ANNAPOLIS — Special-interest groups said yesterday that they also intend to be in Annapolis for the special General Assembly session, lobbying for additional state spending beyond Gov. Martin O’Malley’s expansive plan.
Environmentalists are pushing for a new development tax, known as the Green Fund, that would be used to clean the Chesapeake Bay. Public-interest groups said they would like to expand the sales tax to including financial planning. And one state lawmaker would like to introduce a new “gas-guzzler” tax that could raise up to $33 million by taxing vehicles with low gas mileage, such as sport utility vehicles.
“A lot of people want to add stuff” to Mr. O’Malley’s plan, said Sean Dobson, executive director of Progressive Maryland, which wants to expand the sales tax to services largely used by wealthy Marylanders and to close additional tax loopholes.
Rick Abbruzzese, a spokesman for Mr. O’Malley, a Democrat, said it’s too early to tell whether the governor will consider additional measures.
He also said the governor’s budget plan will be introduced as multiple bills — long a point of contention between the Senate leadership that wants one budget bill and the House leadership that advocates multiple bills.
Mr. O’Malley ordered lawmakers this week to return to Annapolis on Oct. 29 to weigh his plan for increased taxes and legalized slot machines during the special session.
He has not said how long the session will last, but it could run up to four weeks, which would cost taxpayers about $600,000 in operating costs and room and board for lawmakers.
The extensive length of the special session — compared with recent ones that have lasted only a few days — has also opened the door for groups trying to push through bills not related to closing the state’s $1.7 billion budget shortfall.
The Green Fund has already received broad support from Mr. O’Malley, but it’s unclear whether the other measures will be successful.
“I think it’s really hard to tell,” said Cindy Schwartz, executive director of the Maryland League of Conservation Voters. “We’re going to do everything we can to gin up our grass roots, we’re going to do a big media campaign. We’re going to do everything we can.”
House Speaker Michael E. Busch, Anne Arundel Democrat, and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., Southern Maryland Democrat, did not return calls for comment.
Lawmakers already have requested that 30 bills be drafted for introduction during the special session, say analysts in the Department of Legislative Services.
But it also is not clear whether those not related to the budget shortfall will pass during the session.
“I don’t expect that it’s going to be dealt with by the committees unless it deals with the” budget, said Sen. Brian E. Frosh, Montgomery Democrat and chairman of the Judicial Proceedings Committee.
Mr. Frosh said he would like to introduce a new excise tax on “gas guzzlers,” which would generate about $33 million a year for transportation projects, but he gave it a slim chance of success.
Former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican, called two special sessions during his four years in office, one to deal with medical-malpractice-insurance reform and the other to stave off increasing energy rates.
Both sessions were brief and allowed little time for lawmakers to consider issues other than those preferred by Mr. Ehrlich, though some key legislation was passed.
In the 2006 special session, lawmakers passed a diluted version of a bill cracking down on child sex offenders, known as “Jessica’s Law.”
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