Background:

All state agencies were subjected to some funding reductions in the Governor’s budget to address a record deficit caused by reduced tax revenues during a bad recession.  A couple of consensus priorities in the budget of the governor and legislators are education and public safety.  That’s why law enforcement agencies across the state were surprised by significant additional cuts to DOJ, the state’s top law enforcement agency by the Joint Committee on Finance.  Many in law enforcement were concerned about lost services to local agencies and considered the cuts to be raw partisanship for an agency overseen by Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, a Republican.

Outcome: In the end, a compromise in the legislature restored most of the $5+ million in surprise cuts to DOJ.