And so in order for us to do that, there's *** few different things that
we're going to do and you are seeing how we're making uh pretty historic and
important investments in two specific areas. One I'm committing *** half ***
billion dollars to the blueprint for Maryland's future, which is the largest
investment by *** governor. The second we're committing *** half *** billion
dollars to transportation 1st. I'll go over the blueprint, I'm thankful to the
Legislature for the work that has been done on the blueprint for Maryland's
future. Uh Because when we talk about, what does it mean to have *** 21st
century education system and *** world class education system for our Children.
It is an education system that we know that our Children deserve. And in order
for Maryland to move ahead, it means we must be preparing our Children and our
workforce for that. I was proud to support the blueprint. I was proud to
testify on behalf of the blueprint and this work is critically overdue because
too many of our students are trapped right now in *** system that
chronically fails them, fails them, fails their families. This helps to
address that. But the blueprint has been hobbled by an executive that
refused to support its robust uh and it's intentional implementation and
local districts are feeling it as well because there's not just an
implementation requirement that you have on the local jurisdictions,
there's *** fiscal requirement. And so I'm committed to the blueprint and know
that we must implement it sustainably and smartly. Our administration is
ready to lean in and to work with our partners beginning with M. S. D. And
including everybody involved inside of this process to ensure that that
happens correctly and sustainably. The second piece is transportation. We need
to have *** transportation system that allows people to get from where they
live to where opportunity lies. We need to create *** transportation system in
this state that this state actually deserves Maryland is hungry for. That.
Maryland's hungry for *** transportation system that is
coordinated and that works and transportation that prepares Maryland
to win this next decade. Whether we're talking about fixing roads and tunnels
and highways or whether we're talking about putting together significant
investments in mass transit, we've got to make sure that with the right vision
and effective professional management that we can and we will get this done
because we're going to prioritize it and so very soon I'm excited that we'll
be announcing *** Transportation Secretary who will embrace that vision
and we work very closely with our partners in the Legislature and across
communities to ensure that we are going to have the resources in place to be
able to leverage federal dollars and make sure that the implementation
process is one that is successful. So I'll turn it back over to the secretary
grade to go into more detail.
Thanks, we move to the next slide. So just to recap *** little bit of what
the governor alluded to. These are the details of what's being presented in
the proposed fiscal 2024 budget with regard to first principle being
cautious, preservation of cash balances, so in light of the potential for
recession in the months ahead and revenue volatility risks related to our
income tax payments that are still due later this year, our budget maintains
*** rainy day fund at the target level of 10% of general fund revenue or $2.5
billion next year. That is the recommendation of spending
affordability committee and we agree with them as the governor said that
that's an appropriate um level for the rainy day fund. In addition, over and
above the rainy day fund, the general fund balance in the current proposed
budget sits at $820 million for fiscal 24. This is over and above the rainy
day fund. It serves as *** strong hedge against revenue, volatility and as dry
powder for critical strategic investments, particularly in the areas
that the governor has has begun to speak about. Our administration will
partner with the General Assembly to deploy our surplus intentionally and
strategically. We must marshal *** data driven evidence based approach to
spending state dollars. In addition, as the governor, as the governor reported
over and above the rainy day fund And the surplus balance of 820 million. The
budget deploys one billion of our additional cash to two of the state's
highest priorities for economic growth. The budget contributes 500 million of
General Fund cash in fiscal 2024 to the fund for the blueprint for Maryland's
future. And it sets aside 500 million of General Fund cash next year as ***
dedicated reserve to support strategic priority transportation projects across
the state that align with our economic competitiveness goals. We believe
that's critical to making progress on closing that gap on GDP growth with the
nation and with our competing states, we of course aimed to leverage this
General Fund funding with matching federal support.
The next slide just shows *** quick view of why we think shoring up the
blueprint fund is an urgent priority. This shows the current projections for
blueprint fund which are supported by special fund revenue set aside by the
Legislature when the blueprint plan was passed. And what you see is that for
fiscal 24 we're projecting the blueprint fund to have *** $2.2 billion
cash surplus. However, what you see is that given the pace of expense against
the blueprint fund and the expense estimates have certainly increased from
the time the original vision for blueprint was was established several
years ago. What you see is that over the course of the next 4 to 5 years,
the blueprint fund balance is depleted. There's 1.5 billion projected revenue
coming in each To support the activities and initiatives of the
Blueprint Fund. But the overall balance and the cushion in that fund will be
depleted going forward. The $500 million, very important contribution
that the governor's dedicated in the budget helps extend that out *** year
to give the time to do the really important practical feasibility,
implementation planning that's required in order for us to get this right.