GOVERNOR HOGAN: Good morning. Somebody’s phone is down here underneath making noises. I don’t know what that’s about.
Good morning, joining me are Lt. Governor Boyd Rutherford and Chief Administrative officer.
The legislative session begins on Wednesday in the middle of an unprecedented global pandemic which has caused economic hardship for so many struggling Marylanders and small businesses. While Marylanders economy is coming back faster than many other states, America is going through one of the worst economic crises in our country’s history. In recent weeks I have had productive discussions with The Senate president and Speaker of the House and the Speaker of the House along with those in both chambers and it’s clear to all of us that the primary session of the 2021 legislative session must be providing economic relief to the hundreds of thousands of struggling families and the tens of thousands of small businesses that have been impacted by the pandemic. In the fall as we were continuously pushing out emergency relief and preparing with our hospitals and health officials for the next surgery of COVID-19 I directed our team to explore ever possible avenue to further ease the burden on those experiencing so much hardship and to do whatever we can even as we face unprecedented budget challenges to allow them to keep more money in order to feed their families and to keep their businesses going. Amid so much suffering, the last thing we should ever do is raise taxes.
So today I am announcing our top legislative priority, the recovery for the economy livelihoods, industries, entrepreneurs, and families for the Relief Act of 2021. Which will provide more than $1 billion in immediate and targeted financial relief and tax cuts for Maryland working families, small businesses, and those who have lost their jobs and are suffering financially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This stimulus and tax relief package will provide $267 million in direct payments to Marylanders in need, families who file for the Earned Income Tax Credit will receive an additional $750, individuals will receive $450. This will go to more than 400,000 Marylanders in need and no applications necessary. These checks will begin going out immediately as soon as the Act is passed by the legislature and I sign it into law.
The Relief Act commits another $180 million in targeted tax relief for Marylanders who have lost jobs by repealing state taxes on unemployment benefits, allowing them to keep more money in their pockets. The Relief Act provides $300 million in immediate tax relief to help 55,000 Maryland restaurants and small businesses by allowing them to be able to keep up to $12,000 of sales tax over the next four months which will keep a many-needed cash in the coffers of their businesses and be able to keep people on their payroll as we confront the next phase of the pandemic. Last month I directed an order which stopped taxes, and this will codify emergency tax relief saving small businesses $218 billion. The small business Relief Act will safeguard Maryland business owners against any tax increase and with state and grant loans will help businesses keep an additional $40 million in their bank accounts. All of this targeted relief will help businesses keep their doors open and more people on the payroll.
Since this crisis began ten months ago our administration has aggressively and repeatedly taken actions which assisted individuals and small businesses who were struggling as a result of the pandemic and to prevent the collapse of our state’s economy. Those executive actions I have already taken have culminated in more than $700 million in emergency economic relief through the Marylanders and small businesses who needed it the most. We provided $220 million in grants and forgivable loans to Maryland small businesses, $108 in emergency tax relief, $80 million in relief specifically for bars and restaurants, $50 million for the hospitality industry, $40 million for health care providers, $35 million for entertainment venues, $30 million through our layoff aversion, $20 million for minority businesses, $10 million for watermen and producers and $7 million for local arts organizations. We have made rental assistance one of our highest priorities backing up one of the strongest eviction moratoriums in the country with $90 million in relief for rental payments, legal services, and affordable housing. We have directed $20 million to Maryland food banks and boosted the temporary cash assistance benefit for 62,000 Marylanders. On top of the more than $700 million which we have already announced this new Relief Act emergency package brings us to more than $1.7 billion in state emergency economic relief for Marylanders and small businesses. After eight months of urging leaders in Washington to act, Congress finally reached a bipartisan consensus on the federal relief package which will allow us to provide Marylanders with an additional $15 million of COVID-19 economic relief, an additional $10 billion in protection paycheck funding will be provided through the Cares Act and an additional $4 million in individual assistance funding including direct stimulus checks for Marylanders as well as advanced unemployment and SNAP benefits. Last week we became the first state in the nation to begin accepting claims for federal unemployment programs with we have paid out $105 million. Prior to this new relief we have paid out $8.7 billion in unemployment benefits to more than 709,000 Marylanders. Beginning this month Maryland SNAP recipients will see increases in their benefits. We will provide another $400 million in rental assistance which we will be able to use to help further immediate relief for rent and utility bills.
Businesses will receive an additional $7 billion through the federal bill, including another round of paycheck protection program. The federal bill provides Maryland with an additional $1.2 billion for education, $130 million for childcare and $250 for the transportation sector.
