Public Safety and Administration Subcommittee reviews DLS decision document, moves to adopt report

The Public Safety and Administration Subcommittee reviewed the Department of Legislative Services (DLS) decision document and related green-packet items, with DLS analysts presenting recommended position deletions, funding reductions and reporting requirements across state public-safety and administrative agencies. Delegate Jazz Lewis presided and moved to adopt the full report; a second was recorded but the transcript does not show a formal roll-call vote or recorded outcome.

DLS outlined dozens of recommendations for agency-specific adjustments and new committee narratives. For the Judiciary, DLS recommended abolishing five proposed positions — a circuit court judge position, a courtroom clerk, a law clerk and two case manager positions — and proposed raising the turnover rate for new positions from 5.72% to 25%. DLS also proposed across-the-board reductions and restrictions in multiple Judiciary line items, including a $600,000 reduction to align duplicate equipment expenses with fiscal 2024 actuals, a $670,000 reduction to contractual salary increases, and restrictions on land-records and public defender program appropriations. The DLS analyst presented these items as part of the decision document; Judiciary responses were noted as “concurred,” “concurred in part” or “disagreed” on specific items as DLS read them aloud.

For the Office of the Public Defender, DLS recommended deleting roughly $1.7 million in general funds and removing multiple new positions (12 office-sector positions, nine office start positions, two administrative positions and two IT positions); the agency formally disagreed, according to the analyst.

The Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention and Policy drew attention for two large items tied to public-safety grants: DLS proposed deleting $4,000,000 from a police accountability grant and deleting $45,900,000 from state aid for police protection enhancement funding; the analyst reported that the agency disagreed with both proposed deletions. Related committee narrative in the green packet would require the agency to report how state-aid enhancement funding was used for fiscal 2023–2025.

DLS recommended substantial changes affecting Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) programs, including committee narratives and funding restrictions. Notable items presented included a proposed $4,100,000 deletion for a body-worn camera program (the department disagreed), a recommended $700,000 reduction to inmate health-care funding to account for anticipated liquidated damages from a contractor, and multiple restrictions tied to reports on recidivism data, mandatory overtime elimination strategies and hiring/attrition quarterly reports. DLS also presented a request for additional detail on agency healthcare contract staffing levels and liquidated damages.

For juvenile services, DLS recommended reducing general funds by $4,200,000 to fund an enhanced services continuum at fiscal 2025 levels and deleting $3,000,000 for the proposed Catoctin Treatment Center because that facility was not included in the department’s submitted facilities master plan; the department disagreed with the deletions and said it would explore alternatives for expanding inpatient treatment beds. The DLS analyst also described a green-packet amendment that would restrict the Catoctin funding to reopen the Alfred D. Noyes Children’s Center instead.

Other agency items noted by DLS included requests for narrative or restricted funding tied to: the State Board of Elections’ major IT projects (including a focus on the new voter system and the SPM poll book), military department vacancy reports, reports on TRICARE premium reimbursement participation, Maryland Zoo operational reporting, and multiple managing-for-results and IT-readiness reports across state agencies.

Throughout the presentation, DLS noted agency responses as recorded in the decision document: many agencies “concurred,” some “concurred in part,” and others “disagreed” with particular recommendations. Delegate Jazz Lewis moved to adopt “the whole report,” a second was recorded, and Lewis closed the meeting thanking members and staff; the transcript contains no further recorded roll-call or final vote tally.

The subcommittee’s recommended actions as presented by DLS would, if adopted by the full committee or enacted in final budget action, change staffing proposals, restrict or re-purpose appropriations, and add committee narrative reporting requirements for multiple agencies. DLS repeatedly anchored recommendations to fiscal-year comparisons (for example, aligning several line items to fiscal 2024 actuals) and to pending reports (VOCA grant reporting, criminal injuries compensation board annual report, and others) as the basis for withholding or restricting funds.