Wrapping Up the 2024 Legislative Session - May Update

The 2024 session was my first as chair of the House Environment and Transportation Committee, one of just six standing committees in the House of Delegates.  Click here to watch some short highlights.  There is a lot more information below wrapping up the 2024 legislative session.

And you can watch last week's full District 16 town hall here.

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
​Governor Moore has finished bill signings for legislation passed in the 2024 session. You can review the complete list of bills he signed into law here: https://governor.maryland.gov/news/Pages/bill-signings.aspx
I am pleased that the signed bills included the following legislation of which I was the primary author:
Electric Vehicle Recharging Equipment Act of 2024 to clarify the rules for vehicle charging equipment in condo, homeowners association, and co-op communities.
Maryland Metro Funding Act of 2024 to allow Maryland to contribute more to our area Metro system as part of a regional agreement.
The Washington Suburban Transit Commission Reform Act to reform the bi-county agency that oversees and works with the Metro.
Open-Source Phonics Matching Grant Program Act to establish a small grant program that will allow parents, tutors, and others to access free reading education materials.
Port of Baltimore Renaming renaming--in state law--the Port of Baltimore after its champion, Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley.
I worked on many other successful pieces of legislation during the 2024 legislative session, but these are the bills that I primarily sponsored which are now law.
I am also pleased that among the bills Governor Moore signed, 228 were within the jurisdiction of the Environment and Transportation Committee that I chair. Here are some highlights of the committee's work.

For a more comprehensive look at our work, each year the Department of Legislative Services releases a 90 Day Report summarizing the legislative session. The 2024 version is now available here.

​Part of my work as a state Delegate is to serve in my county's legislative delegation, which I used to chair. So I am proud to highlight some of our Montgomery County Delegation highlights for 2024 including new continuous funding for the Institute of Health Computing in North Bethesda.

The Joint Chairs Report summarizes the General Assembly’s work on the state budget. It is also an important oversight tool as it allows us to require the executive agencies and departments to provide information and reports. You can read the complete “JCR” here.
This year, my committee and I worked with our Appropriations Committee colleagues to maintain the bimonthly Purple Line progress reports, track our zero emission vehicle goals, make sure our toll authority has bike and pedestrian options, address out of state license plates, and much more.

Over the past two years, I have worked with Senator Cory McCray and others to establish the Young Readers Program to get books into the hands of children five and under (and their parents). The first recipients of the program were announced including Imagination Library in Montgomery County.

POLITICAL UPDATE
Since my last email, Maryland held its primary election. I spent the day traveling to 32 polling places around District 16 and it was great to see so any advocates and activists working the polls and many residents going into vote, even as early voting and vote by mail has diverted many election day participants. Congratulations to all of those going on to the November election.
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If you were unable to attend my annual fundraiser with Governor Moore and Speaker Jones, you can see some of the Governor's remarks here and some of my comments here.  Thank you to so many supporters who attended. You can always support my political efforts online.

TRANSPORTATION UPDATE
Metro is redesigning their bus network, which has around 440,000 boardings per weekday right now. These changes do not impact the RideOn bus service in the county but do implicate MetroBus, which is any bus that starts with a letter like the J2 or T2 (the two MetroBus routes I typically hear about from constituents). If you are a rider or are otherwise interested, be sure to check out the informative webpage and provide feedback:
https://betterbus.wmata.com/
The J2 essentially stays intact as the new M70 (routes are being re-designated and the M stands for Maryland).
The T2 (renamed M82) will look different: It will still connect Friendship Heights to Potomac but instead of running all the way to the Rockville Metro, its end point will be the Twinbrook Metro.
And note that there are bus stops slated for elimination/consolidation under Metro's guidelines. These stops should all have other stops nearby that will be served but check out the changes here.
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Thanks to a provision in the state budget, every other month we receive a report from the Maryland Transit Administration on the Purple Line's progress. The most recent report is available here and a progress chart is below.

COMMUNITY NEWS
​Several District 16 residents have been named to County Boards and Commissions since my last update, including:
-Mark Rittenberg, Western Montgomery County Citizens Advisory Board
-Mary Anne Keeffe, Rodrigo Figueroa, and Jeffrey Slavin, Committee Evaluation and Review Board
-Cherian Thomas, Bethesda Urban Partnership
-Barbara Hoover, Rustic Roads Advisory Committee
-Ronald Aizer, Revenue Authority
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Congratulations to the Montgomery County Council of PTAs President of the Year, Janelle Mizera, for her work as president of the Luxmanor Elementary PTA.
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The Sulam Ambassdor Award went to Marcy and David Sussman. Congratulations!
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If you know of a District 16 resident who deserves recognition, please let me know by clicking reply.