This is critical, much-needed funding and once we receive all the federal guidance, which is required, we will work to get these funds out the door as quickly as possible.
Last year the direct actions I took by executive order along with these federal relief programs helped a great deal.
This targeted Relief Act of 2021 will provide more targeted emergency direct relief to fill in the gaps that still remain. With the start of the new 2021 legislative session beginning Wednesday we are now asking the legislative branch to assist by immediately passing this stimulus and tax relief package to help even more struggling families and small businesses across our state. We will be introducing the Relief Act of 2021 as emergency legislation on day one of the session on Wednesday. We will ask both houses to act on it immediately so that I can sign it into law immediately and the relief measures can take affect and we can get these much-needed dollars out the door and into the pockets of those who desperately need it.
We look forward to working with legislative leaders on both sides of the aisle to pass this emergency legislation. I cannot imagine anything that could possibly be more important for the legislature to pass.
Every day that goes by without passing stimulus and tax relief packages means more jobs that will be lost, more families who will lose their homes and more businesses who will go out of business and more people that suffer.
Struggling Marylanders and small businesses who are barely hanging on cannot afford the kind of bipartisan bickering and needless delay that we have seen in Washington. For six years Maryland has been setting an example for the nation of how respectful and effective government can work across the aisle together in order to find bipartisan common sense solutions. My hope is that the legislature will join us in quickly pushing for this much-needed emergency stimulus and tax relief package and they will work together with us in a bipartisan way as we guide our state through this pandemic and the economic crisis together.
I’m a life-long, small businessman who has never held elective office before. In 2014 I stepped up to run for governor, because I was so frustrated. 43 consecutive tax hikes had caused our state to lose hundreds of businesses and hundreds of thousands of jobs. I pledged to work to promote small businesses and put more people to work, let people keep their money in their pockets and to turn our economy around and we did exactly what we said we would do. We took Maryland’s overall economic performance from 49th out of 50 states to one of the best in America. More businesses were opened, and more Marylanders were working more than at any other time in the history of the state and we had the greatest economic turn-around in America. But the events of past ten months have wreaked havoc on America’s economy and Maryland while doing better than other states has not been immune from economic suffering. We have taken some of the most aggressive actions in America to ease the blow of the national recession on our struggling families and small businesses. And to help them stay afloat during this extremely difficult time.
Maryland’s economy has proven to be resilient during this crisis, keeping more of our businesses open and recovering and creating jobs at the one of the fastest rates in America. In spite of that there are still many struggling and truly in need and I want the people of this great state to know that in the months ahead no one will fight harder on behalf of our struggling Marylanders, our struggling families and small businesses and we’re going to continue to do whatever it takes in order to restore our economy, put Marylanders back to work and to ensure that our state once again has the greatest economic turn-around in America. With that I would be happy to take questions.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: The money is coming from a variety of places. Much of it coming from the budget actions that we took earlier why in the year at the Board of Public Works, some of it is coming from our reserve fund which is doing better than we anticipated because of recovery, doing better than expected and a small portion is coming from the Rainy Day Fund. $100 million of the $1 billion. So we talked in general terms at the legislature, we are all in agreement that we should — the legislative session should focus on economic relief. And we will be hopefully getting everybody on board with moving forward quickly.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: That’s only one tiny sliver of what I just talked about the $1 billion but the checks that they are talking about is not possible, and he was talking about draining the entire Rainy Day Fund of the state. We chose to follow the directions of the afford ability committee and the legislature in maintaining our Rainy Day Fund and we want to maintain our AAA fund rating and we believe this is getting more money in the hands of the people that need it and getting it out much faster without taking irresponsible action.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: In advance?
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: These are going to committee. Did you want to talk about who would be eligible?
Thank you, Governor. The eligibility for the $750 and the $450 payments are tied to Marylanders who have qualified for the earned income tax credit. In 2019 and those who will be eligible for it in 2020.
