Issues

TAXES & FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

Wade voted against the painful tax hikes enacted in the fall of 2007. The Governor sold those increases to the public as vital to ensuring the state’s fiscal health, promising that most Marylanders would notice little difference in their family budgets.  Unfortunately, all Marylanders have suffered from the regressive sales tax increase, along with an array of other hikes.

Wade fought successfully to repeal the sneaky tax increases imposed on the computer services industry without any opportunity for public input or reaction. Together with a new Administration next year, Wade looks forward to rolling back the sales tax increase and promoting real economic growth.

When the General Assembly reconvenes next year, it will begin $1.6 billion in the hole. Absent a responsible forward-looking plan to address the dubious spending priorities that have given rise to the current fiscal imbalance, Wade voted against the FY 2011 budget.

The Governor and leadership in Annapolis have attempted to depict spending as the lowest it has been in four years. This assertion fails to account for $1.3 billion in federal stimulus money and $300 million in transfers from the Transportation Trust Fund and Program Open Space.

Transfers contained in the federal stimulus package end by next year, while few other state funds remain just large enough to raid again to balance future budgets.  Despite $800 million in specific recommendations from myself and other Republicans, the General Assembly actually added $16 million to Governor’s budget.

HEALTHCARE FREEDOM

Wade opposes the federal takeover of the healthcare system and is working to protect Maryland from unconstitutional federal mandates.  At the same time, Wade continues to fight to keep doctors in Maryland by fostering a competitive atmosphere in which to practice.

Following passage of the Healthcare “Reform” act in Washington, the states now face unprecedented mandates including requiring all citizens to purchase health insurance.  In the face of this breathtaking attempt to impose a national healthcare system on the American people, over a dozen state Attorneys General have already filed suit challenging the constitutionality of the mandate.

Indeed, never before has Congress required the American people to buy anything.  If this measure were declared constitutional, would it not also be possible to require every citizen to purchase a firearm in the interest of public safety or a pint of blueberries to promote greater health?

It is unlikely that Maryland’s Attorney General will defend the state against this unconstitutional mandate, so citizens of Maryland need to act through their representatives in order to retain the autonomy and level of healthcare we currently enjoy.  Wade signed on to legislation—similar to efforts in neighboring Virginia—that would safeguard Marylanders from this burdensome imposition.

As a member of the Health and Government Operations Committee, Wade worked directly on several measures that aim to offer affordable and accessible healthcare to Maryland residents.  With no limits on the frequency with which insurance companies could raise rates in a given year, Wade spearheaded a successful effort to limit premium increases to once annually.  This legislation dovetails with the existing requirement that insurance companies gain approval from the Insurance Commissioner for rate hikes.  Consumers deserve fair notice and regularity in their annual healthcare spending.  Even the insurance industry agreed that its customers should expect this level of consistency.

ELIMINATING THE PRIMARY CARE PROVIDER SHORTAGE
The critical shortage of primary care providers has hit rural areas of our state particularly hard. Wade joined in a successful effort to eliminate the archaic collaborative agreement between physicians and Nurse Practitioners. While acknowledging the appropriate roles of doctors and nurses in our health system, Nurse Practitioners have proven capable of providing excellent care and should not be discouraged from practice in the state.

IMMIGRATION CONTROL

Wade voted against every attempt to give illegal immigrants benefits, including in-state tuition at state colleges and universities.  He believes in the rule of law and that those who break our laws by illegally entering this country deserve no amnesty.  Concerned about the security of our porous borders and the nation at large, Wade worked to pass a critically important bill to prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining driver’s licenses in Maryland.

Wade sponsored measures to make English the official language of Maryland, believing that no one—including legal immigrants themselves—benefits from an ability to speak the main language of the American people since the inception of this country.

PENSION REFORM

Maryland’s State Retirement and Pension Systems has an unfunded liability of $17 billion. The entire State Retirement and Pension System of Maryland is worth roughly $32.5 billion.  Therefore, the $17 billion shortfall, which some estimates put as high as $19 billion, effectively means that, if all state workers retired tomorrow, only half would receive pension checks.

Wade actively participated in a pension workgroup to develop strategies to resolve the long-range shortfalls of the state pension system. The workgroup proposed that, initially, the state legislature itself would move from a defined benefit program to a defined contribution program, much like 95% of the private sector. Unfortunately, the legislature refused to adopt this plan, instead opting to kick the can further down the road.

SAFE COMMUNITIES

TRAFFIC
Wade sponsored legislation related to fatal accidents. Time and time again, motorists at fault in fatal accidents are permitted to simply pay a fine, never facing the family members of the victim in any setting.

This new law requires anyone responsible for a fatal accident to appear in a specified administrative hearing, allowing family members to confront the person responsible for the death of their loved one.  Wade also supported legislation to impose criminal penalties for operating a vehicle in a criminally negligent manner that causes a traffic fatality.

CHILD PREDATORS
Wade sponsored legislation to prohibit sex offenders from earning diminution credits to reduce the term of confinement of inmates serving sentences for such serious offenses.  Wade also supported requiring lifetime supervision for violent repeat sexual offenders.

GANG LAWS
Though we in Northern Baltimore County remain extraordinarily blessed to enjoy relative calm—apart from traffic congestion—Wade’s interactions with other lawmakers from parts of the state that were once serene and placid have convinced him that we must not be complacent about the spread of gang activity in our region. Even rural areas of Harford County have not been immune to gang violence.

Wade supported legislation to strengthen gang laws in this state, which is beset with around 600 gangs and 9000 gang members. The new laws to require consecutive sentences for crimes related to gang activity and strengthened the ability of State’s Attorneys to prosecute gang crime. We cannot legislate crime away, but we can avail prosecutors with greater enforcement power.

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY

As a former public school teacher and auditor for the school system, Wade is intimately familiar with the relative strengths and weaknesses of our schools.

Our schools in Northern Baltimore County have long been among the most successful in the state.  Although the national education journal Education Week named Maryland public schools #1 in the nation in its annual ‘Quality Counts’ survey last year, taxpayers would be wise to scrutinize the pervasive myth that more money leads to better schools. This notion has significantly contributed to the critical budgetary shortfalls currently confronting lawmakers in Annapolis.

In 2002, Wade voted against the so-called Thornton Plan, which allotted billions of dollars in state education spending with no funding source.  In other words, the legislature committed the state to pay for something without first deciding how to pay for it.

The state has yet to effectively pay for this commitment and continues to increase education aid to the counties.  Last year, Baltimore City Public Schools spent $15,626 per pupil compared to $9,738 in 2002, while schools in Baltimore County allotted $13,070 compared to $8,595 in 2002.  Neighboring Harford and Carroll Counties spent $12,299 and $12,129, respectively, per pupil. State aid to education increased by $2.5 billion from 2002 to 2009.  To be sure, Marylanders are right to demand more for their money, particularly in frugal times for our families.