May 4 Update: The Governor made it official today. Special session will begin on May 14.
The General Assembly will likely return to Annapolis May 14 and 15 for a special session dedicated to enacting revenue bills that would avoid $512 million in state budget reductions for fiscal year 2013. While the session dates are not yet official, consensus for the session among the Governor, Senate President, and House Speaker seems apparent. We expect to see the following legislation of interest to employers reintroduced in a form close to the conference committee reports that failed on the last night of the 2012 regular session:
- Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act (BRFA) – This bill will make over $300 million of contingent budget reductions and fund transfers, including phasing-in over 4 years a share of teacher pension costs for local school boards. This bill also contains a $50 million transfer of funds contributed by employers to IWIF to the state general fund.
- State and Local Revenue and Financing Act of 2012 – This bill includes a number of tax increases that collectively would raise $261 million for the state general fund. The largest revenue increase would result from increased income taxes on individuals with incomes over $100,000 by altering tax brackets and phasing out the personal exemption. See here for details. Other tax measures in the bill would extend the recordation tax to indemnity mortgage deeds of trust (IDOTs) of over $1 million and repeal an income tax credit for telecommunications companies.
We will post frequent updates as the special session gets underway. For further information contact Ron Wineholt at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
About Ronald W. Wineholt