* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*
CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL R
(Resolution)
Introduced by: Councilmember Harris
A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
Title
BGE Rate Increase - Special Session of the Maryland General Assembly
FOR the purpose of urging the Baltimore City Delegation to the Maryland General Assembly to request the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House to convene a special session of the Maryland General Assembly to pass legislation to address the 72% rate increase that BGE is scheduled to impose on electric power customers in the State of Maryland beginning July 1, 2006.
Body
Recitals
Despite frenzied negotiations in both the Senate and House of Delegates, legislation that would have averted a 72% rate increase for BGE customers died in the last hours of the 2006 Session of the Maryland General Assembly. Last week the Public Service Commission ratified, by a 4-1 vote, a decision that would not effect the amount of the increase but would spread the increase out for customers that opted to apportion it over an 18-month period.
The legislature acknowledged the hardship that the rate increase would impose and worked diligently to attempt to lessen the impact on the public. Advocacy groups for the poor and elderly voiced opposition to an action that would break the budgets of those already in peril of falling way below the poverty line, and the general public expressed fears regarding the impact on the household stability of the everyday working man and woman.
The 90-day session did not afford State elected officials the time needed to fashion a compromise that would ease the impact of the rate increase on the consumer without adversely affecting the fiscal viability of the power company, and the Public Service Commission did not afford the affected public a significant and proper opportunity to voice concerns about the proposed rate increase.
A special session would allow our elected officials an opportunity to do the job the public has entrusted to them and that they were denied the opportunity to do during the regular session of the General Assembly. A special session would also provide an opportunity to ensure that the Public Service Commission was held accountable to the public that they are charged to serve.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That the Baltimore City Delegation to the Maryland General Assembly is urged to request the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House to convene a special session of the Maryland General Assembly to pass legislation to address the 72% rate increase that BGE is scheduled to impose on electric power customers in the State of Maryland beginning July 1, 2006.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the Governor, the
Honorable Members of the Baltimore City Delegation to the Maryland General Assembly, the Mayor, the Executive Director of the Mayor's Office of State Relations, and the Mayor's Legislative Liaison to the City Council.
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