GOVERNOR HOGAN: These are the lowest income Marylanders, in addition to and separate from the additional federal which I think in the coming weeks we’re going to see that.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: We have a couple weeks. I think January 20th we roll out our budget. We are going to continue to fund the most important functions of government. We thought this was important to keep our economy going and we think this is a prudent way to go about it.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I just answered her question, coming from a variety of different places, most of it is money we have recognized, the cuts that we took at the Board of Public Works, and the reserve fund which is higher than anticipated and about $100 million from the Rainy Day Fund.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I think this money is specifically for rental assistance and not mortgages.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: Absolutely. I think it’s one of the things that we are looking at.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I think doing better than almost any other state in America. It is a big problem when you have hundreds of thousands that need computer systems and now, we are moving at a much faster rate than any other state in the country but there are about 4% of the people that haven’t gotten paid and there are complex problems within the state that are going to take many months to resolve. We have a law that requires not just to deny them but to spend time going through the appeals process. But we have been taking care of 94 to 96% and given hundreds of thousands $8.7 billion and I’m sure you will hear for years that people are saying I didn’t get my unemployment check and that’s why.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: We are taking additional security measures here at the statehouse complex. With the Capitol Police and the Maryland police. I ever a briefing to talk about our assistance in Washington with all of our Allied police forces in Maryland and with our National Guard which we increased the number of and the mission for. I have a call this afternoon with Governor Northam and Mayor Bowser and others. In dealing with the COVID numbers and the roll-out we are dealing with numbers the issues here in our state and the nation’s capital and we will be dealing with that from now until the inauguration.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: The Maryland police department, the whole state and the Guard were somewhat involved, and this is a much more heightened situation. We have now — we have already 500 guards there and we beefed up our police presence and I think we are going to increase 100 more guard members and there’s now a lot of talk and coordination between federal agencies and the regional partners. So hopefully everybody will be able to stay abreast.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: That would be probably the dumbest thing I have ever heard in my life. The purpose of the Constitution setting it up that way that we have the statute is if you have an emergency and it’s a state of emergency you can’t wait a year for the legislature to come back, you have to take action that day, not debate it for 90 days and say well there is another legislative session in nine months. You can’t take emergency powers away from people who need to take action, which we have been talking about for ten months.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I know that everybody believes it’s important. I’m sure there are going to be some discussions about — I think everybody agrees with most of the things they’re talking about, there may be additional things or things they want to do in addition to that and we are looking forward to the discussions, but we can’t wait. This is not something that should be debated until the end of the session in the meantime we are losing businesses and tens of thousands of people losing their homes.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: Well we took every action that we could take alone. These tax changes and the things that we are talking about extend beyond the state of emergency. The legislature must pass legislation, that’s why they’re in this package. We have taken steps already, that’s not the way the law works, this requires an act of legislation.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I think they should, yeah.
Thank you!
(End of press conference.)
Good morning, joining me are Lt. Governor Boyd Rutherford and Chief Administrative officer.
The legislative session begins on Wednesday in the middle of an unprecedented global pandemic which has caused economic hardship for so many struggling Marylanders and small businesses. While Marylanders economy is coming back faster than many other states, America is going through one of the worst economic crises in our country’s history. In recent weeks I have had productive discussions with The Senate president and Speaker of the House and the Speaker of the House along with those in both chambers and it’s clear to all of us that the primary session of the 2021 legislative session must be providing economic relief to the hundreds of thousands of struggling families and the tens of thousands of small businesses that have been impacted by the pandemic. In the fall as we were continuously pushing out emergency relief and preparing with our hospitals and health officials for the next surgery of COVID-19 I directed our team to explore ever possible avenue to further ease the burden on those experiencing so much hardship and to do whatever we can even as we face unprecedented budget challenges to allow them to keep more money in order to feed their families and to keep their businesses going. Amid so much suffering, the last thing we should ever do is raise taxes.
So today I am announcing our top legislative priority, the recovery for the economy livelihoods, industries, entrepreneurs, and families for the Relief Act of 2021. Which will provide more than $1 billion in immediate and targeted financial relief and tax cuts for Maryland working families, small businesses, and those who have lost their jobs and are suffering financially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This stimulus and tax relief package will provide $267 million in direct payments to Marylanders in need, families who file for the Earned Income Tax Credit will receive an additional $750, individuals will receive $450. This will go to more than 400,000 Marylanders in need and no applications necessary. These checks will begin going out immediately as soon as the Act is passed by the legislature and I sign it into law.
The Relief Act commits another $180 million in targeted tax relief for Marylanders who have lost jobs by repealing state taxes on unemployment benefits, allowing them to keep more money in their pockets. The Relief Act provides $300 million in immediate tax relief to help 55,000 Maryland restaurants and small businesses by allowing them to be able to keep up to $12,000 of sales tax over the next four months which will keep a many-needed cash in the coffers of their businesses and be able to keep people on their payroll as we confront the next phase of the pandemic. Last month I directed an order which stopped taxes, and this will codify emergency tax relief saving small businesses $218 billion. The small business Relief Act will safeguard Maryland business owners against any tax increase and with state and grant loans will help businesses keep an additional $40 million in their bank accounts. All of this targeted relief will help businesses keep their doors open and more people on the payroll.
