House budget leaders have fended off a Senate proposal to divert almost $60 million a year in sales tax revenue from the transportation trust fund to the general fund.
The Senate-House budget conference recently wrapped up negotiations during which conferees dropped a proposal that would have overriden current tax law under which the transportation fund would get 6.5 percent of sales tax revenues starting in the budget year starting in July 2013.
The fund currently receives 5.2 percent. Legislative analysts proposed and the Senate adopted language that would have kept that level at 5.2 percent permanently. It was cut, supposedly temporarily, in 2008 to make way for abolition of a computer services tax.
Business groups such as the Greater Baltimore Committee, concerned about shortfalls in the state's transportation revenues, fought the move to divert money. House budget leaders agreed and won out -- for this year at least. Look for this proposal to resurface next year as the state continues to grapple with budget shortfalls.