GOVERNOR HOGAN: Good morning, thank you for being here. Joining me today are Budget Secretary David Brinkley, Deputy Budget Secretary Marc Nicole, Terri Garraty, Executive Director of the Office of Budget Analysis Jon Martin and Chief Legislative Officer Keiffer Mitchell.
I started my eighth and final year as Governor, and I just want to take a moment to thank the people of Maryland for giving me this incredible opportunity to serve over these past two terms. We’ve been through a lot together, especially over the last two years as we have tirelessly battled a global pandemic.
But today, I can think of no better way to begin this last year that by presenting a budget which continues to keep the promises we made and that builds on the bipartisan progress that we have achieved to change Maryland for the better. Seven years ago when I took office, we inherited a crushing $5.1 billion structural deficit. After 43 consecutive tax hikes, Maryland’s overall economic performance was 49th out of 50 states. Businesses, jobs and taxpayers were fleeing the state in record numbers and an overwhelming majority of Marylanders believed that the state was way off track and headed in the wrong direction.
We faced the daunting tasks of turning our economy completely around and making our state open for business again so we could put more Marylanders back to work. On my first full day in office, we submitted the first balanced budget in a decade, which eliminated nearly all of the structural deficit which we inherited. Instead of raiding special funds and resorting to typical budgetary gimmicks, we rolled up our sleeves and made tough choices to tighten our belts.
To this day, in the entire seven years since I became Governor, we have not imposed a single tax increase. Instead, we have cut taxes, tolls and fees seven years in a row by more than $2.7 billion. And we put all of that money back into the pockets of hard-working Maryland families, small businesses, and retirees and back into our growing economy, which helped create the biggest economic turnaround in America.
When the global pandemic struck two years ago, we were plunged into an unprecedented fiscal crisis that threatened to wipe out all of our hard-won economic progress. The state comptroller was projecting an immediate 50% decrease in revenues and projected a revenue loss of $2.8 billion. Once again, we took immediate, decisive actions, instituting a complete budget and hiring freeze with the exception of emergency expenses related to COVID-19. And I vetoed every single piece of legislation that had substantial increases in spending, 22 of them.
Last year, we introduced and enacted nearly unanimously the Relief Act of 2021, which included the largest tax cut in state history and provided a total of $1.45 billion in urgently needed tax relief and economic stimulus for struggling Maryland families, small businesses, and those who lost their jobs due to the global pandemic.
We also reached an historic bipartisan budget agreement to responsibly invest state and federal relief into our workforce and our economy. And as a direct result of all of those actions, we once again have one of the best economic recoveries in America. We’re creating jobs at a rate that is twice as fast as the rest of the country. And a national survey recently named Maryland as the single most improved state for business in America. The entire mission of our administration has been to leave the state in a stronger fiscal position than when we found it.
Today after seven years of hard work and holding the line, the state of Maryland is projecting a long-term structurally balanced budget for the first time in nearly a quarter century. Rather than leaving a structural deficit, we will leave a long-term budget surplus and a rainy day fund with a record $3.6 billion in reserves, all of which is critical to preserving our AAA bond rating, and which keeps us prepared for any future crisis while also allowing us to accelerate a number of important projects and priorities.
With this budget, we will also deliver more than $4.6 billion in tax relief for hard-working families, retirees and small businesses, which will bring the total tax relief delivered during our administration to $7.3 billion. Our initiative will eliminate the taxation of all income for Maryland retirees by responsibly fazing in relief over the next six years. Removing 70,000 lore-income seniors from the tax rolls immediately in the first year alone.
This is not just good for our economy, it’s also good for our quality of life. Our seniors deserve to have peace of mind to know that they can afford to stay right here in Maryland where they have spent their lives working and raising a family and where they continue to contribute so much.