Since this crisis began ten months ago our administration has aggressively and repeatedly taken actions which assisted individuals and small businesses who were struggling as a result of the pandemic and to prevent the collapse of our state’s economy. Those executive actions I have already taken have culminated in more than $700 million in emergency economic relief through the Marylanders and small businesses who needed it the most. We provided $220 million in grants and forgivable loans to Maryland small businesses, $108 in emergency tax relief, $80 million in relief specifically for bars and restaurants, $50 million for the hospitality industry, $40 million for health care providers, $35 million for entertainment venues, $30 million through our layoff aversion, $20 million for minority businesses, $10 million for watermen and producers and $7 million for local arts organizations. We have made rental assistance one of our highest priorities backing up one of the strongest eviction moratoriums in the country with $90 million in relief for rental payments, legal services, and affordable housing. We have directed $20 million to Maryland food banks and boosted the temporary cash assistance benefit for 62,000 Marylanders. On top of the more than $700 million which we have already announced this new Relief Act emergency package brings us to more than $1.7 billion in state emergency economic relief for Marylanders and small businesses. After eight months of urging leaders in Washington to act, Congress finally reached a bipartisan consensus on the federal relief package which will allow us to provide Marylanders with an additional $15 million of COVID-19 economic relief, an additional $10 billion in protection paycheck funding will be provided through the Cares Act and an additional $4 million in individual assistance funding including direct stimulus checks for Marylanders as well as advanced unemployment and SNAP benefits. Last week we became the first state in the nation to begin accepting claims for federal unemployment programs with we have paid out $105 million. Prior to this new relief we have paid out $8.7 billion in unemployment benefits to more than 709,000 Marylanders. Beginning this month Maryland SNAP recipients will see increases in their benefits. We will provide another $400 million in rental assistance which we will be able to use to help further immediate relief for rent and utility bills.
Businesses will receive an additional $7 billion through the federal bill, including another round of paycheck protection program. The federal bill provides Maryland with an additional $1.2 billion for education, $130 million for childcare and $250 for the transportation sector.
This is critical, much-needed funding and once we receive all the federal guidance, which is required, we will work to get these funds out the door as quickly as possible.
Last year the direct actions I took by executive order along with these federal relief programs helped a great deal.
This targeted Relief Act of 2021 will provide more targeted emergency direct relief to fill in the gaps that still remain. With the start of the new 2021 legislative session beginning Wednesday we are now asking the legislative branch to assist by immediately passing this stimulus and tax relief package to help even more struggling families and small businesses across our state. We will be introducing the Relief Act of 2021 as emergency legislation on day one of the session on Wednesday. We will ask both houses to act on it immediately so that I can sign it into law immediately and the relief measures can take affect and we can get these much-needed dollars out the door and into the pockets of those who desperately need it.
We look forward to working with legislative leaders on both sides of the aisle to pass this emergency legislation. I cannot imagine anything that could possibly be more important for the legislature to pass.
Every day that goes by without passing stimulus and tax relief packages means more jobs that will be lost, more families who will lose their homes and more businesses who will go out of business and more people that suffer.
Struggling Marylanders and small businesses who are barely hanging on cannot afford the kind of bipartisan bickering and needless delay that we have seen in Washington. For six years Maryland has been setting an example for the nation of how respectful and effective government can work across the aisle together in order to find bipartisan common sense solutions. My hope is that the legislature will join us in quickly pushing for this much-needed emergency stimulus and tax relief package and they will work together with us in a bipartisan way as we guide our state through this pandemic and the economic crisis together.
I’m a life-long, small businessman who has never held elective office before. In 2014 I stepped up to run for governor, because I was so frustrated. 43 consecutive tax hikes had caused our state to lose hundreds of businesses and hundreds of thousands of jobs. I pledged to work to promote small businesses and put more people to work, let people keep their money in their pockets and to turn our economy around and we did exactly what we said we would do. We took Maryland’s overall economic performance from 49th out of 50 states to one of the best in America. More businesses were opened, and more Marylanders were working more than at any other time in the history of the state and we had the greatest economic turn-around in America. But the events of past ten months have wreaked havoc on America’s economy and Maryland while doing better than other states has not been immune from economic suffering. We have taken some of the most aggressive actions in America to ease the blow of the national recession on our struggling families and small businesses. And to help them stay afloat during this extremely difficult time.
