Bill Hearings

Every bill introduced by a certain date is guaranteed a hearing in the appropriate committee of the House of Delegates. Right now, the committee I chair--Environment & Transportation--is holding bill hearings every Tuesday through Thursday (soon to be every Tuesday through Friday). Two of my bills have also had bill hearings already, the Local Boards of Education Transparency Act (HB 154) and the Metro Funding Modification Act of 2026 (HB 386). 

​LEGISLATION UPDATE
 
Since my last update, I have introduced two more bills.
The Large Buildings for Tomorrow Act (HB 870) would ensure that buildings that will need to comply with Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS) in the future are built to comply today. BEPS is our state policy to reduce emissions from buildings. It makes no sense for a building built today to not comply with standards that will apply in the future under current law.

​The Land Transfer Accountability Act (HB 1009) sets guardrails around the federal government's ability to own land and buildings it owns in the state. Recall that the current Administration has sought to dispose of federal office buildings and preserved natural resources.

The Maryland Transit Administration Reform Act (HB 1081) would reform the Maryland Transit Administration--which runs Baltimore-area transit as well as statewide commuter rail and commuter bus service--by creating two new boards to oversee these functions and makes other changes to improve MTA's functions. 
 
ENERGY UPDATE
I had the opportunity to discuss energy issues--which is new to the jurisdiction of my committee--with the Maryland Energy Talk Podcast. You can listen to it here.
 
DISTRICT 16 NIGHT IN ANNAPOLIS
 The District 16 Delegation is hosting District 16 Night in Annapolis on Monday, March 9th starting at 6:00pm in the Lowe House Office Building. If you are interested in attending, just click reply to this email.

POTOMAC INTERCEPTOR NEWS
 This past weekend, I visited the site of the Potomac Interceptor breach. You can get there by parking at Lockhouse 9 and walking towards Lockhouse 10 where you will see an active work site and sewage being pumped from the breached pipe, through the canal, and then pumped back into the pipe. Just a warning that if you do go, the tow path has not been plowed and there is quite an odor.
DC Water now has a landing page on the situation which you can access here. My office continues to email regular updates on the situation and you can just reply if you would like to be added to the list.
The Utilities Subcommittee of the Environment and Transportation Committee will hold a briefing on the breach with DC Water, Maryland Department of the Environment, Potomac Riverkeepers, and others on Friday afternoon.
 
COMMUNITY NEWS
This week's Montgomery County Planning Board is taking up two issues of interest for District 16.
First, the planning staff has released the biennial monitoring report on the implementation of what was called the White Flint Sector Plan. You can review the report here.
Second, the planning staff has provided initial recommendations regarding their update of the Friendship Heights Sector Plan. You can review those recommendations here.
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WSSC has a Customer Notification System that you can sign up for to stay up to date with WSSC issues that may affect you, including leaks and breaks.
 
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
 This week's member spotlight is Delegate Ryan Nawrocki. Ryan is a member of the Environment & Transportation Committee that I chair and represents Baltimore County. I would say that my relationship with Ryan encapsulates the old adage that you can disagree without being disagreeable. Ryan is a member of the Freedom Caucus so there is a lot we disagree on. But we are similar ages, have similar senses of humor, and both have young families--although his is much larger than mine--so we can disagree in a friendly and respectful way. Which is one of the nice things about Maryland's political culture. You can watch us discuss and debate energy issues on Baltimore's local news here.