word “chaos” in reference to the Trump administration is problematic, especially as the state relies on federal funding and grants that could be on the line under President Donald Trump. He said chaos is “not an endearing term.”

“It’s certainly not a recommendation from us to criticize the Trump administration when you’re relying so heavily on funding that comes from them – especially on big projects like the Key Bridge,” Hershey said.

Senate Minority Whip Justin Ready (R-Frederick and Carroll) said Maryland should take a cue from the Trump administration’s scrutiny and evaluation of programs that the federal government spends money on.

“The idea that it’s somehow chaos – that’s what our state needs to be doing,” he said. “It’s going top to bottom, looking at every spending program, Marylanders are literally just suffering right now – high cost of living, high taxes, high energy prices.

“The governor alluded to an effort to try to find some efficiencies in state government. We need to go hard-core on that,” Ready said.


by Bryan P. Sears, Josh Kurtz, William J. Ford and Danielle J. Brown, Maryland Matters
February 6, 2025

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected].

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: Maryland News

Hundreds of developmental disability advocates rally against DDA budget cuts

February 4, 2025 by Maryland Matters 1 Comment

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Advocates for people with developmental disabilities rallied at the State House Monday night in opposition to $200 million in cuts proposed by Gov. Wes. Moore (D) in his fiscal 2026 budget. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters)

 

Hundreds of people with developmental disabilities, their families and support staff, gathered at the State House on Monday evening to demand the legislature reject a proposal to cut hundreds of millions from the state agency that oversees services and financial support for the community.

“We will not be silent, we will be heard,” said Mat Rice, executive director for People on the Go Maryland, “but what has to be clear is these budget cuts have got to go.”

The crowd of hundreds began to chant: “Hey Hey! Ho Ho! These budget cuts have got to go!”

The advocates say that the state’s $3 billion budget deficit is being balanced on the backs of the disability community, due to a proposed $200 million cut to the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Administration to help offset the shortfall. State health officials have said the cuts are needed to rein in unsustainable growth in the agency and provide additional financial accountability for those services.

But advocates and organizations with the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Coalition say that cuts should not come at the expense of the community the agency supports.

“We should not have to suffer for the mistakes of the Department of Health. We should not be victims of accounting errors,” Rice said.

The rally comes at a time when lawmakers face tough decisions about the state’s fiscal outlook as they evaluate Gov. Wes Moore’s (D) proposed $67 billion budget for fiscal 2026. Uncertainty about the reliability of future federal fund under the Trump administration strains the financial picture further.

One of the more challenging elements to the proposed budget is the $200 million cut to the Developmental Disabilities Administration, which oversees Medicaid waivers that provide resources and financial help for about 20,500 Marylanders with disabilities.

Hundreds packed Lawyers Mall outside the State House for Monday’s rally. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters.)

 Sen. Craig J. Zucker (D-Montgomery), who has a son with autism, promised the crowd Monday to be an ally for the community in the State House as budget discussions continue.

“There are things that might get cut — these are tough budget times,” he said. “But we have to make sure that we’re continuing to look out for the most vulnerable in our community.”

Meeka Caldwell, a member of the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council and mother of a son with Down syndrome, said the proposed cut will reduce access to resources that many Marylanders rely on.

“We cannot stand by and allow cuts to DDA services,” she told the crowd. “Cutting funds is not just a budget decision. It puts the well-being of people with disabilities and their families at risk … We cannot balance the budget on our most vulnerable. The demand for these services are growing, not shrinking. Instead of cuts, we need investments.”

The $200 million cut is a combination of several “cost containment” efforts. A large portion of the cut would reduce or eliminate certain wage increases for support staff, which advocates believe will cause professionals to leave the field in droves to find better-paying jobs.

Ande Kolp, executive director for The Arc Maryland, said that the proposed cuts would be heart-breaking.

“We cannot provide the same services, or more, with less funding per person,” Kolp said. “We cannot look to our hard-working direct support professionals, the backbone of our services in Maryland, and tell them that we appreciate them, but we need to cut their pay.”

Other cuts include financial programs that help families afford additional goods and services that could ease the lives of their loved ones with disabilities.

Tavon Jackson with the Arc of Baltimore is worried about how the proposed cuts will impact people with developmental disabilities.

“A change in DD (developmental disability) services will hurt people with disabilities,” he said. “Losing those services means other people won’t have the opportunity to be successful.

“I’m scared for the future, so I really hope they can help us,” he said.


by Danielle J. Brown, Maryland Matters
February 3, 2025

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected].

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: Maryland News

O’Malley’s bid for DNC chair falls well short; Ken Martin new chair

February 3, 2025 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

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 Former Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) finished a distant third Saturday in a field of eight running to be the next chair of the Democratic National Committee. (Photo courtesy the Governor’s Office)

Former Gov. Martin O’Malley’s Facebook page lists his former job “at state of Maryland” and more recently as head of the Social Security Administration.

The next entry will not be Democratic National Committee chair.

O’Malley, who became one of the first to throw his hat in the ring after the party’s poor performance in last fall’s electiion, came in a distant third Saturday in a field of eight candidates. At the Democratic National Committee meeting in National Harbor, Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chair Ken Martin easily won the election on the first ballot.