We’re also providing broad based tax relief to hard-working Marylanders by permanently expanding the enhanced earned income tax credit, which will help roughly 295,000 Maryland working families. For far too long politicians in Annapolis have resorted to the same failed overreach, overspend and overtax policies of the past, which created the massive deficits that we have spent the past seven years digging our state out of.
We have worked hard over the last seven years to change that mentality, and we have fought to let Marylanders keep more of their hard-earned money in their own pockets. Last year, we brought together Republicans and Democrats and nearly unanimously passed the largest tax cuts in state history. Now the state is in even better financial shape than ever before. And with struggling families and retirees getting squeezed by inflation and higher costs across the board, there is no reason why we cannot once again put the politics aside to get this done for the people of Maryland. Our FY-2023 budget also provides additional relief and enhanced benefits for underserved Marylanders, including recipients of electric and utility assistance, temporary disability assistance and the supplemental nutrition assistance program.
We’re able to make these commitments while continuing to fund all of Maryland’s top priorities. For the eighth year in a row, our budget includes record funding for K through 12 education, investing the most ever — $8.15 billion in the K through 12 education, which is more than $150 million above and beyond the education spending formulas proposed by the legislature. Our administration has now invested $723 million more than the legislature’s statutory K through 12 man dates call for.
This is the fourth budget that our casino lock box initiative, which we pushed to enact, has allocated that revenue to go directly into the schools. It has put an additional $598 million directly into local school systems without the need for any state or local tax hikes. This budget continues our commitment to expand access to early childhood education programs, including $144 million to support full day pre-K for 3 and 4-year-olds.
We’re committing another $10 million to our highly successful boost program, which has now provided over $50 million in scholarships for deserves students. Our capital budget includes a record-shattering $1 billion investment in additional school construction funding. That’s $300 million above the total of all the annual funding requests from every single jurisdiction, which will allow us to dramatically accelerate our historic initiative to bring every single school in the state into the 21st century. Our budget will also provide $601 million for higher education projects, including larger, new investments for all of our HBCUs. And we’re also providing record funding for our community colleges, where every priority project that is ready for funding will be funded.
We have increased state support for students at our community colleges by 130 percent. Our $6.8 billion 2023 capital budget funds all capital budget mandates and all legislative pre-authorizations, and we are also able to accelerate a number of important projects. We are continuing our balanced approach to infrastructure with $1.4 billion for roads and bridges, and $1.3 billion for transit. We have invested far more in both roads and transit that any other administration in Maryland history. And we are continuing to move forward on nearly all of the highest priority infrastructure projects in every single jurisdiction all across the state.
Through the pandemic, Marylanders have taken advantage of our parks, our state parks in record numbers. This budget directs nearly $75 million to the Maryland Park Service. This is the largest investment in 20 years. For the seventh year in a row, we are once again fully funding Chesapeake bay restoration efforts. And we are fully funding land preservation programs. And our capital budget includes a record $850 million for environmental programs, most of which will advance projects that improve water quality and invest in critical maintenance infrastructure and other improvements at Maryland’s parks and open spaces.
We are committing a record nearly $1 billion for mental health and substance abuse programs to continue to combat the heroin and opioid pandemic and other mental and substance abuse disorders. I want to thank my partner in government, Lieutenant Governor Boyd Rutherford.
Our re-fund the police initiative includes more than $500 million to recruit and retain more quality officers, to decrease diversity, expand community policing efforts, to improve training and to teach better deescalation techniques and to provide body cams and other technology and equipment upgrades for state and local police.
Our budget also supports our state’s ongoing COVID-19 response, commits record funding to our local health departments. It spans services for development tally disabled Marylanders, provides additional support for behavioral health providers, and establishes new equity programs.
This shows how far we’ve come for the last seven years. This is just the first step in the process. We look forward to our briefing with legislative leaders this afternoon and to working together with both the House and the Senate in the weeks ahead in a bipartisan, collaborative fashion to enact a final budget which seizes the historic opportunity we now have. I’m going to open it up for questions in just a moment, but first I want to acknowledge the incredible efforts of Secretary Brinkley, Deputy Budget Secretary Marc Nicole, Terri Garraty and everyone at the Department of Budget Management who has helped make Maryland’s approach to fiscal discipline a national model.
