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O'Malley isn't giving up on gas tax plan

Contrary to some reports put out by legislators, Gov. Martin O'Malley is not giving up on his proposal to extend the state's 6 percent sales tax to gasoline purchases to fund transportation projects.

Two Republican delegates, Kathy Szeliga of Harford County and Susan Aumann of Baltimore County, sent out electronic newsletters Friday saying the governor's gas tax proposal "is being taken off the table."

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Not so, said state Transportation Secretary Beverley Swaim-Staley, who was in Annapolis Friday morning to meet with legislators in an effort to sell the plan. The gas tax proposal has received a chilly reception from lawmakers of both parties, who are already grappling with a series of revenue-raising plan to close a roughly $1 billion budget gap.

Swaim-Staley did concede that any action on the proposal would have to wait until the General Assembly reaches an agreement on a budget. Transportation revenue is a separate proposal.

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A spokesman for O'Malley confirmed that the administration is sticking by its guns, but said the plan will likely be modified so that a "braking mechanism" -- intended to delay the tax if prices spike -- takes effect this year instead of waiting until the second year of the three-year phase-in.

Hearings on the proposal are scheduled for March 14.

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