Maryland’s economy has proven to be resilient during this crisis, keeping more of our businesses open and recovering and creating jobs at the one of the fastest rates in America. In spite of that there are still many struggling and truly in need and I want the people of this great state to know that in the months ahead no one will fight harder on behalf of our struggling Marylanders, our struggling families and small businesses and we’re going to continue to do whatever it takes in order to restore our economy, put Marylanders back to work and to ensure that our state once again has the greatest economic turn-around in America. With that I would be happy to take questions.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: The money is coming from a variety of places. Much of it coming from the budget actions that we took earlier why in the year at the Board of Public Works, some of it is coming from our reserve fund which is doing better than we anticipated because of recovery, doing better than expected and a small portion is coming from the Rainy Day Fund. $100 million of the $1 billion. So we talked in general terms at the legislature, we are all in agreement that we should — the legislative session should focus on economic relief. And we will be hopefully getting everybody on board with moving forward quickly.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: That’s only one tiny sliver of what I just talked about the $1 billion but the checks that they are talking about is not possible, and he was talking about draining the entire Rainy Day Fund of the state. We chose to follow the directions of the afford ability committee and the legislature in maintaining our Rainy Day Fund and we want to maintain our AAA fund rating and we believe this is getting more money in the hands of the people that need it and getting it out much faster without taking irresponsible action.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: In advance?
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: These are going to committee. Did you want to talk about who would be eligible?
Thank you, Governor. The eligibility for the $750 and the $450 payments are tied to Marylanders who have qualified for the earned income tax credit. In 2019 and those who will be eligible for it in 2020.
GOVERNOR HOGAN: These are the lowest income Marylanders, in addition to and separate from the additional federal which I think in the coming weeks we’re going to see that.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: We have a couple weeks. I think January 20th we roll out our budget. We are going to continue to fund the most important functions of government. We thought this was important to keep our economy going and we think this is a prudent way to go about it.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I just answered her question, coming from a variety of different places, most of it is money we have recognized, the cuts that we took at the Board of Public Works, and the reserve fund which is higher than anticipated and about $100 million from the Rainy Day Fund.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I think this money is specifically for rental assistance and not mortgages.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: Absolutely. I think it’s one of the things that we are looking at.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I think doing better than almost any other state in America. It is a big problem when you have hundreds of thousands that need computer systems and now, we are moving at a much faster rate than any other state in the country but there are about 4% of the people that haven’t gotten paid and there are complex problems within the state that are going to take many months to resolve. We have a law that requires not just to deny them but to spend time going through the appeals process. But we have been taking care of 94 to 96% and given hundreds of thousands $8.7 billion and I’m sure you will hear for years that people are saying I didn’t get my unemployment check and that’s why.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: We are taking additional security measures here at the statehouse complex. With the Capitol Police and the Maryland police. I ever a briefing to talk about our assistance in Washington with all of our Allied police forces in Maryland and with our National Guard which we increased the number of and the mission for. I have a call this afternoon with Governor Northam and Mayor Bowser and others. In dealing with the COVID numbers and the roll-out we are dealing with numbers the issues here in our state and the nation’s capital and we will be dealing with that from now until the inauguration.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: The Maryland police department, the whole state and the Guard were somewhat involved, and this is a much more heightened situation. We have now — we have already 500 guards there and we beefed up our police presence and I think we are going to increase 100 more guard members and there’s now a lot of talk and coordination between federal agencies and the regional partners. So hopefully everybody will be able to stay abreast.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: That would be probably the dumbest thing I have ever heard in my life. The purpose of the Constitution setting it up that way that we have the statute is if you have an emergency and it’s a state of emergency you can’t wait a year for the legislature to come back, you have to take action that day, not debate it for 90 days and say well there is another legislative session in nine months. You can’t take emergency powers away from people who need to take action, which we have been talking about for ten months.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I know that everybody believes it’s important. I’m sure there are going to be some discussions about — I think everybody agrees with most of the things they’re talking about, there may be additional things or things they want to do in addition to that and we are looking forward to the discussions, but we can’t wait. This is not something that should be debated until the end of the session in the meantime we are losing businesses and tens of thousands of people losing their homes.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: Well we took every action that we could take alone. These tax changes and the things that we are talking about extend beyond the state of emergency. The legislature must pass legislation, that’s why they’re in this package. We have taken steps already, that’s not the way the law works, this requires an act of legislation.
(Question off mic.)
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I think they should, yeah.
Thank you!
(End of press conference.)