Martin had 246.5 votes to 134.5 for Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler and 44 votes for O’Malley. Four delegates abstained, two voted for Faiz Shakir, who managed the 2020 presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and one voted for Massachusetts political strategist Jason Paul. The remaining candidates — Marianne Williamson, Quintessa Hathaway and Nate Snyder — received no votes.

In a statement posted to social media after the vote, O’Malley thanked party member said that running to lead tha party “in these times has been a duty and an honor.”

“Thank you, Democrats. Congratulations to Ken Martin on your victory. All of us must work together to change our party so we can save our country,” his statement said.

It echoed O’Malley’s pitch to the party before the vote, when he challenged them to elect a leader who would take bold steps to change the party and save the country.

“The change that we need to win is not going to be achieved by tinkering around the edges,” he said, “nor will it be achieved by turning the Democratic Party over to a handful of billionaires who pull strings from behind curtains and try to walk our elected officials on short leashes like dogs.”

Since entering the race in November, O’Malley has touted his experience as an administrator, a fundraiser and as the only elected official running for chair. He called on Democrats on Saturday to “reclaim the brand of this party, which is to fight for the economic security of every man, woman and child in America.”

Most of the day was dedicated to attacks on President Donald Trump and his actions in his first two weeks in office to pardon Jan. 6 rioters, target opponents to his first administration, fire inspectors general of federal agencies and surround himself with billionaires. Many were like Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) who called Trump’s actions so far a “recipe for corruption.”

“This has nothing to do with making the government more efficient. I’m all in on making the government more efficient,”  Van Hollen said. “I’m not about turning the keys over to Elon Musk and his cronies.”

That sentiment was popular among candidates, with both Wikler and Martin saying during the campaign that the party needed to avoid taking money from billionaire donors, and work to regain the support of working class and Black and Latino voters, who moved away from the part in the last wlection.

Martin has been chair of the DFL Party in Minnesota since 2011, which was undefeated in statewide races under his leadership. He was elected to lead the Association of State Democratic Chairs in 2017.

But he has his work cut out for him as DNC chair. He takes over a national party that is unmoored and faces two years as the minority party, after Republicans captured the White House and the Senate and maintained control — barely — of the House in November.

At several points during the daylong Democratic meeting, speakers were interrupted by hecklers, but Martin said after his win that the party needs to be “one team, one fight.”

“The figbt is not in here, the fight is out there,” Martin said. “The fight is for our values, the fight is for working people. The fight right now is against Donald Trump and the billionaires who bought this country.”

He called on Democrats to “roll up our sleeves together to build this party.”

In a statement Saturday afternoon, Maryland Democratic Party Chair Ken Ulman said the state party is ready to work alongside Martin “to protect our democracy, hold Republicans accountable, and deliver for working families.”

“Ken [Martin] intimately understands what Maryland has shown firsthand: Sustained investment in local infrastructure and year-round organizing are the keys to winning tough races and building long-term power,” Ulman’s statement said.


by Steve Crane, Maryland Matters
February 1, 2025

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected].

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: Maryland News

No survivors found in crash between military helicopter and jet over Potomac

January 31, 2025 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

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The Maryland context From Maryland Matters

The victims included at least five Marylanders who were returning home from a hunting trip on Flight 5342, according to social media posts on local labor union sites.

Four members of United Association Steamfitters Local 602, based in Capitol Heights, and one member of UA Plumbers and Gasfitters Local 5 in Lanham died in the crash, according to statements from their respective unions. News reports indicated that they they were part of a larger group that had gone on a duck-hunting trip together. Their names were not immediately available and a passenger manifest had not been released as of Thursday evening.

Reports of other Maryland deaths could not be immediately confirmed Thursday. In Northern Virginia, Fairfax County Public Schools officials announced that three students and six parents died in the crash. They were returning from a figure skating event in Wichita, Kansas, according to the school system’s statement.

WASHINGTON — An American Airlines regional jet carrying 64 people collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter late Wednesday near Reagan National Airport in Virginia just across from the District of Columbia, plunging both aircraft into the Potomac River.

“Unfortunately we were not able to rescue anyone,” Jack Potter, head of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, said during a Thursday morning press conference.

American Eagle flight 5342 had originated in Wichita, Kansas. Those aboard included U.S. figure skaters traveling from Kansas as well as from Russia, according to the U.S. Figure Skating association and the Kremlin.

American Airlines confirmed there were 60 passengers on board and four flight crew and that the flight was landing at DCA, the National Airport call letters. The crash occurred around 9 p.m. Eastern Wednesday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

John Donnelly, D.C. fire chief, said about 300 emergency responders were searching the Potomac. Donnelly noted in a Thursday morning press conference at the airport that they were pivoting from rescue operations to recovery.

He said 27 bodies had been recovered from the plane and one from the helicopter.

President Donald Trump said at a Thursday morning press briefing from the White House, “We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions.”

Minutes later he added, “This has been a terrible very short period of time. We’ll get to the bottom of it.”

Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and newly installed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spent several minutes during the remarks blaming the crash on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and the administrations of former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

When asked by reporters how he knew that diversity among air traffic controllers was a factor in the crash, Trump responded: “Because I have common sense.”

Hegseth earlier said on social media that an investigation by DOD and the Army has “launched immediately.”

The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation of the crash, officials said.

Hegseth posted an email statement from spokesperson Heather Chairez for the U.S. military’s Joint Task Force-National Capital Region, stating that the helicopter had been on a training flight. The helicopter was operating out of Davison Army Airfield in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, according to the statement.

Many questions

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said during the airport press conference that “at this time we don’t know why the military aircraft came into the path” of the passenger aircraft.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said that she had spoken to Trump administration officials, but not directly with Trump.

Trump overnight posted on social media, seemingly criticizing that the crash occurred, and that it’s a “a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented.”

“The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport,” he said. “The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane.”

Secretary of Transportation Duffy said at the airport press conference that he agreed the crash was preventable, that Wednesday night was “a clear night,” and that both aircraft were in a “standard flight pattern.”

“Prior to the collision, the flight paths that were being flown from the military and from American (Airlines), that was not unusual for what happens in the DC airspace,” Duffy said.

He added that “everything was standard in the lead up to the crash.”

“Something went wrong here,” Duffy said.

A separate White House statement noted that the president had been briefed and was monitoring the situation.

Virginia’s Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, who have raised concerns about crowded flight paths at DCA, said they look forward to the independent investigation from NTSB.

“It’s not a time to speculate,” Kaine said. “It’s a time to investigate and get answers to the questions we need, and I have confidence that will be done.”

Difficult conditions for rescue operations

Bowser said the governors of Maryland and Virginia provided D.C. with personnel to aid in search and rescue operations.

Donnelly noted there were major challenges in the rescue operations, such as water that’s 8 feet deep, freezing temperatures, and the cover of night.

“There is wind, there is pieces of ice out there, so it’s just dangerous and hard to work in, and because there’s not a lot of lights, you’re out there searching every square inch of space to see if you can find anybody,” he said. “The water is dark, it is murky, and that is a very tough condition for them to dive in.”

Kansas Republican Sens. Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall were at an earlier press conference at DCA, hours after the crash.

“We’re we will do everything we can to make certain that we’re supportive of the rescue efforts, and we’ll do everything we can to make certain that our subcommittee and Congress is engaged in what needs to take place following the outcome of this evening and this this month’s kind of investigation,” Moran said.

Moran sits on the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. He added that he’s talked to the White House, American Airlines and DOD.

At the first press conference hours after the crash, Duffy noted that there would be an investigation.

“So obviously, there’ll be a review of what happened here tonight, and after the FAA studies what happened, we will take appropriate action if necessary to modify flight paths,” Duffy said.

Marshall expressed his sympathies with those on board the flight.

“We wish there was more that we can do,” he said. “I want the folks back home to know that we care and we love them.”

U.S. Figure Skating confirmed that several of its team members were on the flight.

“These athletes, coaches, and family members were returning home from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas. We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts. We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available,” the organization said in a statement provided to States Newsroom.

Unknown number of Kansans aboard

Wichita Mayor Lily Wu said during a Thursday morning press conference at 8 a.m. Central that they had not received the flight manifest and do not know whether or how many Kansas residents were on board.

“I am in direct contact with American Airlines to find out the confirmed information to provide to all of you,” Wu said.

The Wichita Airport Authority activated its family incident support team Wednesday night, and Wu said one family came to the airport seeking information about the crash.

The direct flight from Wichita to Washington, D.C., began on Jan. 8, 2024, according to Wichita officials.

“We were very honored to have gotten that flight and continue to advocate for those nonstop flights out of our community,” Wu said. “This is a true tragedy, and one that this (city) council and myself want all of our community members to know that our hearts are heavy, they’re also grieving, and we will provide the support that we can to those who have been affected.”

U.S. Rep. Ron Estes said he was in touch with White House officials through Wednesday night.

“When a tragic incident like this happens, obviously, we want to do the investigation, which will take days and weeks to go through that process, and to make sure that we can prevent accidents like this from happening in the future,” Estes, who represents the Wichita area, said at the press briefing.

Kansas legislators react

Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, who represents the Wichita suburb of Andover, released a statement Thursday saying the crash was “unfathomable.”

“Last night, in the skies above our nation’s capital, a military helicopter collided with American Eagle Flight 5342 flying inbound from Wichita to Reagan National Airport. As our leaders seek answers, the Kansas Senate stands united in constant prayer for the passengers and crews, their families and loved ones, and every soul who is impacted by this awful tragedy. Together, we mourn for those who lost their lives and pray for God’s comfort for all,” Masterson said.

American Airlines is publishing updates at news.aa.com, and the company is instructing victims’ family members to call 1-800-679-8215.

Last updated 12:09 p.m., Jan. 30, 2025


by Ariana Figueroa and Ashley Murray, Maryland Matters
January 30, 2025

The Maryland context From Maryland Matters

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected].

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: Maryland News

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