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As I noted last week, the Governor's budget proposal has been released. The budget is the one bill the Maryland General Assembly is constitutionally required to pass each year and it has two major components:
On Monday, the General Assembly received the annual overview of the budget known as the fiscal briefing. You can watch the full briefing here. Or read the presentation here. As always, you can keep up with what I am doing by following me at @mkorman on Twitter or by clicking "Like" on Delegate Marc Korman on Facebook. Legislative Update Last week, my first bill hearing took place on the Zero Emission Bus Transition Revision Act (HB 10), legislation that modifies the zero emissions bus transition bill from last year to assist the workforce. You can watch the hearing online. I have introduced several more bills since my last newsletter that will soon be assigned for hearings:
Metro's General Manager, Paul Wiedefeld, has announced his departure later this year. Mr. Wiedefeld has a history of service in the transportation sector in Maryland, having run both the Maryland Transit Administration and BWI Airport before leading Metro. Running Metro is a difficult job and I think Mr. Wiedefeld brought needed credibility to the role when he began and helped secure dedicated funding for the system which is critical to maintaining its capital. Unfortunately, two events have clouded the end of Mr. Wiedefeld's tenure: COVID-19, which is obviously beyond Metro's control, and the issues with the 7000 series of railcars that are not currently running. ----- The Governor's final six year Consolidated Transportation Program was released with the budget last week. There is a lot to digest and, as noted above, the budget includes dedicated funding for Metro and a projected extension of Highway User Revenue. But one area of interest is how the budget deals with the proposed expansion of I-270 and I-495. Last year, the Governor's political action committee ran attack ads against me and others, claiming that five specific transportation projects (four roads and one transit line) would be cancelled unless the Governor's road expansion plans advanced. The plan have advanced, yet in this final budget of Governor Hogan's tenure, four of the five projects (three roads and one transit line) still receive zero funding. Moreover, the Governor's draft transportation budget had no funds set aside for the project Montgomery County Councilmembers said they had secured last summer. After the Department of Transportation was asked about this at multiple meetings and hearings, Page MTA-54 of the final budget sets aside $400,000 to begin developing a project. Community News Montgomery County is beginning to plan the North Bethesda Bus Rapid Transit line, a proposed connection from Montgomery Mall to either Grosvenor or White Flint Metro Stations. Click here to apply for the corridor advisory committee. Click here to sign-up for updates. ----- The Comptroller has announced a three month extension of the state income tax due date. The filing and payment deadline will be Friday, July 15, 2022.----- Shout-out to District 16's Zoe Weiss, who testified in support of HB 49, Public Health - Emergency and Allergy Treatment - Nurse Practitioners legislation last week. You can watch Zoe's testimony starting at about nine minutes in of this video. ----- Congratulations to Bethesda's Laura Coyle on her reappointment to the Citizens Review Panel for Children. ----- Congratulations to Joan Kleinman, the long-serving District Director for Senator Van Hollen recently announced her retirement. Joan has been an incredible bridge between state officials and Senator Van Hollen. Speaking of which, Senator Van Hollen spoke at the Montgomery County Delegation last week, including about Joan. You can watch his remarks here, starting about 29 minutes into the meeting. Community Events
If you know of an upcoming District 16 event or a District 16 resident who merits recognition or condolences, please email marc@marckorman.com. The legislative session is off to a fast start in committees. In a normal legislative year we begin with short floor sessions--because no legislation has been passed by committees at this early date--and committee briefings. This year, because of COVID, we are skipping the short, largely ceremonial floor sessions and also quickly commencing bill hearings. The Appropriations Committee and the Subcommittee on Transportation and the Environment that I chair is in the process of holding a series of relevant early briefings. And more are in planning on the Maryland Transportation Authority--the agency that handles EZPass--and its recent troubles as well as the Purple Line. You can view the first oversight briefing on Maryland's commuter rail system here. It was also covered in a media story.  You can view the first oversight briefing on Maryland's commuter rail system here. It was also covered in a media story.
