S.B. 463

VETOES

SECTION 4. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect
October June 1, 1994.

May 26, 1994

The Honorable Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr.

President of the Senate

State House

Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Dear Mr. President:

In accordance with Article II, Section 17 of the Maryland Constitution, I have today
vetoed Senate Bill 463.

Senate Bill 463 is entitled "The Budget Reconciliation Act of the 1994 Session of the
General Assembly." The legislation would mandate the following budget appropriations,
budget transfers and dedications of unexpended general funds: (1) requires the Governor
to appropriate funds each year to a newly created Women, Infants and Children (WIC)
Contingency Reserve Fund; (2) establishes an Unfunded Liabilities Account in the State
Reserve Fund; (3) reduces the prior transfer of funds from the Law Enforcement and
Correctional Training Fund by $2.5 million; (4) transfers $250,000 from the Maryland
Legal Services Corporation to the Office of Public Defender; (5) requires certain
unexpended general fund revenues to be appropriated for the WIC Program, medical
services for the disabled, and certain services of the Office for Children, Youth and
Families; (6) requires the Governor to include an appropriation in the fiscal year 1996
budget to the Revenue Stabilization Account equal to any unappropriated general fund
surplus at the end of fiscal year 1995; (7) authorizes the transfer of $1.38 million
recovered by the Maryland Deposit Insurance Corporation to the Department of Budget
and Fiscal Planning to replace a budget cut for the Financial Management Information
System; (8) mandates future appropriations to fund State employee health insurance
costs; (9) authorizes the transfer of $4.8 million from the Peabody Institute Fund for Aid
to Non-Public Institutions of Higher Education to replace a budget cut; (10) alters the
computation of the community college aid formula for fiscal year 1996 to account for the
"equity adjustment" enacted in fiscal year 1995; and (11) establishes a State Employee
and Retiree Health Insurance Program Trust Fund.

It is ho exaggeration to state that the only thing Senate Bill 463 has in common with prior
Budget Reconciliation Acts is its name. The Budget Reconciliation Acts of the 1991, 1992
and 1993 Sessions were all enacted for the same purpose: to balance the State budget in
times of fiscal crisis. Senate Bill 463, on the other hand, is nothing more than a colossal
mandated funding bill, unrelated to the balancing of any budget. I am Vetoing this
legislation because it represents an unjustifiable intrusion on the Executive's budget
powers.

In the late 1980s, after years of brisk economic expansion, Maryland's economy fell into
recession. The economic downturn caused a decline in State revenues and a
corresponding increase in demand for public assistance and other social services. As a
result, the State experienced a fiscal crisis and the fiscal year 1991 and. 1992 budgets were

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