I’d like to single out one of those tireless public servants today. Jon Martin has served in state government for more than 16 years. He’s been a part of the budget and management team for more than seven years. While he’s moving on, fortunately, he’s not going far. New Treasurer Dereck Davis has recently named Jon as the Chief Deputy Treasurer. I’m going to present him with the Governor’s Citation to recognize his outstanding service, and by extension, to recognize the work the entire state budget team has done on behalf of Marylanders. Put my mask on here, Jon.
(Applause).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: This is budget highlights for the fiscal year and the entire budget book which has been delivered this morning. And sure, anybody who wants to read this tonight, would be happy. If you go online, it might be easier. I would be happy to take some questions.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: That’s a great question. Usually they’re black or purple. We thought this was such an historic budget, we want to symbolically show it’s different. It’s really a bipartisan effort. Purple is red and blue coming together. That’s what my administration is all about. I have a purple surfboard hanging in my office over here. In the bluest state in America with the big blue wave and a blue year as a Republican, I was able to serve. So purple is all about us. It’s to show that we want to work together, Republicans and Democrats. It was a great idea. I can’t claim credit for it.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: That’s a great question. I just learned of the resignation yesterday, retirement. It’s a very difficult situation with metro. It’s going to take a transformative leader. It’s an enormous job, and trying to find the right person to transform and turn Metro around is going to be a big challenge. But we’re going to talk with our fellow leaders. I talked with Governor Youngkin last week about Metro. We talked to the Transportation Secretary about Metro. We look forward to talking to all our leaders in the region to come up with new leadership. We look forward to finding somebody that will continue to make some improvements.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I’ll let Marc Nicole get details on that, but it’s the fiscally responsible thing to do. We’re starting with the people at the lowest income that need it the most and work our way up. I’ll let Marc touch on that.
MARC NICOLE We will remove 70,000 lower income seniors from the tax rolls. And the cost of that is $188 million in the first year.
(Question off-mic).
MARC NICOLE: They are not.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: We do have a problem, an increased problem of bodies at the medical examiner, but it’s not COVID related. A few of them are but those cases are mostly homicide and opioid overdoses. So the issue is not technically a COVID-related question, but it’s a problem that we’re trying to address. With respect to the nursing licenses with the cyber-attacks on healthcare, health websites the Board of Nursing had some issues. But in our state of emergency, we waived the requirements so nobody’s licenses will expire. That doesn’t impact anybody yet, but we’re waiting for that to be finalized. Until then, they can continue to work.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: We are encouraged. We’re going to have a briefing tomorrow. I’ve been having briefings every day. I had a long conversation with other Governors with the White House yesterday, our internal team. On the numbers, first of all, we are encouraged that we have seen declining numbers for, depending on the metric, which data point we’re looking at, you know, for 5, 7, 10 days, you know, encouraging numbers. And that’s a trend we obviously like to see. However, the numbers are still much higher than they were before. So even if you’re coming down or still dealing with the emergency and crisis. But it’s getting better and we’re going to talk in a lot more detail about that tomorrow as we get everything looked at today.
Yesterday, we had a conversation on the testing with the White House. I have a concern in that — look, we have plenty of testing because we continue to lead the country and acquire tests from the very beginning. Everywhere we could find them, we’ve got plenty of PCR tests and rapid tests. But we did order a million more, and we’re expecting a huge shipment this week. And they were all — all of our vendors called up late Friday to say that the White House has announced it on Friday, had frozen all the orders and they were taking all the tests that were going to go to us and the other states.
