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Blueprint Maintains Fiscal Responsibility, Urges Caution on Surplus and Rainy Day Fund
Includes Scholarships for Low-Income Students, Support for Non-Public Schools to Address Learning Loss
Advances Successful Initiatives to Support Small Businesses, Revitalize Communities, Downtowns, and Main Streets
Health Care Investments Support New UMMS Regional Medical Center in Easton, Expansion of Behavioral Health Services at Sheppard Pratt, Meritus Health’s School of Osteopathic Medicine, and Kennedy Krieger’s New Innovative Care Center
ANNAPOLIS, MD—Governor Larry Hogan today announced preliminary recommendations for the state’s Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) budget, a plan that supports continued economic growth and community revitalization, strong fiscal responsibility and budget sustainability, and key investments in critical areas—including expanding access to health care for rural and vulnerable communities.
“I pledged to bring fiscal responsibility and common sense to our state capitol,” said Governor Hogan. “I know this doesn’t usually happen in politics, but we then did exactly what we said we would do. We inherited the worst fiscal situation ever, and we are not just leaving the state’s finances in better shape than we found them, but leaving it in the best fiscal position than the state has ever been in history.”
Under the state’s budget process, the outgoing administration has prepared a preliminary budget to be submitted to the incoming administration, which will ultimately be tasked with submitting the final budget to the General Assembly no later than Friday, January 20.
Watch the governor’s announcement.
View the slides from today’s press conference.
Maintaining Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Sustainability
The recommended FY24 budget plan calls for preserving the state’s strong fiscal position by maintaining a substantial budget surplus and keeping the Rainy Day Fund at a record 12% of general fund revenues—all while continuing to fully fund core priorities.
Amid economic uncertainty and persistent inflation, the governor stressed the importance of limiting budgetary risk: “With continued inflation and economic uncertainty at the national level, we believe this is critically important. It would be a mistake for the legislature to use its newly expanded budgetary power to return to the old habits of raiding the Rainy Day Fund or recklessly spending down the surplus. We have worked too hard and made too much progress to turn the clock back.”
Record-Funding Education and Supporting Low-Income, High-Need Students
The recommended FY24 budget plan includes:
Expanding Access to Health Care Services For Rural and Vulnerable Communities
The recommended FY24 budget plan calls for $220 million in transformative health care investments to expand access to health care services for rural and vulnerable communities, including:
“We thank the Hogan administration for this important effort to address the challenge of rural health care in Maryland,” said Mohan Suntha, MD, MBA, President and CEO of the University of Maryland Medical System. “At UMMS, we are building upon our long tradition of excellence in patient care and innovation to be a leader in the transformation of healthcare statewide. As an academic health system, we are working throughout Maryland in diverse rural, urban and suburban settings to solve unique healthcare challenges. Over the last decade, we have invested in a comprehensive and integrated care delivery system with a presence in every county in the Mid-Shore and this new Regional Medical Center in Talbot County will allow our team members to maximize our capacity to deliver better outcomes for patients.”
“We thank Governor Hogan for this significant commitment to leverage the world-class resources of Sheppard Pratt to propel discovery and transform mental health care in Maryland and across the nation,” said Harsh K. Trivedi, MD, MBA, President and CEO of Sheppard Pratt. “During this unprecedented mental health crisis, our bold plan will build upon decades of partnership with the State of Maryland to create new tertiary psychiatric inpatient services for both children and adults, including the opening of a dedicated children’s hospital. As a national leader in the care and treatment of people with severe mental illness (SMI), this initiative will enable the development of new treatment modalities, spur innovation to ensure best practice implementation across the field, and reimagine and train the mental health workforce of the future. This moonshot for mental health will be a game changer in providing hope, advancing care, transforming lives, and achieving mental health equity.”
“We are grateful for Governor Hogan’s visionary leadership in advancing health and healthcare in Maryland,” said Meritus Health President and CEO Maulik Joshi. “The Meritus Medical School will be a game changer for access to care for everyone in underserved rural Maryland and in communities like us across America. This tremendous support will make an impact on health for generations to come.”
“All of us at Kennedy Krieger Institute are profoundly grateful to Governor Hogan and his administration for this outstanding support of our shared vision to build a specialty pediatric Innovative Care Center to benefit Maryland children and families,” said Bradley L. Schlaggar, MD, PhD, President and CEO of the Kennedy Krieger Institute. “We appreciate him, and Maryland’s leadership, for their substantial and continued support of the more than 27,000 young people, and their families, that we serve each year, and for supporting Kennedy Krieger’s unique mission to provide care and services for children with neurological, rehabilitative, mental, and behavioral health needs. Our new Innovative Care Center will help thousands of children and teens pursue all that’s possible in their lives. We eagerly look forward to working with Maryland’s leaders to bring our vision for a world-class specialty pediatric healthcare facility to reality. Thank you for this transformational investment that will benefit the health and well-being of Maryland’s children for generations to come.”
Reinvesting In Police, Public Safety, and Victim Services
The recommended FY24 budget plan includes:
Leading on Environmental Stewardship and Land Conservation
The recommended FY24 budget plan includes:
Supporting Economic Growth and Statewide Revitalization
The recommended FY24 budget plan includes:
The recommended FY24 budget plan includes:
Addressing The Rise in Hate Crimes and Anti-Semitism
The recommended FY24 budget plan includes:
Combating Cyber Threats With Historic Investments
The recommended FY24 budget plan includes additional investments to build on last year’s historic cybersecurity investments of over $200 million:
Additional Budget Priorities
In addition, the Hogan administration has made a series of operating and capital grant recommendations—which can be accessed here.
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