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Hogan’s clash with Democrats over transportation spending reignited

August 12th, 2016 by WCBC Radio

A bitter fight between Gov. Larry Hogan and the Democratic leaders of the General Assembly — over a law governing how billions of state dollars will be spent on transportation projects — is flaring anew.

Hogan vehemently opposes the law, which creates a scoring system that could help determine which projects receive state funding. But the Republican administration had been pushing it into effect more quickly than lawmakers intended.

Democrats say the administration is misinterpreting the measure, which was enacted over the governor's veto. Their case was bolstered this week when the attorney general's office opined that the administration exceeded its authority when it told counties last month to submit extensive studies of their most coveted transportation projects or risk losing funding this year.

In a letter to Maggie McIntosh, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, Assistant Attorney General David W. Stamper said the law indicates the scoring process would be first applied in 2017.

A spokesman for Hogan said the administration would take a new look at the law in light of the legal opinion.

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