I raised that in a call with the White House yesterday pretty forcefully. Multiple other Governors of both parties agreed they were having the same problem and we’re trying to get the White House to address it. But basically the new programs, they didn’t produce any new tests, they just took all the tests off the shelf that we were supposed to get on trucks to come here. We already had uses for them. Several weeks from now, someone might get one in the mail, but that’s not really helpful.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: We do have tests fairly widely available, and we opened up 20 new testing centers. The situation they were talking about in the Hartford county, we’re trying to get briefed from Hartford county. It was a county site. We weren’t involved in with a contractor that’s not a state contractor with a saliva-based test. The tests were okay, but they were backed up and some of them didn’t get done. I don’t have any details.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I don’t have an exact number. I think we had a total order of 4.8 million or something like that. But they were over a different period of time so I didn’t give you exactly. Part of the discussion with the White House was, well, eventually you will get them. But the early ones are the ones that we needed right away, and they’re saying we’ll have plenty of them in February and March. But we needed them yesterday.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: Rapid tests.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: It’s a little bit of all those things. It’s a lot of hard work, it’s a lot of tightening the belt, it’s a lot of dramatically increased revenues because of our growing economy, more people working, more businesses open. All of our revenue is way up. And certainly didn’t hurt with the federal stimulus that was pumped into the economy. But it’s a lot of things that we’ve done over the past two years and last seven years that put us in this position. He says I actually covered that one pretty well.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: No.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I think it’s a pretty good process. Our team here, and there’s a much bigger team, all of these guys. They spent a long time putting the budget together. We submitted it to the legislature. They will debate different priorities and we will sit down with them. Last year, we really reached an historic agreement, not only on budget priorities but also the largest tax cut in history. We’re in much better shape than we were then. We can reach some similar agreements. But this is the start of the process. There’s whatever 80-some days left to review it and talk to us. And hopefully we’ll come out with a great result.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: it’s a sad situation. It’s the last thing the city of Baltimore needs, another scandal of this type. But I don’t know any details of the investigation. Obviously everyone is innocent until proven guilty. This is more for the leaders of Baltimore city and the Attorney General who is the only one to take that action. I don’t have any other information. Thank you.
I started my eighth and final year as Governor, and I just want to take a moment to thank the people of Maryland for giving me this incredible opportunity to serve over these past two terms. We’ve been through a lot together, especially over the last two years as we have tirelessly battled a global pandemic.
But today, I can think of no better way to begin this last year that by presenting a budget which continues to keep the promises we made and that builds on the bipartisan progress that we have achieved to change Maryland for the better. Seven years ago when I took office, we inherited a crushing $5.1 billion structural deficit. After 43 consecutive tax hikes, Maryland’s overall economic performance was 49th out of 50 states. Businesses, jobs and taxpayers were fleeing the state in record numbers and an overwhelming majority of Marylanders believed that the state was way off track and headed in the wrong direction.
We faced the daunting tasks of turning our economy completely around and making our state open for business again so we could put more Marylanders back to work. On my first full day in office, we submitted the first balanced budget in a decade, which eliminated nearly all of the structural deficit which we inherited. Instead of raiding special funds and resorting to typical budgetary gimmicks, we rolled up our sleeves and made tough choices to tighten our belts.
To this day, in the entire seven years since I became Governor, we have not imposed a single tax increase. Instead, we have cut taxes, tolls and fees seven years in a row by more than $2.7 billion. And we put all of that money back into the pockets of hard-working Maryland families, small businesses, and retirees and back into our growing economy, which helped create the biggest economic turnaround in America.
When the global pandemic struck two years ago, we were plunged into an unprecedented fiscal crisis that threatened to wipe out all of our hard-won economic progress. The state comptroller was projecting an immediate 50% decrease in revenues and projected a revenue loss of $2.8 billion. Once again, we took immediate, decisive actions, instituting a complete budget and hiring freeze with the exception of emergency expenses related to COVID-19. And I vetoed every single piece of legislation that had substantial increases in spending, 22 of them.
