August 21st, 2024 by WCBC Radio

When Governor Wes Moore spoke at the summer conference of the Maryland Association of Counties, he said that there will have to be hard conversations in the coming assembly session about spending. In July, the Governor’s administration announced $150 million in budget cuts across agencies, with some monies being redirected to healthcare programs.  He said it was important to preserve healthcare, especially for children…

“We chose to protect these priorities by simply studying the data,  because we know when the cost of child care increases, female employment decreases.  We know when Marylanders don’t have health care as children, it is harder to move up the economic ladder when they are older and unfortunately often times child poverty means adult poverty.”

The Governor also announced that any new spending requests must be accompanied by substantial backup information before it will be approved…

“I’m requiring State agencies to site evidence when proposing new budget investments.  That way we can consider what we know works when making a decision about every single State dollar that goes out. The things that work will get funded. The things that don’t won’t, and there will be data behind each and every decision.”