The Capital
January 2, 2012

ANNAPOLIS — State Sen. John C. Astle, D-Annapolis, wants to ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment to protect two funds that pay for Chesapeake Bay cleanup.

Astle’s bill targets the Chesapeake Bay 2010 Trust Fund and the Bay Restoration Fund, better known as the recipient of the “flush fee.”

In recent years, millions of dollars have been moved out of the Bay Restoration Fund to plug holes in the state budget. The money is being paid back through bonds.

The Bay Trust Fund, which gets a portion of gas and car rental taxes, has never been funded as envisioned when it was created in 2007.

Astle’s constitutional amendment would require that the funds not be diverted into the general fund. The senator said the bill would “lock up” those funds.

Ed O’Brien, who represents charter boat captains, said the bill would restore the public’s confidence in the state’s bay-saving efforts.

“It certainly would be a rubber stamp that the legislature, the administration, is really doing something to try to turn this around,” he said.

The bill, which was considered by the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee yesterday, is one of several measures in the General Assembly aimed at protecting special funds from being raided.