Last year, we introduced and enacted nearly unanimously the Relief Act of 2021, which included the largest tax cut in state history and provided a total of $1.45 billion in urgently needed tax relief and economic stimulus for struggling Maryland families, small businesses, and those who lost their jobs due to the global pandemic.
We also reached an historic bipartisan budget agreement to responsibly invest state and federal relief into our workforce and our economy. And as a direct result of all of those actions, we once again have one of the best economic recoveries in America. We’re creating jobs at a rate that is twice as fast as the rest of the country. And a national survey recently named Maryland as the single most improved state for business in America. The entire mission of our administration has been to leave the state in a stronger fiscal position than when we found it.
Today after seven years of hard work and holding the line, the state of Maryland is projecting a long-term structurally balanced budget for the first time in nearly a quarter century. Rather than leaving a structural deficit, we will leave a long-term budget surplus and a rainy day fund with a record $3.6 billion in reserves, all of which is critical to preserving our AAA bond rating, and which keeps us prepared for any future crisis while also allowing us to accelerate a number of important projects and priorities.
With this budget, we will also deliver more than $4.6 billion in tax relief for hard-working families, retirees and small businesses, which will bring the total tax relief delivered during our administration to $7.3 billion. Our initiative will eliminate the taxation of all income for Maryland retirees by responsibly fazing in relief over the next six years. Removing 70,000 lore-income seniors from the tax rolls immediately in the first year alone.
This is not just good for our economy, it’s also good for our quality of life. Our seniors deserve to have peace of mind to know that they can afford to stay right here in Maryland where they have spent their lives working and raising a family and where they continue to contribute so much.
We’re also providing broad based tax relief to hard-working Marylanders by permanently expanding the enhanced earned income tax credit, which will help roughly 295,000 Maryland working families. For far too long politicians in Annapolis have resorted to the same failed overreach, overspend and overtax policies of the past, which created the massive deficits that we have spent the past seven years digging our state out of.
We have worked hard over the last seven years to change that mentality, and we have fought to let Marylanders keep more of their hard-earned money in their own pockets. Last year, we brought together Republicans and Democrats and nearly unanimously passed the largest tax cuts in state history. Now the state is in even better financial shape than ever before. And with struggling families and retirees getting squeezed by inflation and higher costs across the board, there is no reason why we cannot once again put the politics aside to get this done for the people of Maryland. Our FY-2023 budget also provides additional relief and enhanced benefits for underserved Marylanders, including recipients of electric and utility assistance, temporary disability assistance and the supplemental nutrition assistance program.
We’re able to make these commitments while continuing to fund all of Maryland’s top priorities. For the eighth year in a row, our budget includes record funding for K through 12 education, investing the most ever — $8.15 billion in the K through 12 education, which is more than $150 million above and beyond the education spending formulas proposed by the legislature. Our administration has now invested $723 million more than the legislature’s statutory K through 12 man dates call for.
This is the fourth budget that our casino lock box initiative, which we pushed to enact, has allocated that revenue to go directly into the schools. It has put an additional $598 million directly into local school systems without the need for any state or local tax hikes. This budget continues our commitment to expand access to early childhood education programs, including $144 million to support full day pre-K for 3 and 4-year-olds.
We’re committing another $10 million to our highly successful boost program, which has now provided over $50 million in scholarships for deserves students. Our capital budget includes a record-shattering $1 billion investment in additional school construction funding. That’s $300 million above the total of all the annual funding requests from every single jurisdiction, which will allow us to dramatically accelerate our historic initiative to bring every single school in the state into the 21st century. Our budget will also provide $601 million for higher education projects, including larger, new investments for all of our HBCUs. And we’re also providing record funding for our community colleges, where every priority project that is ready for funding will be funded.
