ANNAPOLIS – While Democratic lawmakers scored a major victory Tuesday in overriding Gov. Bob Ehrlich’s veto on a medical malpractice reform bill, a much-trumpeted bill that would have capped tuition at 5 percent for the next three years fell so far off the list of priorities that it didn’t come to a vote.
Officials didn’t leave empty-handed, however, with Ehrlich (R) promising a $43 million boost to the University System of Maryland when he submits his budget next week in lieu of the defeated bill, which would have funded higher education partly through a new revenue stream from corporate tax increases. Two lawmakers are also planning to reintroduce previous legislation as early as this week to cap tuition at 4 percent without a corporate tax.
University and system leadership — including university Provost Bill Destler, system Chancellor Brit Kirwan, and Board of Regents chairman Cliff Kendall — all expressed satisfaction with the governor’s pledge, thanking those who pushed House Bill 1188 but respectively calling for the end of lobbying.
But that didn’t stop many other higher education advocates, who pushed in the days leading up to the special session until word came late Tuesday afternoon that the House of Delegates would not pursue a vote. Several students, including Student Government President Aaron Kraus, lobbied the passing legislators on Lawyers’ Mall.
House Speaker Michael Busch (D-Anne Arundel) and Senate President Mike Miller (D-Prince George’s and Calvert), who came together to reverse the veto on the malpractice bill, traded blame for why the tuition bill didn’t come to a vote while lamenting it would have fallen just short either way.
“The senators, they didn’t want to take it up in the Senate,” Busch said when asked why the vote didn’t appear on the House agenda, where it would have been required to pass before going to the Senate. “Many legislators had heard from senators and felt that we put the governor in a position to fund higher education, and we think he will do that.”
But Miller put the spotlight on the House while confirming that senators had expressed doubt. “We couldn’t vote on it because it never came over from the House,” he said. “Members of my Senate came to me and said, ‘Look, we have voted for this bill in the past, but at this point in time we’re willing to hold it and see what happens in the future.’”
Del. Adrienne Jones (Baltimore Co.), the bill’s lead sponsor, said chances were hurt by Miller’s emphasis on the malpractice bill and recent radio commercials sponsored by the Republican Party urging voters to ask three key Anne Arundel County senators not to override. Two of the three targeted in the commercials expressed that they likely would not have supported the override.
In an impromptu press conference, Ehrlich expressed satisfaction that what he calls the “corporate tax bill” was not overridden.
“There were a couple of close calls, but being able to sustain the veto on living wage and the corporate tax makes us feel pretty good,” he said. “We asked the system to achieve certain efficiencies and as a result, they’ll see the funding.”
Regent Jim Rosapepe, who led the charge for an override, seemed resigned to the fact that despite the veto being sustained, a funding increase was a victory for the system even if it is not guaranteed beyond this year.
The university could still likely see increases in the coming years, said Ehrlich’s budget secretary Chip DiPaula. “Thanks to the governor’s efforts, we are taking a tremendous step this year in resolving the state’s structural deficit which will allow for additional support to higher education.”
If not, the tuition cap bill can easily be reintroduced and passed before Ehrlich’s budget is passed, said Sen. Paul Pinsky (D-Prince George’s).
“If it turns out to be a one-year commitment, we can pass the same exact bill next year and keep his feet to the fire,” he said.
Similar bills that were introduced last spring should be brought back early in this year’s session, which starts Wednesday. Rosapepe said they will be proposed in the two chambers by Sen. Brian Frosh (D-Montgomery) and Del. Richard Madaleno (D-Montgomery), respectively, and both versions would permanently guarantee annual budget increases of 5 percent per student and limit tuition increases to 4 percent. Neither bill has a specified income source like the corporate tax.
But the General Assembly will first wait for Ehrlich’s detailed budget and the Board of Regents’ Jan. 26 announcement of fall 2005 tuition rates, Jones said.
By not coming to a debate, State House security avoided having to escort Kraus and several student government presidents from other system schools out of the building. They had planned a protest from the second-floor gallery where they would have disrobed to reveal T-shirts spelling out “Help Us” as the override came up on the agenda.
