Report Contains Hundreds of Recommendations to Move Maryland Forward
ANNAPOLIS - Governor Martin O'Malley formally accepted the O'Malley-Brown Transition Report from Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown, who served as Chairman of the O'Malley-Brown Transition. The O'Malley-Brown Transition produced 21 individual reports focused on various state agencies or policy areas, including Budget and Management, Business and Economic Development, Public Safety and Corrections, the Department of Juvenile Services, and Transportation.
The O'Malley-Brown Transition Workgroups that developed the reports were co-chaired by a diverse group of Maryland's most accomplished citizens, and were comprised of more than 1,000 volunteers from every corner of the state.
"I am extremely proud of the O'Malley-Brown Transition Report and am grateful to the countless Marylanders who volunteered their time and energy to make our state government work again," said Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown. "The Transition is now over, and I look forward to working with Governor O'Malley to make our state government more efficient and more accountable."
Working over a brief period of time, the transition workgroups reviewed extensive briefing documents prepared by the previous administration, agency operating and capital budgets, recent Department of Legislative Services (DLS) audit reports and agency responses, and existing performance measurement infrastructures and reporting capabilities. The workgroups also conducted research into best practices and held hundreds of meetings and interviews with State government officials, issue advocates, and subject matter experts.
"This Transition Report will serve as the foundation for making our State government work again for the people of Maryland," said Governor Martin O'Malley. "I want to thank everyone who contributed their time, energy and expertise to move our State forward, and I look forward to working with our Cabinet secretaries over the next 45 days to develop a plan to implement these recommendations."
The final Transition Report, which is more than 1,000 pages long, contains hundreds of recommendations to improve Maryland's state government, including: cost avoidance/containment/savings, service expansions/improvements, organizational redesign, legislation and regulation.
Below is a list of the individual transition reports and the co-chairs for each workgroup.
Agriculture: Hagner Mister, Former Secretary of Agriculture; Lucie Snodgrass, Deputy Campaign Manager, O'Malley-Brown Campaign.
Budget and Management: T. Eloise Foster, Former Secretary of Budget and Management.
Information Technology: Bel Leong-Hong, President, and CEO of Knowledge Advantage Inc.
Business and Economic Development: Joseph Haskins, Jr., Chairman & CEO, Harbor Bank; Bruce Lee, General Counsel, TissueGene, Inc.; Veronica Cool, VP, Wachovia Bank; Christian Johansson, President & CEO, Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore.
K- 12 Education: Dr. Alvin Thornton, Former Chairman of the Maryland Commission on Education Finance, Equity, and Excellence ; Patricia Foerster, Former President, MSTA; June Streckfus, Executive Director, Maryland Business Roundtable.
Environment and Natural Resources: John Griffin, Former Secretary, Maryland Department of Natural Resources; Michael Smith, Attorney.
General Services: Martin Knott, President of Knott Mechanical.
Health and Mental Hygiene: Dr. Steven Sharfstein, President & CEO, Sheppard Pratt Health System; Ron Peterson, President, Johns Hopkins Health System.
Higher Education: Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, President, UMBC .
Housing and Community Development: Raymond Skinner, Former Secretary of Housing & Community Development; Gustavo Torres, Executive Director, CASA de Maryland, Inc.; Jon M. Laria, Partner, Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll.
Human Resources: Doug Nelson, President, Annie E. Casey Foundation; Imelda Johnson, Former Secretary, Department of Human Resources.
Juvenile Services: John Coale, Attorney.
Labor, Licensing & Regulation: Eleanor Carey, Former President, Governor's Workforce Investment Board; Hasan Solomon, Legislative Representative, International Association of Machinists.
Planning: Mayor Larry Giammo, City of Rockville; Tony Okolo, President, Voters Club.
Public Safety, Corrections And State Police: Shannon Avery, Assistant Attorney General; Frank Kratovil, State's Attorney, Queen Anne's County; Steve Meehan, Attorney; Sheila Sullivan, Office of the Public Defender.
Transportation: James Dinegar, President & CEO, Greater Washington Board of Trade; Don Fry, President, Greater Baltimore Committee; Anwar Hasan, VP, EA Engineering, Science and Technology.
Aging: Paula Hollinger, Former State Senator.
Disabilities: Joel David Myerberg, Chairperson Emeritus, Independent Living Foundation and Chairperson Emeritus, Maryland Disabilities Forum; Stephen Skekas, Attorney.
Elections: John T. Willis, Former Secretary of State.
Energy: Wayne Rogers, President Synergics, Inc.
MBE/WBE: Veronica Cool, VP, Wachovia Bank; Wayne Frazier, President, MWMCA.