We have increased state support for students at our community colleges by 130 percent. Our $6.8 billion 2023 capital budget funds all capital budget mandates and all legislative pre-authorizations, and we are also able to accelerate a number of important projects. We are continuing our balanced approach to infrastructure with $1.4 billion for roads and bridges, and $1.3 billion for transit. We have invested far more in both roads and transit that any other administration in Maryland history. And we are continuing to move forward on nearly all of the highest priority infrastructure projects in every single jurisdiction all across the state.
Through the pandemic, Marylanders have taken advantage of our parks, our state parks in record numbers. This budget directs nearly $75 million to the Maryland Park Service. This is the largest investment in 20 years. For the seventh year in a row, we are once again fully funding Chesapeake bay restoration efforts. And we are fully funding land preservation programs. And our capital budget includes a record $850 million for environmental programs, most of which will advance projects that improve water quality and invest in critical maintenance infrastructure and other improvements at Maryland’s parks and open spaces.
We are committing a record nearly $1 billion for mental health and substance abuse programs to continue to combat the heroin and opioid pandemic and other mental and substance abuse disorders. I want to thank my partner in government, Lieutenant Governor Boyd Rutherford.
Our re-fund the police initiative includes more than $500 million to recruit and retain more quality officers, to decrease diversity, expand community policing efforts, to improve training and to teach better deescalation techniques and to provide body cams and other technology and equipment upgrades for state and local police.
Our budget also supports our state’s ongoing COVID-19 response, commits record funding to our local health departments. It spans services for development tally disabled Marylanders, provides additional support for behavioral health providers, and establishes new equity programs.
This shows how far we’ve come for the last seven years. This is just the first step in the process. We look forward to our briefing with legislative leaders this afternoon and to working together with both the House and the Senate in the weeks ahead in a bipartisan, collaborative fashion to enact a final budget which seizes the historic opportunity we now have. I’m going to open it up for questions in just a moment, but first I want to acknowledge the incredible efforts of Secretary Brinkley, Deputy Budget Secretary Marc Nicole, Terri Garraty and everyone at the Department of Budget Management who has helped make Maryland’s approach to fiscal discipline a national model.
I’d like to single out one of those tireless public servants today. Jon Martin has served in state government for more than 16 years. He’s been a part of the budget and management team for more than seven years. While he’s moving on, fortunately, he’s not going far. New Treasurer Dereck Davis has recently named Jon as the Chief Deputy Treasurer. I’m going to present him with the Governor’s Citation to recognize his outstanding service, and by extension, to recognize the work the entire state budget team has done on behalf of Marylanders. Put my mask on here, Jon.
(Applause).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: This is budget highlights for the fiscal year and the entire budget book which has been delivered this morning. And sure, anybody who wants to read this tonight, would be happy. If you go online, it might be easier. I would be happy to take some questions.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: That’s a great question. Usually they’re black or purple. We thought this was such an historic budget, we want to symbolically show it’s different. It’s really a bipartisan effort. Purple is red and blue coming together. That’s what my administration is all about. I have a purple surfboard hanging in my office over here. In the bluest state in America with the big blue wave and a blue year as a Republican, I was able to serve. So purple is all about us. It’s to show that we want to work together, Republicans and Democrats. It was a great idea. I can’t claim credit for it.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: That’s a great question. I just learned of the resignation yesterday, retirement. It’s a very difficult situation with metro. It’s going to take a transformative leader. It’s an enormous job, and trying to find the right person to transform and turn Metro around is going to be a big challenge. But we’re going to talk with our fellow leaders. I talked with Governor Youngkin last week about Metro. We talked to the Transportation Secretary about Metro. We look forward to talking to all our leaders in the region to come up with new leadership. We look forward to finding somebody that will continue to make some improvements.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I’ll let Marc Nicole get details on that, but it’s the fiscally responsible thing to do. We’re starting with the people at the lowest income that need it the most and work our way up. I’ll let Marc touch on that.
