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SB 1034

State Budget - Budget Bill - Executive and Legislative Powers

2025 Regular Session

MD constitutional amendment removes the governor's line-item veto and special budget override rules, shifting budget control entirely to the General Assembly.

First Reading Senate Rules
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Bill Summary · SB 1034

Summary — SB 1034: State Budget — Budget Bill — Executive and Legislative Powers (Maryland constitutional amendment)

Status: Introduced (Feb 9, 2025); assigned to Rules. Sponsor(s): Senators Ready, Hershey, McKay, Salling, Simonaire. This bill proposes amendments to the Maryland Constitution (Article II and Article III) to change how the Budget Bill is handled between the Governor and the General Assembly.

Main purpose / intent

SB 1034 would remove the special presentment, item-veto, and post-veto reconvening procedures that currently apply to the State Budget Bill. In short, it seeks to eliminate the Governor’s authority to approve, disapprove, or item-veto particular items in the Budget Bill and to remove the related legislative procedures for reconsideration and extraordinary session convening tied specifically to budget vetoes.

Key provisions

  • Amends Article II, Section 17 (Executive Department):

    • Removes or repeals the constitutional subsections that: (a) authorize the Governor to veto specific items in the Budget Bill and (b) prescribe the special override and reconvening procedures that apply when the Governor vetoes Budget Bill items.
    • Eliminates the existing constitutional language that treats the Budget Bill differently from other bills with respect to item veto and the timetable/extraordinary session rules for returns and veto overrides.

  • Amends Article III, Sections 14 and 52 (Legislative Department / Appropriations):

    • Revises the extraordinary-session and convening language related to Budget Bill handling (Section 14).
    • Modifies the constitutional framework governing how appropriation bills are classified and enacted, removing the special amendment/override process that applied to the Budget Bill (Section 52). (Text in the bill is truncated but clearly targets the special budget-related provisions.)

  • Overall effect: The constitutional rules that allowed the Governor to disapprove or item-veto specific appropriations in the Budget Bill—and the special procedure allowing the General Assembly to reconvene on short notice to attempt overrides of those item vetoes—would be repealed.

Who would be affected

  • Governor’s Office: loss of constitutional authority to item-veto individual budget items in the Budget Bill.
  • General Assembly: gains relative control over final content of the Budget Bill (no item-veto check by the Governor); procedural changes for how vetoes and overrides are handled.
  • State agencies, programs, and recipients of appropriations: budget changes would be resolved without the Governor’s line-item veto power; this could change negotiation dynamics during the budget process.
  • Maryland voters: because this is a constitutional amendment, its adoption ultimately requires voter approval (see Procedural notes below).

Procedural / timeline notes

  • Constitutional amendment: The bill proposes changes to the Maryland Constitution. As drafted it requires the concurrence of three-fifths of all members of each house to propose the amendment (the bill text cites that threshold).
  • Next steps (typical Maryland process): if passed by the required legislative majority, the proposed amendment must be placed before the voters at the next appropriate statewide election for ratification by a majority of voters.
  • Status (as of bill text): introduced and read; assigned to Rules (first reading Feb 9, 2025).

Potential impacts and considerations

  • Shifts the balance of budget power toward the legislature by removing the Governor’s line-item veto for appropriation items, which may reduce executive leverage in budget negotiations.
  • May accelerate enactment of legislative budget priorities but could reduce a tool used to restrain or refine appropriations.
  • Could change how agencies plan for appropriations and how the executive branch responds to the enacted budget.
  • May raise constitutional and practical questions about separation of powers, fiscal oversight, and the mechanism for resolving budget disputes; eventual legal or administrative clarifications could follow if adopted.

Note: The provided document bundle included other, unrelated SB 1034 texts from other jurisdictions (e.g., Arizona ASRS retiree return-to-work language). This summary focuses on the Maryland constitutional amendment titled “State Budget – Budget Bill – Executive and Legislative Powers,” which matches the bill title and content shown above.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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