The first hearing on one of my bills is also scheduled for tomorrow. The Zero-Emission Bus Transition Act Revisions (HB 10) will be heard by the Environment and Transportation Committee. As always, you can keep up with what I am doing by following me at @mkorman on Twitter or by clicking "Like" on Delegate Marc Korman on Facebook. The Budget By the time you read this, the Governor's fiscal year 2023 budget proposal will be made publicly available. The budget will be available here and I will have more to say about it next week. But for those interested, the non-partisan Department of Legislative Services will hold its annual fiscal briefing on January 24 at 3pm to provide insight into the budget request. TransportationOne of my great frustrations with state government is the mismanagement of the Purple Line construction. I support the project and believe a suburb to suburb transit connection running from Bethesda through Silver Spring and College Park to New Carrollton will, in the long term, be beneficial to the region. But the path to getting there has been disappointing. I have been concerned about the Public Private Partnership (P3) used for the Purple Line from the time it was entered into. As a rank-and-file member five years ago, I joined with colleagues from Montgomery and Prince George's County to question the then-Transportation Secretary on some of the provisions. When I became chair of the Transportation & Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, I requested that the P3 vendor attend the Maryland Transit Administration's budget hearing in 2020, which the Administration rejected. I have been in close contact with Department of Transportation officials since the construction contractor walked away and was pleased that the P3 vendor finally attended the Maryland Transit Administration budget hearing in 2021, where I had the opportunity to question them on the progress of the project. The budget last year included language I drafted requiring status reports from the Maryland Transit Administration on the progress of replacing the construction contractor and the most recent submission is informative. As you can read in the submission, the good news is the new construction contractor has been identified, the Board of Public Works will consider the award at its next meeting--the documentation for which is here--and the construction contractor will ramp up their work in the spring . But the awful news is that the total cost of the P3 has seen 66% growth since 2016 including almost 75% growth in the construction phase. The Administration tries to place the blame for this on inflation and COVID, but the truth is they accepted an unreasonably low bid in what looks like an effort to hide costs and we are paying for it. First with a departed construction contractor who has delayed the project and now with these increased costs and other changes to the project that increase the risk to the state. My subcommittee plans to hold a briefing on the project soon. ---- Maryland has a series of alternative fuel corridors that have been federally designed and, thus, eligible for federal funding for electric vehicle charging stations under the new federal infrastructure law. The entire Montgomery County House Delegation sent a letter to the Maryland Department of Transportation seeking the designation of additional corridors in the County. Read the letter here. You can read the response from the Department here. Community News
If you know of an upcoming District 16 event or a District 16 resident who merits recognition or condolences, please email marc@marckorman.com. The Maryland General Assembly convenes for its 90 day session today. Once again, we will be operating in a challenging public health environment and you can read about some of the protocols impacting the public here. The one silver lining is all of our floor sessions, committee meetings, and committee voting sessions now stream online and are accessible. You can visit the Maryland General Assembly website to keep track of all of our meetings or just reply to this email with any questions.  The office staff for the 2022 legislative session. As always, you can keep up with what I am doing by following me at @mkorman on Twitter or by clicking "Like" on Delegate Marc Korman on Facebook. 2022 Legislative Session Agenda I am currently sponsoring nine pieces of legislation and the possibility of a few more still under development. That said, there are some significant issues the General Assembly will address that I may not be the sponsor of, but will take up significant time. This includes the annual budget which goes through the committee I serve on (Appropriations); further relief related to the continuing public health crisis; oversight of the public health response; legislation related to the potential legalization of recreational cannabis; and more. Although I am not the primary author of these bills, their development and advancement will be a part of my work these next 90 days. Moreover, there are numerous other issues in which we will be engaged including a comprehensive bill related to climate change and assisting renters facing eviction; the local legislation I help oversee as chair of the 24 member Montgomery County House Delegation; and my work in overseeing the state's transportation and environmental agencies' budgets as the Chair of the Transportation & Environment Subcommittee of Appropriations. It will be a busy legislative session. The legislation I am sponsoring includes: Young Readers Program Expansion Act: As a bibliophile, I may be most excited about this legislation that would support Imagination Library chapters in our state. Imagination Library programs sends a book a month to children under five and the Montgomery County chapter focuses on impoverished communities. The bill would set up a state matching program for local jurisdictions to support Imagination Library chapters. Green School Construction Act of 2022: For schools transitioning the fuel supply for their boilers, transitioning to a fossil fuel would become an ineligible cost for purposes of state matching dollars. There is no reason for state tax dollars to make long-term investments in fossil fuel infrastructure when schools can instead upgrade to greener options. Maryland Rail Investment Act of 2022: Maryland has an independent transportation authority for the construction, maintenance, and management of roads but not for transit. This legislation would create that by establishing a rail authority to support transit projects and funding it with toll revenue in excess of road maintenance needs, an approach also followed in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. WMATA Dedicated Funding Amendment Act of 2022: In 2018, Maryland was part of an historic success that established regional, dedicated funding for the Metro system. Although I continue to have significant concerns about the oversight and management of the system, there is no question that this funding has helped with Metro's capital needs. The legislation makes something of a technical change to the dedicated funding formula, contingent on parallel action in DC and Virginia, to apply a growth formula to the dedicated funding account instead of another capital fund. Senator Brian Feldman is working on the bill with me. Zero-Emission Bus Transition Act Revisions (HB 10): Last year, the Maryland General Assembly passed my legislation with Senator Craig Zucker to transition the state's 800 bus fleet to zero emission. The new bill ensures that the bus workers are treated fairly during the transition. Motor Vehicle Registration Clarification Act: The bill came from a constituent complaint where the Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) was issuing penalties for non-insured cars (which they track by license plates) when the plates have already been turned in. The bill will require the MVA to pause a little longer before assessing the penalties. Arbitration Reform for State Employees Act: The proposed constitutional amendment would alter the system of government employee negotiations in Maryland to binding arbitration, allowing a neutral third party to settle contract disputes between the Governor and state workforce. Senator Ben Kramer is working on the proposed constitutional amendment with me. Maryland State Transparency Act: This legislation builds on prior work I have done with Senator Cheryl Kagan to make various agencies' governing boards more transparent. It applies the same web streaming and agenda posting requirements to all of the state's quasi-governmental agencies, which was the recommendation of a Gubernatorial Commission I served on over the interim. Independent Agency Health Insurance Option Act: This bill allows a few quasi governmental agencies not already covered to buy-in to the state's health insurance program. There is no net cost to the state because the quasi governmental agencies pay for the state's share of the cost, just as they do for their usually more expensive independent health insurance plans today. Senator Brian Feldman is working on the proposed legislation with me. The Maryland General Assembly website has many great resources if you are interested in following our work over the next 90 days. I will highlight just a few:
I also recommend a few different news resources for those of you interested in the legislature. In addition to the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun, there are three websites that specialize in coverage of Annapolis:
Community News
 If you know of an upcoming District 16 event or a District 16 resident who merits recognition or condolences, please email marc@marckorman.com.
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