Well, the Governor is still pushing for a special session of the legislature to consider his revenue plan (taxes and slots), but there seems to be considerable opposition.
The last special session of the legislature was called by Governor Ehrlich to address the medical malpractice issue and he had specific legislation he wanted them to pass. Unfortunately for Ehrlich, the legislature, once convened, decided to go its own way and passed two bills, both of which were vetoed by the Governor and both of which were passed over his veto.
Now, O'Malley has learned something from that and wants to be sure he has the necessary votes for his plan before he convenes the legislature. But there are problems. House leaders on both sides of the aisle have stated they don't see the need for a special session; the Republican Senate caucus has stated that they will not support the slots bill in a special session; several top Montgomery County Democrats are unhappy with the proposed income tax reform and State Comptroller Peter Franchot has strongly opposed the slots proposal and suggested that he could raise $200 million over five years by tightening tax enforcement.
Now, the Governor has the authority to call a special session whenever he pleases. On the other hand, the legislature has the authority to adjourn whenever they please. It would be politically painful for the Governor to call a special session and then not get the legislation he wants or have the session run over into the regular session (which begins in January) without getting what he wants.
It's likely that O'Malley could get one or two items on his agenda passed by the special session - perhaps the sales tax increase and corporate tax reform, but that would take some of the revenue pressure off and make it less likely that the rest of his revenue plan could be passed during the regular session.
The Governor is working hard to sell his plan and wrap up the necessary votes. I suspect we'll see in the next week or two whether he's been successful. If the votes aren't there he'll back off the special session. It would be a lot less politically painful to give up the special session than to suffer a legislative defeat at this point.
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