After Crossover - Weekly Update

​As I explained last week, this past Monday was  the "crossover" date, the date by which a bill is supposed to pass one chamber in order to be guaranteed a hearing in the other. That meant a long week, a Saturday in session, and a full day of House floor sessions on Monday.  A lot got done and most of the next few weeks will be taken up with discussion of the budget and sorting out differences on various bills with the State Senate.

Some scenes from our Saturday session, including all of the notebooks containing bill reports for the Environment and Transportation Committee I chair.
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
With crossover behind us, here is an update on the seven pieces of legislation I am sponsoring. As I always like to point out, the bills I sponsor represent just a small part of my work in the House of Delegates and that has never been more true than this year, when I am chairing a committee.  That said, here is where each bill I sponsored now stands.
Legislation renaming the Port of Baltimore has passed both the House and the Senate version has passed that chamber.
The Electric Vehicle Recharging Equipment Act of 2024 passed the House several weeks ago. The Senate version--sponsored by our State Senator Ariana Kelly--has also passed the Senate. The bill makes it easier to access vehicle charging in Homeowners Association, Condo, and Co-op buildings and communities.
The Maryland Metro Funding Act of 2024 passed the House several weeks ago and the Senate version has passed that chamber. The bill eases the operating subsidy cap for our regional Metro system, in coordination with Washington, D.C. and Virginia, so that we can provide the system necessary funding.
The Open Source Phonics Matching Grant Program Act I sponsored has passed out of the House of Delegates. The bill makes it easier for families, teachers, and others to access reading materials.
The Washington Suburban Transit Commission Reform Act is a local bill I sponsored to make a few tweaks to the entity that oversees the Metro in Maryland. It has passed the House of Delegates.
The Maryland Toll Rate Reform Act helps to fund our transportation network and is part of a broader package of policies designed to address our transportation funding shortfall. It has passed the House and I discuss it further below.
The Transportation Funding Act has had part of it adopted into a component of the state budget to help address our transportation funding shortfall. The piece moving forward is a statewide $0.75 fee on Transportation Network Company (ride-hail vehicles like Uber or Lyft) trips. Again, see below for some further discussion.

 BUDGET UPDATE
 The budget for the state of Maryland has been on the House floor this week. For the first time since I was elected to the House of Delegates, I am not serving on the Appropriations Committee that primarily handles the budget. But like every year, the budget is balanced. It fully funds our pre-K through 12 public education. It maintains a healthy Rainy Day Fund while making the actuarially required contribution to our state pension. It restores some of the funds proposed for cuts to our community colleges. And much more.
But beyond addressing the budget for the next fiscal year (fiscal year 2025), the House is proposing to tackle both the transportation budget shortfall--which we are already feeling with proposed cuts today--and future shortfalls in our fund that contributes to public education.

Here are the components of the House budget plan.
Transportation:
-Toll Rate Reform: As discussed above, the House has passed legislation to leverage our state toll facilities to contribute $75 million a year to our broader transportation needs.
-Electric Vehicle Surcharge: We proposed a $125/year annual surcharge for electric vehicles. We want to incentivize going electric--and $125/year is still approximately half of what an average Maryland driver pays in gas taxes--and many pro zero emission vehicle states have such fees.
-Weight-based Vehicle Registration: We proposed to increase vehicle registration based on weight--which is appropriate given that heavier vehicles put more wear and tear on roads. The increases are $10 to $90 a year depending on the type and weight of the vehicle.
-Rideshare Fee: As noted above, we proposed a statewide $0.75 fee on rideshare or ride-hail trips.
-Excise Tax: We proposed an increase of the vehicle excise tax from 6% to 6.5%.
-Trade-in Exemption: We proposed eliminating the vehicle trade-in exemption except for zero emission purchases.
-Work Zone Safety: We proposed allocating some fines for automated enforcement at work zones to roadway system preservation projects.
These are not easy actions, but I view them as necessary to pay for the infrastructure Marylanders want and need.  You can see a portion of my remarks at a leadership press conference on these issues.
Education:
For public education, we proposed to adopt a method of corporate taxation called combined reporting used in 28 states ranging from Nebraska and Texas to California and Massachusetts.
We also proposed putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot to let Marylanders decide if they want to adopt i-gaming, which would legalize online casino games in Maryland. My predecessors first put gaming on the ballot to fund public education approximately 17 years ago and Marylanders have continuously supported expanding the types of permissible gaming.
Trauma:
In addition to transportation and public education, the House budget plan also addresses a shortfall in our state's trauma system, primarily via a registration surcharge and a tax on guns and ammo.
 
COMMUNITY NEWS
 Montgomery County Parks will hold a virtual meeting to discuss proposed renovations at Merrimac Neighborhood Park. The meeting is TONIGHT (Wednesday), March 20, 2024, from 7 – 8:30 p.m. Register to attend here.
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The Bethesda Chevy Chase Democratic Breakfast Club's next meeting is with District 18 state legislators on April 10th at 7:30am. The following meeting with be with candidates for Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge on April 25th. To obtain the link for the meeting, please email [email protected].

BOOK CORNER 
March is Women's History Month and a great time to mention Rachel Carson, one of the central figures in Douglas Brinkley's Silent Spring Revolution, part of his multi-volume history on the modern conservation and environmental movements. Carson was a marine biologist who wrote a popular trilogy on the ocean and followed it up with Silent Spring, a book about the dangers caused by pesticides. Carson herself died of cancer (in Silver Spring).