Maryland
Maryland Gov. Moore to share 2025 budget proposal as state faces $2.7 billion deficit
BALTIMORE — Maryland Governor Wes Moore is expected to share his Fiscal Year 2025 budget proposal and legislative priorities Tuesday as the state faces a $2.7 billion deficit, the largest in 20 years.
The Maryland General Assembly’s 2025 legislative session got underway on January 8, during which the governor said he plans to take an aggressive approach by cutting $2 billion in spending.
Gov. Moore said he plans to focus on government efficiency and bringing new streams of revenue to the state.
The state is legally required to pass a balanced budget, and the legislature will likely vote on the 83rd day of the session, on April 1, 2025.
The budget was a hot topic during the Jan. 8 meeting. Democrats called it a difficult year and Gov. Moore said he is committed to optimizing spending.
“I inherited a structural deficit when I became the governor because the state was both spending at a clip of what that was not sustainable, and we were growing at a clip that was embarrassing,” Gov. Moore said.
A structural deficit occurs when the government is spending more money than it makes in taxes.
Did Gov. Moore inherit a deficit?
In 2022, former Governor Larry Hogan and state lawmakers closed out the legislative session with an estimated $2.5 billion budget surplus, which allowed for infrastructure and school upgrades along with tax relief. The state also had about $3 billion – 12% of the state’s general fund – in its Rainy Day Fund.
Hogan met with Gov. Moore’s administration in December 2022 to share budget recommendations during which time he urged the administration and lawmakers to maintain the surplus.
“With continued inflation and economic uncertainty at the national level, we believe this is critically important, and it would be a mistake for the legislature to use its newly expanded budgetary power to return to the old habits of raiding the Rainy Day Fund or recklessly spending down the surplus,” Hogan said at the time.
During the 2022 meeting, Hogan also recommended more than $720 million in spending to expand community policing and behavioral health services, replace an aging hospital on the Eastern Shore and construct a new school and care center.
Maryland went into the 2024 legislative session facing an estimated $761 million structural deficit. At that time, Gov. Moore proposed $3.3 billion in cuts.
Police said Dequan Gravely, 23, of Charles County, was driving northbound on Route 210 near Pine Drive when his Mercedes collided with the school bus turning left from the southbound lanes.
The driver of a car involved in a crash with a Prince George’s County school bus in Accokeek, Maryland, on Friday has been identified.
Prince George’s County police said Dequan Gravely, 23, of Bryans Road in Charles County, was driving northbound on Route 210 near Pine Drive around 7:20 a.m. when his Mercedes collided with the school bus turning left from the southbound lanes.
Investigators said the crash happened in the intersection, causing the school bus to flip onto its side. Gravely died at the scene.
The school bus driver was transported to a hospital and treated for injuries that were not considered life-threatening. Police said no students were on the bus at the time of the crash.
Investigators said they believe debris from the collision damaged a third vehicle. The driver of that vehicle “declined medical attention,” police said.
The Prince George’s County Police Department’s Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Unit is investigating. Anyone with information is asked to contact investigators at 301-731-4422.
WTOP’s Acacia James contributed to this report.
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A D.C. man won $5 million from a scratch-off lottery ticket in Maryland last week, and the matching number that netted him the prize happened to be his age.
Talk about a birthday surprise! A D.C. man won $5 million from a scratch-off lottery ticket in Maryland last week, and the matching number that netted him the prize happened to be his age.
Maurice Williams, a school bus driver in D.C., claimed the first top prize on a $5,000,000 LUXE scratch-off. He had used his $50 winnings from a previous LUXE scratch-off ticket to buy a new one the next day.
In a release from the Maryland Lottery, Williams said he didn’t know he had won until he scanned the ticket: “It’s crazy because the matching number was 59 and I just turned 59 the other day.”
Williams said he sat in shock for a while before calling his mother.
He said he plans to buy his mother a house with the winnings and then save up.
Two more top prizes from the scratch-off have yet to be claimed, the Maryland Lottery said, as well as nine $200,000 prizes, 10 $50,000 prizes and thousands of prizes ranging from $50 to $10,000.
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© 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
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