MARC NICOLE We will remove 70,000 lower income seniors from the tax rolls. And the cost of that is $188 million in the first year.
(Question off-mic).
MARC NICOLE: They are not.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: We do have a problem, an increased problem of bodies at the medical examiner, but it’s not COVID related. A few of them are but those cases are mostly homicide and opioid overdoses. So the issue is not technically a COVID-related question, but it’s a problem that we’re trying to address. With respect to the nursing licenses with the cyber-attacks on healthcare, health websites the Board of Nursing had some issues. But in our state of emergency, we waived the requirements so nobody’s licenses will expire. That doesn’t impact anybody yet, but we’re waiting for that to be finalized. Until then, they can continue to work.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: We are encouraged. We’re going to have a briefing tomorrow. I’ve been having briefings every day. I had a long conversation with other Governors with the White House yesterday, our internal team. On the numbers, first of all, we are encouraged that we have seen declining numbers for, depending on the metric, which data point we’re looking at, you know, for 5, 7, 10 days, you know, encouraging numbers. And that’s a trend we obviously like to see. However, the numbers are still much higher than they were before. So even if you’re coming down or still dealing with the emergency and crisis. But it’s getting better and we’re going to talk in a lot more detail about that tomorrow as we get everything looked at today.
Yesterday, we had a conversation on the testing with the White House. I have a concern in that — look, we have plenty of testing because we continue to lead the country and acquire tests from the very beginning. Everywhere we could find them, we’ve got plenty of PCR tests and rapid tests. But we did order a million more, and we’re expecting a huge shipment this week. And they were all — all of our vendors called up late Friday to say that the White House has announced it on Friday, had frozen all the orders and they were taking all the tests that were going to go to us and the other states.
I raised that in a call with the White House yesterday pretty forcefully. Multiple other Governors of both parties agreed they were having the same problem and we’re trying to get the White House to address it. But basically the new programs, they didn’t produce any new tests, they just took all the tests off the shelf that we were supposed to get on trucks to come here. We already had uses for them. Several weeks from now, someone might get one in the mail, but that’s not really helpful.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: We do have tests fairly widely available, and we opened up 20 new testing centers. The situation they were talking about in the Hartford county, we’re trying to get briefed from Hartford county. It was a county site. We weren’t involved in with a contractor that’s not a state contractor with a saliva-based test. The tests were okay, but they were backed up and some of them didn’t get done. I don’t have any details.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I don’t have an exact number. I think we had a total order of 4.8 million or something like that. But they were over a different period of time so I didn’t give you exactly. Part of the discussion with the White House was, well, eventually you will get them. But the early ones are the ones that we needed right away, and they’re saying we’ll have plenty of them in February and March. But we needed them yesterday.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: Rapid tests.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: It’s a little bit of all those things. It’s a lot of hard work, it’s a lot of tightening the belt, it’s a lot of dramatically increased revenues because of our growing economy, more people working, more businesses open. All of our revenue is way up. And certainly didn’t hurt with the federal stimulus that was pumped into the economy. But it’s a lot of things that we’ve done over the past two years and last seven years that put us in this position. He says I actually covered that one pretty well.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: No.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I think it’s a pretty good process. Our team here, and there’s a much bigger team, all of these guys. They spent a long time putting the budget together. We submitted it to the legislature. They will debate different priorities and we will sit down with them. Last year, we really reached an historic agreement, not only on budget priorities but also the largest tax cut in history. We’re in much better shape than we were then. We can reach some similar agreements. But this is the start of the process. There’s whatever 80-some days left to review it and talk to us. And hopefully we’ll come out with a great result.
(Question off-mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: it’s a sad situation. It’s the last thing the city of Baltimore needs, another scandal of this type. But I don’t know any details of the investigation. Obviously everyone is innocent until proven guilty. This is more for the leaders of Baltimore city and the Attorney General who is the only one to take that action. I don’t have any other information. Thank you.